Religion

Question 1

Pilgrims

Answer 1

Dissenters: disagreed with the established church
Puritan Calvinists
Created new communities
Escaped persecution
more extreme than puritans

Question 2

Puritans

Answer 2

Massachusetts
More arrived 1630-1641
Purify the Church of England from its “Catholic” ways

Question 3

Puritan Beliefs pt.2

Answer 3

Prosperity is given by God as a reward
American trait: ambition to succeed materially
Idea of the covenant: those selected by God could be saved.
Individual, personal salvation: “conversion experience”
Forerunner of today’s evangelicals

Question 3

Puritan Beliefs

Answer 3

Critical of the Church of England (and all other denominations)
Not religiously tolerant
New Eden
Manifest Destiny
Calvinist: hard work = a means of pleasing God

Question 4

18th Century immirants

Answer 4

Material advancement
Free land
Commercial adventure
Religious beliefs less important

Question 5

Religious conflict

Answer 5

Many separate divisions of churches and lots of splintering, especially among Protestants
Roman Catholic church: strengthened through immigration from Ireland, France, Spain
Judaism: mostly from eastern Europe (Ashkenazi) but also Sephardic (Mediterranean)

Question 6

Pentecostal church

Answer 6

Church of God in Christ, founded 1897
Splintered from Baptists
5.5 million members
Mostly African-Americans
Evangelical and fundamentalist
Emphasis on repentance and salvation through faith in Jesus
Angels exist as messengers from God
Demons exist as evil spirits but can be subdued through the Holy Spirit.
Snake handlers

Question 7

Jehova’s Witness

Answer 7

Founded 1870s
8+ million people (worldwide)
Door-to-door proselytizing
Political neutrality: no military service, no voting
No blood transfusions: violation of God’s law
No holidays: pagan traditions
Saluting national flags is idolatry

Question 8

Jehova’s witness pt.2

Answer 8

End times: since Oct. 1, 1914
Satan and his demons were cast down to earth.
The Kingdom of Heaven was established with Jesus as king.
Satan rules the world today.
Armageddon is imminent.
Jesus will return to reign for 1000 years.
144,000 will survive Armageddon (“spirit-annointed”) and live in heaven.
The “great multitude” will live in paradise on earth.

Question 9

Seventh-Day Adventists

Answer 9

Founded 1863
Protestant
Sabbath on Saturday
Proselytizing and mission work
20 million members (only 7% in the US)
Focus on Second Coming of Jesus
No immortal soul, no consciousness after death
Conditional immortality: the sinful will be permanently destroyed (no Hell)
“Investigative judgement” will show who will be saved

Question 10

Mormons

Answer 10

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Founded in the 1820s by Joseph Smith
Polygamy until 1890  Mormon fundamentalist splinter groups
Limited membership rites for black Mormons until a “revelation” in 1978

Question 11

Shakers

Answer 11

United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing
Founded 1747: split from the Quakers
Went to America in 1774
Communal, farming lifestyle (20 communities)
Shaker furniture
pacifists
Peak mid-1800s: 6000 Shakers
Celibacy, de-emphasis on marriage

Question 12

Social Action

Answer 12

Stresses religion’s public role
Campaign for social change
Intervene in social problems and moral concerns
“Mainline” Protestants

Question 13

Spiritual renewal

Answer 13

Conservative, traditional
Literal interpretation of the Bible (fundamentalism)
Conversion, emotion, personal salvation
Creationism, not evolution
Much media and popular attention
Have grown strongly; powerful politically