Apush Chapter 15

1) Reviving Religion

a) By 1850, America was still a mostly church-going country. 75% of Americans attended church regularly.

i) The church-going nature of America was noted by French observer Alexis de Tocqueville during a visit.

b) New religions challenged Christianity, however.

i) Deism sprang out of the Enlightenment (AKA "Age of Reason") and was based on scientific or logical reasoning rather than faith. It had fundamental differences with Christianity…

(1) Faith (belief in what can't be proven) was rejected as silly superstition.

(2) Deism rejected the "divinity of Christ."

ii) The "Scientific Revolution" also sparked deism. Just as the solar system, mathematics, and physical laws and properties of the universe were being figured out, the principles of scientific inquiry were applied to religion.

(1) Deism believed in a supreme being who'd made the universe, like a great clockmaker. It contained all of its order, put it into motion, then stood back and let the mechanisms run. Man's "job" was to figure it all out.

(2) Well-known deists were Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine (who literally wrote The Age of Reason which outlined deism and attacked the Bible).

iii) The Unitarian religion drew followers even farther away from Christianity. Unitarians…

(1) Believed God existed in 1 person ("uni"), but not in the Holy Trinity.

(2) Rejected the divinity of Christ.

(3) Believed people were essentially good at heart, not born under "original sin."

(4) Believed people were saved through "good works", not through faith in Christ.

(5) Attracted intellectual types, notably Ralph Waldo Emerson.

c) These perversions of Christianity ignited Christians to “take back their faith” and oppose these new beliefs.

i) A Christian revival movement began around 1800. It reached full speed as the 2nd Great Awakening in the 1830's.

ii) The 2nd Great Awakening was like the first (which occurred 100 years prior) in that it was a rural movement (taking place in...