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Deism
Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. -
Roger Williams
Political and religious leader remembered for founding the state of Rhode Island and advocating separation of church and state in America. His views on religious freedom earned him wrath and banishment. Settled Narragansett Bay where he and followers established a new colony governed by religious liberty and separation of church and state -
John Winthrop
Famous for delivering his speech, "A Model of Christian Charity," which compared the flight of the Puritans to the Book of Exodus, and described their future colony as a "city on a hill," a place where others could observe an ideal Christian society. -
Anne Hutchinson
New England religious leader & midwife, born in England and followed John Cotton to Massachusetts Bay in 1634. She brought attention to Cotton's spirit-centered theology through meetings, praising him and her brother-in-law John Wheelwright as Christian ministers. A ministerial synod cleared Cotton from the charges, but Hutchinson was punished with banishment -
Roman Catholics in Maryland
To avoid any conflict between majority Protestants and minority Catholics in the colony, Calvert instituted a progressive religious policy called The Maryland Toleration Act that allowed all Christians, regardless of sect, to freely worship in Maryland. -
Amish
Late 1600s, Anabaptist leader Jacob Ammann and his followers promote "shunning" which leads to Mennonite and Amish branches. -
Quakers
Many Quakers settled in Rhode Island, due to its policy of religious freedom, as well as the British colony of Pennsylvania which was formed by William Penn in 1681 as a haven for persecuted Quakers -
Salem Witch Trials
Citizens accused one another of witchcraft, leading to mass hysteria and imprisonment/death of approximately 170 community members -
1st Great Awakening
A movement of religious revival, a time of intense revival and renewed focus on religion, shaped much of American culture and laid the foundation for future religious and social movements. Saw a dramatic increase in preaching and church attendance. Jonathan Edwards was a prominent minister. Old lights did not like the emotional fervor that came with the Great Awakening, & were against the movement. New lights embraced the emotional aspects of the movement & supported of it. -
Johnathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards, a prominent minister in the 1st Great Awakening, was most well known for his sermon titled “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” Edwards not only delivered very intense and emotional sermons, he was also an extremely well known author with many popular books. His accounts of this revival sparked many other revivals across the country. -
Antebellum Period
Period where religious figures played a large part in an abolitionist movement in addition to a temperance movement. -
Second Great Awakening
Rise of an evangelical Protestant majority in antebellum America, giving rise to new denominations and social reform organizations. It benefited from the decline of the state sponsored churches as upstart religious groups competing with older denominations. Methodism became the largest denomination. Many American Protestants left the older traditions for others that emphasized human free will in choosing salvation and social reform. -
“The Age of Reason”
Advocated the separation of church and state. It supported Thomas Paine's religious view of deism but the view of deism was widely opposed in America. -
Joseph Smith
Founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons view Smith as a prophet, high priest, military commander, and restorer of God’s truth. During the same year of the Book of Mormon’s publication, Smith founded the "Church of Jesus Christ.". As he moved his community to different locations, including Ohio (1831-1838), Missouri (1838-1839), and Illinois (1839-1844), he encountered criticism, conflict, and violence. He was killed by a mob on June 27, 1844. -
New Thought Churches
A group of churches known as new thought churches were established, whose teachings were greatly influenced by Transcendentalism and Emerson. -
Southern Baptist Convention Founded
Southern Baptists met at the First Baptist Church of August in May 1845. Here they formed a new convention, naming it the Southern Baptist Convention. They elected William Bullein Johnson as the new convention's first president -
3rd Great Awakening
The Third Great Awakening refers to a hypothetical historical period proposed by William G. McLoughlin that was marked by religious activism in American history and spans the late 1850s to the early 20th century. Affected pietistic Protestant denominations and had a strong element of social activism -
Walter Rauschenbusch
Main founder of Social Gospel. Believed that Christ died to atone for humankind's institutional as well as personal sins, to usher in the Kingdom of God that would transform society into a heavenly reality. believed that Christianity would eradicate all societal evils some day. -
Jehovah's Witnesses
Believe that Jesus is God's only direct creation, that everything else was created through Christ by means of God's power, and that the initial unassisted act of creation uniquely identifies Jesus as God's "only-begotten Son." -
Social Gospel Movement
A religious movement that arose during the second half of the 19th century. Ministers, especially ones belonging to the Protestant branch of Christianity, began to tie salvation and good works together. They argued that people must emulate the life of Jesus Christ. Ended in 1920 -
Hinduism in America
Anandibai Joshi is believed to be the first Hindu woman to set foot on American soil, arriving in New York in June 1883 at the age of 19. -
Anti-Defamation League
Created in response to the lynching of Leo Frank. Its goals were to eliminate anti-Semitic feelings in America and protect Jewish Americans -
Assemblies of God Founded
