American Church History: Dealing With Multi-cultures

Challenges by Region:

 This in-fighting between the colonialists played out in several ways across the regions: First, those holding anti-Anglican views were seen as opposing the king of England. This resulted in persecution and hostility. Second, Quakers in the Pennsylvania region had a pacifist worldview which influenced their position on taking up arms. This caused the other Protestants to resent them. Christians against Christians. Third, the charter for Maryland given to a Catholic family would prove another example of religious intolerance. Granted, Catholics were being persecuted  back in England, but in the New World, specifically Maryland, the Catholics were looked upon with suspicion and seen as “idolaters.”  In the Carolinas, the Anglicans harassed the French Protestants/Huguenots, rather than welcoming them into the territory. This intolerant attitude towards anything but classical Anglicanism played out across the regions. For example, for his passionate delivery of his style of Anglicanism, George Whitfield was almost excommunicated by one of his brothers in the gospel (a prejudice of style, delivery, and ministry accommodations).  The classical Anglicans then, can be considered exclusivists, to their later detriment.

Of course, the Christian community faced challenges in intercultural relationships with the native communities and minorities. According to Linford Fisher, in the New England territories (not unlike the other regions), missionary projects were considered failures. In describing the exchange between the Indians and the Puritans, he places the blame at the feet of the Puritans for failed evangelisms due to “cultural insensitivity, political complicity, and financial impropriety…;”  while on the part of the Indians, they are to be “faulted for not grasping the finer points of Christian theology or for persisting in their traditional practices.”[2] In the same way, the Anglican approach to ministering to imported labor on plantations and within the communities was lacking until the Methodists and Baptists engaged that community in a more personal way and opened doors for participation, education, and leadership to minorities.  In one sense, the challenges of the religious community in these American territories were self-inflicted. Regardless of the region, challenges should be expected from a melting pot of people with diverse religious, political, and economic affiliations.

References:

[1]  Edwin S. Gaustad and Leigh E. Schmidt, The Religious History of America, (United States: Harper One, 2004), 93.

[2]  Linford Fisher, “Native Americans, Conversion, and Christian Practice in Colonial New England, 1640-1730,” Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 102 Iss.1 (2009):103, https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/229386874/fulltextPDF/1EDE109B65534C8APQ/1?accountid=12085

Dr. Kevin Hall