Did the American Revolution Produce a Christian Nation?
Uploaded by thenext on Apr 03, 2007
Did the American Revolution Produce a Christian Nation?
Two essays in the book Taking Sides (Book titles must be underlined or italicized) are presented in the debate overas to whether or not the American Revolution produced a Christian nation. Nathan Hatch believes that the Revolution and Christianity went hand in hand, while Jon Butler suggests that the Revolution did not produce a Christian nation because prior to the Revolution the colonists never called themselves a Christian nation. So did the Revolution produce a Christian nation? It is my belief that the Revolution did not produce a Christian nation and that the United States of America is not a Christian nation now in our day in age. It is best to only justify the left margin, unless you are writing a magazine or newspaper article.
Nathan Hatch offers many examples of how the American Revolution created a Christian nation. He uses the revivals of John Leland and also offers the expansion of the many denominations that occurred after the Revolution. Hatch believed that the American Revolution and Christianity were inseparable. He adds that churches were instrumental in education and moral discipline, therefore predating the laws of the new nation.
Hatch believes that the wearing away of authority lead to the development of the colonists or lay people. That it was the lay people who now embodied what church would be, changing the church to their values and beliefs. Hatch believes the Revolution established or set a path for different religions to develop without being persecuted.
Jon Butler on the other hand believes that the American Revolution had nothing to do with creating a Christian nation. He states that on 20% of the population were members of a church and that many pastors would fib on their numbers to the Anglican Church in England. Also there were laws that forbid people from speaking out against the church or Christianity, which in Butler's belief shows just how pathetic Christianity was in America. He states that the numbers of Christians were very low and that Americans opposed a Christian national identity. Butler says that the attachment of these laws existed to compel Christian attachment but did nothing to measure the Christian commitment of the people.
Butler also states that the British colonies actually supported the Christian church before the war, even though only about 20% went to church. After the war the states...