A "Revolutionary" Religion for America

I would also like the expand on my earlier point about the status of the clergy in America versus France. There was no real widespread antipathy towards the clergy in America. Indeed, they were integral in the revolution. Since they lacked any real political power in most situations by virtue of their office, and since they were not largely drawn form the ranks of a hereditary aristocracy, there is no reason whatsoever for the Americans to turn their back on them the way some (not all) of the French Revolutionaries did.
 
I would also like the expand on my earlier point about the status of the clergy in America versus France. There was no real widespread antipathy towards the clergy in America. Indeed, they were integral in the revolution. Since they lacked any real political power in most situations by virtue of their office, and since they were not largely drawn form the ranks of a hereditary aristocracy, there is no reason whatsoever for the Americans to turn their back on them the way some (not all) of the French Revolutionaries did.

Well, I wouldn't say the clergy had no political power by virtue of their status. Ministers in New England still had pretty hefty clout, however that was diminishing and I certainly agree with your point in general.
 
Well, I wouldn't say the clergy had no political power by virtue of their status. Ministers in New England still had pretty hefty clout, however that was diminishing and I certainly agree with your point in general.

I mean that they had no real official power, comparable to the institution of the Second Estate in France.
 

jahenders

Banned
I really don't think you are ever going to get anything like the Cult of Reason in the United States. However, what if the Unitarians develop a bit earlier and are able to latch on to the fervor of the Second Great Awakening. Probably not what you're looking for, but a larger Unitarian movement in the United States would be a fascinating alternate history of its own.

I'm not thinking anything like the Cult of Reason. I was thinking something like the Shakers, Adventists or Mormons (though Unitarians might work), but with a more nationalist, Americanistic bent. Some of the founding fathers, and other key figures, join and prominently participate. It doesn't become a national religion, but it kind of becomes THE patriotic religion to belong to.
 

UKFA

Banned
The recent Mythology of the United States thread (which I have been thoroughly enjoying), reminded me of an idea I had long ago. What if the United States Founding Fathers created a new religion for there new country similar to the Cult of Reason the French Revolutionaries tried, since while nominal Christian many of them were not that devout.
My original idea went something like this: the creator either doesn't or can't care about his creations so he is irrelevant. However, during the American Revolution the will of the people to be free manifested to create the Goddess of Liberty. With the clergy would be appointed and regulated by its own governmental department.
Anyone have anyone else have any ideas?

You could try another angle on this. If the South won the ACW that itself could be called a Revolution, and I can see them being fairly theocratic in regards to non Christians.
 
You could try another angle on this. If the South won the ACW that itself could be called a Revolution, and I can see them being fairly theocratic in regards to non Christians.

I don't really see this. The South, prior to the Civil War was certainly Protestant, but was also renowned as being the least religious section of the United States (with the exception being the Scots-Irish of Appalachia where the Second Great Awakening hit hard ... and those areas were largely pro-Union). It wasn't until the social upheavals following their loss in the Civil War that the South began to develop a strong religious bent. Attempts to depict the Civil War-era Southrons as staunch evangelicals is reading the present back into the past and not a good way of understanding the region at the time.
 

UKFA

Banned
I don't really see this. The South, prior to the Civil War was certainly Protestant, but was also renowned as being the least religious section of the United States (with the exception being the Scots-Irish of Appalachia where the Second Great Awakening hit hard ... and those areas were largely pro-Union). It wasn't until the social upheavals following their loss in the Civil War that the South began to develop a strong religious bent. Attempts to depict the Civil War-era Southrons as staunch evangelicals is reading the present back into the past and not a good way of understanding the region at the time.

My pot was more to do with the fact that the South was more homogenous, as far as I can tell there were only a few protestant sects and a smattering of Catholics of German, Irish and Hispanic descent. If they won I could imagine them being less tolerant of Jews, deists, atheists etc, although I could be wrong.
 
You could try another angle on this. If the South won the ACW that itself could be called a Revolution, and I can see them being fairly theocratic in regards to non Christians.

The South built it's post 1865 religiosity on the color line, the South did not think it needed to justify the order of things using religion; if anything the various Southern white denominations tailored their Christianity to suit the color line.
 
You could try another angle on this. If the South won the ACW that itself could be called a Revolution, and I can see them being fairly theocratic in regards to non Christians.

It's certainly possible, and given all I know of the antebellum South, it's honestly quite surprising that evangelicalism didn't take off earlier, as there was fairly fertile ground for it just about everywhere, including in the lowlands.

I don't really see this. The South, prior to the Civil War was certainly Protestant, but was also renowned as being the least religious section of the United States (with the exception being the Scots-Irish of Appalachia where the Second Great Awakening hit hard ... and those areas were largely pro-Union). It wasn't until the social upheavals following their loss in the Civil War that the South began to develop a strong religious bent. Attempts to depict the Civil War-era Southrons as staunch evangelicals is reading the present back into the past and not a good way of understanding the region at the time.

While I do Hate to seem like a broken record, the truth is, as I pointed out on another thread, the idea, in some circles, that the South was the least religious section of the United States all the way up until the postbellum era doesn't seem to be all that well supported, as far as I've seen; indeed, there was indeed already a fairly notable religious bent in the South well before the Civil War started, including amongst the planter classes, and this only greatly accelerated from the 1830s onwards, in no small part thanks to slavery starting to become part of a whole way of life.....while a good bit of the North was actually slowly getting more secular, at least in some ways, for a while.

Honestly, if anything, from all I've read over the years, the difference actually in how said religiousity was expressed in these areas; yes, it certainly is true that Northerners did, in that era, tend to be rather more open about showcasing their faith to the world(like in the "burned over" areas in Western New York), that much can be said.....while Southerners seem to have largely done without the public proselytizing(I understand some areas of Appalachia were an exception) until after the war.

But if there was ever an era where the South was considerably less religious overall than the North, it must have been very early in this nation's history, because I've never seen much to indicate otherwise: Best I can tell, at least from about ~1810 and on, it seems to have been roughly equal overall(that said, though, I must admit that I'm less certain about prior to then.).

The South built it's post 1865 religiosity on the color line, the South did not think it needed to justify the order of things using religion; if anything the various Southern white denominations tailored their Christianity to suit the color line.

Actually, it was both: Southern pro-slavery preachers quite often both tailored their messages to promote the color line, and felt that religious beliefs justified the existence of slavery. So a strong *Fundamentalist movement in a victorious CSA would not at all be out of place, as the conditions & ingredients were already there.
 
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