The American

Problem of Religion

Europe:

Establishment

Dissenters

Colonial America:

Established Churches in the Colonies

Massachusetts: Congregationalists (Puritans)

Virginia: Church of England (Anglicans)

Establishment vs. Dissenters

• Anglicans

• Congregationalists

• Baptists

• Quakers

• Catholics

• Jews

• Everyone else…

The Revolutionary War

Tyranny!

– Religious and political tyranny the same

– “No Lords temporal or spiritual”

Religion in New America:

4 Problems

1. Freedom from religion & freedom of

religion.

2. Dissent: What do we do with it?

3. Virtue: How do we keep citizens moral?

4. Is a nation full of “churches of one”

sustainable?

James Madison

“Memorial and Remonstrance” (1785)

Establishment is bad because:

1. Infringes on the citizen.

2. Damages the state.

3. Contaminates religion.

Quiz #1

Let’s practice!

A being assumed to be intentional

is called ________.

a. an essence

b. an agent

c. theology

d. anthropomorphism

b. an agent

_______________ and

___________ are two approaches

to religion we will not use in this

class.

The Deists

Believed natural religion could be found through applying reason to

nature. Rejected revelation.

Believed natural religion was universal and open to all through the use

of human reason.

In a paragraph, describe the problems for

“religion” in the new United States.