On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Jim Farmelant wrote:
> The early years of the USA were notable for the general lack of
> religiosity both among the elites and among the masses. Most of the
> Founders were more or less avowed Deists, and many educated people
> were openly disdainful of Christianity. Among the common folk, church
> membership and church attendance was generally quite low. It was not
> until the early 19th century that the country was swept by a strong
> wave of evangelization which fundamentally changed the religious
> character of the country.
There's a reason that was called the Second Great Awakening, Jim. The First (also called just "the" Great Awakening -- Jonathan Edwards & Geoge Whitefield) was also very important -- it's often thought of as a nationalizing experience that prepared the ground for the revolution. But you are completely right that the founding fathers were mostly rationalists and deists. It was a brief window of opportunity, a lucky break on our part.
Still, what they called atheists in those days were what we call deists -- like Tom Paine and Rousseau. To say, as Paine did, that you believed in "One God -- and no more" was considered a huge blow. Enlightenment rationalism saw itself mainly as rational religion, as the complete freedom of individuals to decide based on their own reasoning what they felt on the matter, and there was a tendency among sophisticates to leave everything vague and inward and symbolical. In that sense, it actually has a lot in common with the religion of the Awakenings. They might be throught of as two extreme poles of the same American religion. Or the American irreligion, if you were one of those contemporary Europeans who thought doctrine was important.
As for the very earliest permanent settlers, 1585 in the South and 1619 in the north, there was a real split between the Puritans of the North and the Cavaliers and transhipped convicts of Virginia. So we can't say in a blanket way they were distinguished by their lack of religiousity. In New England the first settlers were hugely religious. The same period that led to the rise and then fall of puritanism in England through the long Parliament and the civil war was paralleled by developments here. Except that the Puritans weren't overthrown here in 1660.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com