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Pre-America Native Americans
The early Native Americans had a complex system of belifs in different rituals and spirits. Their culture entertwined with their beliefs of nature and the supernatural. -
Puritanism
Brought to American by a branch of the Church of England, Puritans believe in the integration of church and state to promote a society which obeys God, without corruption. -
Salem Witches
A tragic trial in Salem, Massacussets history of a hysteria outbreak of withcraft. While most acusations were false and citizens were wrongly accused, this event shows the strict laws and doctrines of colonial American. -
Deism
The belief system based on natural law in a God created world, where people are made to be moraly just in order to perserve the universe. -
Jewish Immigration
Escaping from the Holy Inquisition, religious persecution, and poverty, some Jews in the sixteenth century sought new homes in the New World. Through time, Jewish settlers mainly lived in populated areas as a cheap labor force. -
First Great Awakening
Between the 1730s and the 1770s there was a great revilalization of Christianity in colonial America. This was a great spiritual movement with pulpit pounding preachers, who advacated a strict interpretation of the Bible and a spiritual fevor for the devout. -
Early African Americans(Slaves)
Africans(mainly from the western coast of Africa) were bought by the slave trade to work in America. Over generations, slaves, whos owners usualy were consercative Christians, began to intergrate their original beliefs with the ones of whites. -
Beginning the Separation of Church and State
James Madison proposed the Virginian state constitution in which Baptists and other people were not forced to pay taxes to support the Anglican clergy. This is a founding event that other founding fathers (such as Thomas Jafferson) would follow for seperation of church and state in America. -
Second Great Awakening
This religious revival movement in history focused on the damnation of all branches of Christianity, and stressed the emphasis on moral action. Almost an activist movement, a call to repent of sina and turn to moral action to spread the faith. -
Mormonism
Being a new branch of Christianity founded in the nine-teenth century, Mormonism has gained followers even into today. This belief system was founded off of The Book of Mormon, which God, working through the angel Moroni and his chosen earthly vessel, Joseph Smith, delivered to humankind to follow after the Bible. -
Spread of Catholicism
Escaping by the millions from a potato famine, Catholic Irish immigrants fled to American in an exodus. Before the 1840s, there was only a small population of Catholic Americans, but this spread lead to Catholicism being one of the major faiths in America today. -
The Progressive Era
Going against most Protestant teachings of laissez-faire, preacher Washington Gladden, advocated the right to form labor unions in America. Millions of American Protestants after the Civil War were no longer self-employed, but worked in the new industrialized economy. -
Missionary Movement
Evangalism arose from the urge to promote overseas missions to 'Christionize' other nations based off the Bible. Many different branches of the Puritan faith took part in organizing people to spreat their beliefs, This effects of this movement can still be seen in American society today. -
Muslims in America
The belief founded upon the Qu'ran— the sacred book that records the messages of Allah [God] as it was revealed to his final prophet, Muhammed (A.D. ca. 570-632). The followers seek to follow the example of the prophet Muhammed and follow the Five Pillars of Islam faith. -
Fundamentalism
A religous movement of the Protestant religion in the late ninetenth and early twentyith century having to do with concerns of changes such as: growing awareness of other world religions, the teaching of human evolution and the rise of biblical criticism( which said the Bible was based on human authorship of scripture not God). -
The Scopes Trial
The "Monkey Trials" were closely watched by almost all people in America who were either on one side of this debate of the other. Southern evangelicals led the fight against evolutionary teaching in American's public high schools and the emerging modernists. -
The Conservative Revolution
The "Reagan Revolution" was the age of political realignment both in the U.S. and beyond, This era produces a new brand of conservatism and faith in the free market. This revolution promoted faith in the presidency, American self-confidence, and contributed to ending the Cold War. -
The Melting Pot
Since the beginning, the New World was a refuge to a diverse variety of ethnic and religious groups of people. As America developed, immigration of different backgrounds was appealing to people who sought prosperity. Today, this "melting pot" of cultures and belief systems find a way to coexist in America.
