The Protestant Reformation and Its Influence on American History
Much has been written about the Protestant Reformation but most of ithas dealt with European countries and the changes that were caused byProtestant teachings. However, Protestant religion is a large part ofAmerica as well. Originally, most individuals who came to America wereCatholic and the Catholic Church was very controlling of not only Englandbut the settlers who came to America from that country and others (Tolson,2003). However, there was a growing influence from Protestantcongregations and this has been the case for many years. Around 40 percentof people who live in the United States today see themselves as a born-again Christians or as evangelical in some way (Tolson, 2003). While manypeople do not see the ties between 18th century Puritans in New England andconversion to born-again Christianity there is a great deal of similarities Simply put, American history is full of religious issues anddifficulties (Tolson, 2003). Religion was one of the reasons that many ofthe settlers left England and chose to stay in America, and freedom ofreligion is still an issue for some. There are areas of the country whereindividuals are fighting over having the Ten Command
Religion continues to change as well, as there have now been openlyhomosexual individuals accepted not only into churches but even into theministry in some areas. While the ProtestantReformation happened in Europe, in a way some of it happened in America aswell, as settlers began to realize that they did not have to remain tied toCatholicism and that they were far enough away from England to make choicesof their own and get away with these things without fear of the Church. It continuedand was the main religious force in both politics and the culture ofAmerica not only in the 19th-century but through the early 20th century aswell (Tolson, 2003). Women stand at pulpits in many churches across thecountry while other churches do not even allow women to speak out orperform any of the scriptural readings that many churches have at theirservices. The most important thing that the Protestant Reformationdid for American history was to show American people that they truly didhave freedom of religion and that they were not tied to the Catholic churchunless they chose that path (Tolson, 2003). Those whotruly realize this take their evangelicalism very seriously and they areoften very devout about what they believe in (Tolson, 2003). However,even though this may be difficult for this little girl and there may bethose who argue against it, it is all part of the freedom of religion thatthe Protestant Reformation actually brought to America. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with Catholicism butit is not the religion for everyone and it was not the religion for many atthat period of time. That is not to say that there would nothave eventually been individuals who broke away from Catholicism and chosea different path. Many of these churches have similar ideas toeach other but there are also radical differences, sometimes even within aparticular denomination (Tolson, 2003). He is no longer married to the girl's mother. This created new denominations of Christianity and as theseprogressed still further sub denominations of these denominations becameapparent (Tolson, 2003). This freedom is the greatest gift that the ProtestantReformation brought to America. During the early days of America, the Catholic Churchwas very strict and harsh with most of its members and many individualswere not comfortable belonging to it (Tolson, 2003). In this way, the Protestant Reformation did more for American historythen almost anything else that has happened in America to date.
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