History Of The Church
Lesson 11: Religion In America – 1600 - 1800

Speaker: John Phillis
Date: November 17^th, 2004, Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class

We are continuing our study of the church and seeing what happened to the church from the time of Pentecost. We are moving now to what is going on in America, in the early days of our history as a nation. As we conduct this study this evening, we want to see how what was going on in Europe—primarily in England—on the religious scene affected religion in America. The Reformation was going on in England, and some of the difficulties that were going on in the religious world there actually helped to forge and to form what we have now. Many folks who came here came here because of religious persecution and to obtain religious freedom.

What we want to do in this study tonight is to, in a general way, begin setting the stage for our eventual discussion and study of the Restoration. And it will be helpful to us, as we get to that period, to know something of the religious landscape and some of the history here in America. We want to look at events surrounding some of the early settlers in various regions in the early days of our country. And then, we’re going to follow that with a look at denominations in America and how some of those developed. Once again, this will help us to develop the religious landscape for what will eventually come to pass in the early and middle part of the 19^th Century regarding the Restoration Movement.

We have seen, of course, over the past several weeks as we were looking at the Reformation, which had been taking place in Europe, that religion played a very important part in the lives of 16^th and 17^th Century Europeans. It should not, then, be surprising that religion paid an equally important part in the settlement of the New World. Of course, the New World, as it was referred to, was discovered by Christopher Columbus—although revisionists are questioning that. But I learned in school that “In fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” and he discovered the New World. (That was a song that we sang back in school. I don’t know if you knew that, or not.)

Right after Columbus had discovered the New World, the King of Spain—King Ferdinand—began colonization of the New World. This was done by early Spanish settlers. Everywhere early Spanish settlers came into the New World, they were accompanied by Catholic priests—Catholic missionaries. And thus, in South and Central America, these areas were colonized, but there were also had these Catholic missionaries, primarily the Jesuits and the Franciscans. The conversion of the natives was of primary concern. Thus, the Spanish established missions in the southern part of this hemisphere, and even up into what would become North America. We know that this region of our nation where we live (New Mexico) was very heavily influenced by the Spanish in the early days, and was very heavily influenced by Catholicism.

Well, to the north of us—our neighbors to the north—French Catholic missionaries displayed a similar concern for converting the natives of what is now Canada. The French, as the Spanish did, began to colonize the northern part of this continent. They would do so in a similar fashion, sending Catholic missionaries, focusing on converting the natives who lived there. There are exploits of Jesuit priests, like Father [Jacques] Marquette, who is quite legendary in Canadian history. The city of Quebec, for example, was established in about 1608, and was established by these Jesuit missionaries as they went on their way.

Well, the early settlers here in what is now North America in some ways had some missionary zeal, similar to the Spanish and the French, but they didn’t have nearly as much success as did the French and Spanish Catholic missionaries. Part of that reason is because as they—the English primarily—came to this part of the New World with religious freedom in mind, and as they had opportunity, they would teach and preach to the Native Americans. But, their primary focus was farming and agriculture. Historians say that one of the reasons that they were not as successful as their French and Spanish counterparts was because that farming and agricultural focus actually put them in conflict, in some ways, with the Native Americans, because as they were tilling the soil, and what not, they were destroying hunting grounds and sacred areas, and things like that. Well, say, we’re still having problems of that nature, aren’t we?