ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996 TAG: 9602270104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's On Your Mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: From time to time, I read in letters to the editor about how our country was founded on Christian principles and by Christian people. How religious were the American people (not just specific leaders) at the time of the revolution? Are there any books on the subject?
F.L., Roanoke
A: Religion's role in the founding of the United States was at least as significant as the presence of English soldiers on our shores.
While there's no specific way to measure the depth of a people's religious commitment, the colonies founded by Pilgrims and Puritans produced some clear results.
Dozens of books touch on this subject, but an excellent one is "Pilgrims in Their Own Land," by Martin E. Marty, a historian and professor of religion at the University of Chicago with 30 titles and 20 honorary degrees to his credit.
This is sketched from Marty:
In rejecting the worship practices of the Church of England, the first Protestants saw themselves in a light that some today might call fundamentalism. Their sermons focused on the basic beliefs outlined in early Christianity.
After about a century in the New World, religion cooled somewhat. In the 1730s, a Great Awakening, or Revival, occurred.
Mass meetings inspired crowd response and vibrant singing. Vestiges of it today are called "the old-time religion."
There was no leading evangelist; rather, several preachers attracted followings. Churches of various denominations were built just blocks apart in cities of the mid-1700s.
The next major event in church history for what would become the United States was the American Revolution. Until then, church and state had been united - legally, at least - and ministers' oaths often included loyalty to the king of England.
But then a few Episcopal priests in the north asked the Church of England to appoint a bishop for the colonies. Fears arose among colonists of yet another king, this one churchly. Preachers with Protestant roots spoke out.
While these preachers may not have suggested violence, their pulpit advocacy of religious freedom helped set the tone for a shooting war.
There followed the Declaration of Independence, which says in part: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
After the war, George Washington - not especially religious himself - called religion an indispensable part of the new nation.
This blend of patriotism and faith was observed in 1832 by Alexis de Tocqueville, a French statesman.
In his classic work "Democracy in America," de Tocqueville was impressed by the "general equality of conditions" in America, characteristic of Christian nations of the day and in tune with Protestantism's view that people are alike.
His perspective contrasted America - despite its slavery - with Europe's just-dismantled feudal system, in which a few noblemen controlled land and wealth.
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