Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

Religion and the New Republic of America

Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British–an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God. As a recent scholar has observed, “by turning colonial resistance into a righteous cause, and by crying the message to all ranks in all parts of the colonies, ministers did the work of secular radicalism and did it better.”
Many Revolutionary War clergy argued that the war against Britain was approved by God. In his sermon Abraham Keteltas celebrated the American effort as “the cause of truth, against error and falsehood . . .the cause of pure and undefiled religion, against bigotry, superstition, and human invention . . .in short, it is the cause of heaven against hell–of the kind Parent of the Universe against the prince of darkness, and the destroyer of the human race.”

Religion was considered by many as the cause of the American Revolution.  Many Tories believed in a pamphlet of 1778 that it was religious quarrel.  A quarrel caused by Presbyterians and Congregationalists whose “principles of religion and politics were equally averse to those of  the established Church and Government of England. Jonathan Mayhew, Pastor of the West Church in Boston, delivered a sermon in support of the resistance to King Charles I.  He believed it was morally right for political and military resistance to rise against the King.  It was his Christian duty to celebrate the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I.

Resistance to Tyranny as a Christian Duty

Resistance to Tyranny as a Christian Duty

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