{"id":857,"date":"2013-07-04T23:30:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T03:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/?p=857"},"modified":"2013-07-04T23:30:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T03:30:38","slug":"religion-in-america-in-1776","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/?p=857","title":{"rendered":"Religion in America in 1776"},"content":{"rendered":"

Religion in America in 1776<\/h1>\n
July 4, 2013\u00c2\u00a0By\u00c2\u00a0Deacon Greg Kandra<\/a><\/div>\n
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An interesting look back:\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Declaration of Independence was drafted on July 4, 1776, religious practice in the 13 colonies of the United States was colorful and varied. The quest for independence \u00e2\u20ac\u201d as well as loyalist resistance to the cause \u00e2\u20ac\u201d permeated church life and teachings across denominational lines. Patriots argued that their fight was God-ordained, while many Anglican clergy were bound by oath to pray for the King and the royal family.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin depicts God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in the revolution in his design for the Great Seal of the United States. Circling an image of Moses parting the Red Sea and leading the Israelites out of Egypt is the inscription, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Cast in 1752 in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell bears the words of Lev. 25:10, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all inhabitants thereof.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence cite God as the author of the quest for freedom: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Around the time of the Revolutionary War, most American Christians belonged to Anglican, Congregationalist, or Presbyterian groups. In 1776, there were also around 2,000 Jews (mostly Sephardic) and five synagogues in the colonies. The average size of a church congregation was around seventy-five members, and religious adherence amounted to only 17 percent of the total population.<\/p>\n

The effect of the struggle for independence on religious practice was most visible in Anglican parishes. Since Anglican priests pledged loyalty to the King as a part of their ordination vows, many remained faithful to the British and continued with liturgical prayers for the monarchy. Boston\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chapel<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0was a thriving Anglican congregation during this time, with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153box pews,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or small enclosures owned and even decorated by wealthy families, on the main floor, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unboxed pews\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for black or poor church members on the second floor. King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chapel was the first church in New England to incorporate music into its services, having both a choir and an organ. Popular at the time was the hymn, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Old 100th<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d commonly sung today as a doxology (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Praise God from whom all blessings flow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d).<\/p>\n

Led by a Loyalist priest, King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chapel closed its doors after the British retreat on Evacuation Day (March 17, 1776) rather than allow the patriots to take over. Other Anglican congregations aligned themselves with the revolutionary cause and chose to change the liturgy rather than abandon it entirely. The rector of Christ Church in St. Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s County, Maryland, pasted strips of paper with prayers for the Continental Congress over the prayers for the King in the\u00c2\u00a0Book of Common Prayer<\/em>. At a vestry meeting on July 4, 1776, Philadelphia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Christ Church made a similar move, replacing the prayers for the King with a prayer for the wisdom of the new government: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That it may please thee to endue the Congress of the United States & all others in Authority, legislative, executive, & judicial with grace, wisdom & understanding, to execute Justice and to maintain Truth.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Rev. Peter Muhlenberg made a bold display of patriotism before his Anglican congregation in Woodstock, Va. At the conclusion of a sermon in January 1776, he threw off his clerical robes to reveal his Virginia military uniform. During the struggle for independence, a number of ministers left their congregations to work as chaplains or take up arms, even some Quakers who felt that the cause of independence superseded their commitment to pacifism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest.\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religion in America in 1776 July 4, 2013\u00c2\u00a0By\u00c2\u00a0Deacon Greg Kandra An interesting look back:\u00c2\u00a0 When the Declaration of Independence was drafted on July 4, 1776, religious practice in the 13 colonies of the United States was colorful and varied. The quest for independence \u00e2\u20ac\u201d as well as loyalist resistance to the cause \u00e2\u20ac\u201d permeated church … Continue reading Religion in America in 1776<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}