The Assemblies of God, founded as a non-denominational fellowship of Pentecostal churches in 1914, gradually evolved into a formal denomination over the next two generations. In 1916, the Assemblies adopted a formal confession of faith. In 1943, it formed the National Association of Evangelicals. The Assemblies grew rapidly, into a global denomination fellowship of loosely linked nationally based Assemblies of God denominations, claiming some 66.4 million adherents. -
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KKK
Protestant Christianity hate group that promoted antisemitism and Anti-Catholic sentiments. Their religious views had a impact on their opinion on following a strict moral code and prohibition. The KKK forced their views upon others through violence. -
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Prohibition
The 18th amendment made the manufacture, distribution, & sale of alcohol illegal in the United States for 13 years.The Temperance movement, a largely religious campaign against the evils of intoxication, is credited with the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition took effect in January 1920, & soon an underground economy of speakeasies sprang up to make and serve illegal liquor. Organized crime, particularly the Mafia, controlled much of this illegal industry. -
Scopes Trial
A Tennessee law forbade the teaching of evolution in the classroom, but biology teacher named John T. Scopes challenged the law. The Scopes trial, also known as the "Monkey Trial," got media attention. The trial reflected two worldviews: those who believed that evolution contradicted the bible and those who believed that creationism lacked scientific veracity. Scopes lost the trial but the verdict was overturned later in a higher court due to a legal technicality. -
Charles Coughlin
a Catholic "radio priest," who was controversial for his anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi views leading up to World War II. A Roman Catholic priest who started a notorious radio career in 1926. His early talks denounced communism, but he began expressing more of his anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi views. He strongly opposed FDR’s New Deal programs & the entry of the United States in WWII based on his perception of a British-Jewish-Roosevelt conspiracy. His views reached an estimated 40 million listeners. -
Al Smith
"Al" Smith was a 4-term New York governor who became the first Catholic presidential candidate when he ran as a Democrat in 1928 against Herbert Hoover. Smith already was facing public charges that a devout Catholic could not be a loyal American and especially could not hold the country’s highest elected office. Many feared a Catholic takeover of the United States. The KKK disseminated anti-Catholic literature directed against Smith, who lost, reflecting a resurgence in public anti-Catholicism. -
Athenagoras I Of Constantinople
In 1930, Athenagoras was named Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in the United States. He took control of the archdiocese in February 1931, bringing an end to a struggle among several American Orthodox bishops. He sought to bridge divides between American Orthodoxy’s various ethnic groups by establishing personal ties with individual Orthodox communities throughout the country, successfully centralizing power under his archbishopric. -
Nation of Islam Founded
Fard founded the Nation of Islam, one of the most radical and militant religious movements of the 20th century. He argued that whites had stripped blacks from their original religion of Islam and replaced it with the white religion of Christianity. This belief became popular among poor southern blacks who had migrated to the North. Eventually, the NOI would develop a strict admission policy and a hierarchy of command within the organization. -
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The Holocaust
A time period of great hardships for Jewish people in Europe as a result of Hitler's Jewish genocide in Germany. During this time there was a large amount of Jewish immigration to the U.S. creating Jewish communities. But as the Jewish people were ignored and people posed anti-Semitic views in America the Jewish people separated themselves from Americans. -
Dorothy Day
Catholic activist, known for co-founding the Catholic Worker movement, leading anti-war and anti-nuclear proliferation movements, and promoting assistance to the poor. -
Harold John Ockenga
Led the new evangelical movement by helping co-found Fuller Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Christianity Today. Was an important leader in what he referred to as "neo-evangelicalism," a movement upholding conservative theological standards while still maintaining a sense of warmth and engagement with society. -
National Association of Evangelicals
Founded to provide representation for evangelicals in D.C., and with the broadcasting industry. United traditional evangelical denominations w/ Pentecostals for the 1st time in a major, national organization. The NAE adopted a moderate, yet oppositional stance toward the mainline National Council of Churches and organized the World Evangelical Fellowship as a counter to the World Council of Churches. Sponsored the New International Version of the Bible to replace the Revised Standard Version. -
Charles Fuller
Had his own radio ministry, the "Gospel Broadcasting Association." The most popular of his shows, the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour," featured simple, warm sermons by Fuller, a choir singing traditional hymns, and letters from listeners. By the mid-1940s, Fuller's sermons were being broadcast on 575 stations, making the "The Old Fashioned Revival Hour" one of the most widely heard shows on the Mutual Broadcasting System. -
Everson v. Board of Education
Marked the first time that the Supreme Court had applied the federal Establishment Clause (i.e. no law establishing religion) of the First Amendment to the states, following the precedent set in Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940). -
Billy Graham's Los Angeles Crusade
Catapulted the southern evangelist into the national spotlight for the first time. -
L. Ron Hubbard
founded Scientology, a controversial new religious movement. initially was a science fiction writer in the 1930s and 1940s, but shifted his focus toward theories of the human condition. He soon expanded on these ideas with a more developed philosophical-religious system he called Scientology. In 1954, the first Church of Scientology opened in Los Angeles. Scientology elicited criticism from Christian groups, the media, ex-members, and government organizations -
Martin Luther King Jr
An African-American Baptist minister and civil rights leader who combined Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy and Christian love to fight racism. became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, an organization that coordinated protests in the South. King was able to couple Gandhi’s use of nonviolent protest with Christian tenets of love and moral action. He helped lead important protests and marches in Birmingham, Washington D.C, and Selma. -
Fulton Sheen
His media presence that brought him acclaim. Sheen was known as a dynamic and eloquent speaker, who would convert difficult religious concepts into everyday language, making him a success in both radio and television. -
John F. Kennedy
In 1960, John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic elected President. His religion played a prominent role during the campaign. Unlike Al Smith, an earlier Catholic candidate, Kennedy was able to overcome suspicions that his faith would impede his ability to successfully govern. -
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Heschel wrote many theological books regarding the Jewish tradition in light of modernity. He believed that modern humanity had a difficult time believing in a personal God due to increased alienation and disbelief in the supernatural realm. He fought for the right of Soviet Jews to practice their religion and emigrate. He boldly supported the civil rights movement and walked with Martin Luther King, Jr. He opposed the Vietnam War and urged the United States to withdraw its troops. -
John XXII
Pope John signaled plans to call for a Second Vatican Council, the first since 1870. Vatican II opened in 1962 and even though he died two years before its conclusion, the historic council would become his lasting legacy for its momentous moves toward openness and ecumenism in the Roman Catholic Church. -
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) oversaw the completion of the Second Vatican Council and authored Humanae Vitae, an important and controversial document in modern Catholicism. -
Abington School District v. Schempp
Concerned whether required Bible readings and recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools was constitutional under the Establishment Clause. The Supreme Court held that these practices did indeed violate the Establishment Clause. Religion and the Bible could both be studied for historical and secular purposes. -
Sherbert v Verner
In Sherbert v. Verner, the Supreme Court set the precedent that the "compelling state interest" test should be used to adjudicate federal Free Exercise Clause violations. Under the "Sherbert test," claimants must show that the government has imposed a substantial burden on their free exercise of religion. -
Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration
The Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of 1965 revoked the mutual excommunications of 1054 that led to the Great Schism. This event reflected a growing desire for reconciliation between both churches and led to firmer ecumenical relations after centuries of mutual excommunication. -
Sojourners magazine
a group of liberal evangelical Christians from Chicago’s Trinity Evangelical Divinity founded a magazine to promote economic and racial justice through a Christian perspective. Their positions on social issues often mirror liberal Protestantism and liberation theology. Sojourners also often agreed liberal views on the nation’s domestic and foreign policies. -
Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case
Ruled that the 14th amendment of privacy extended to a woman's right to an abortion. Many religious figures find abortion immoral and a sin. The religious community was appalled by the outcome of the case. -
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter was the first "born again" evangelical to become president. He was reared Southern Baptist, served as a deacon, and frequently taught Sunday School. -
Allegheny County v. ACLU
This case provided the Supreme Court with an opportunity to rule on whether the placement of a religious symbol on government property by itself violated the Establishment Clause. Dealt with religious holiday symbols on government property and found that a combination of religious symbols does not violate the Establishment Clause. -
Million Man March
Organized by Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, the Million Man March took place in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. It was the largest gathering of African Americans in U.S. history, with at least 850,000 marchers. The Million Man March desired to paint a more positive portrayal of black males in America. Although criticized for its gender exclusivity and its controversial leader Farrakhan, the march highlighted the racial unrest of the 1990s. -
City of Boerne v. Flores
Supreme Court ruled that Congress had overstepped its constitutional powers in enacting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act RFRA, a legislative act that mandated that judges at both the state and federal levels employ the compelling state interest test when ruling on religious free exercise claims. But in City of Boerne v. Flores, the Supreme Court held that RFRA tried to change the meaning of the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause & exceeded the scope of Congress’s constitutional powers. -
9/11 Terrorist Attack
Created large Anti-Muslim sentiments in America. Arab and Muslim immigrants were subject to misdirect discrimination and Muslim life in America became much harder. -
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney became the first Mormon nominee for president when he ran as a Republican in 2012 against Barack Obama.