If you think church membership is bad now...

As a part of switching to a new denomination, I have to take a class on the history and polity of the Disciples of Christ. It's been an insightful class and I've really enjoyed the reading. As a part of that reading, I've had to review the religious history of the United States, and I guess I had forgotten (if I ever knew) what a non-religious country this was at its founding.

I've heard the claims of the Religious Right--that America was founded as a Christian nation--and recognized them for what they are a selective reading of history at best and an intentional rewriting of history for political ends in the present at worst. However, I think I have assumed that the upper crust of American society--i.e. the Jeffersons, Adams, Washingtons, Franklins, etc.--were Deists and the hoi polloi were the church-going types. It appears both I and the Religious Right are mistaken.

Most people did not attend a church of any type at all prior to the 1800's and the Second Great Awakening--the revivalist movement on the western frontier (out of which the Disciples of Christ emerge). One of my texts puts the figure of church attendance following the Revolution at less than ten percent! Apparently, the phenomenon of state churches in Europe left a bad taste in people's mouths and churches were associated with the governments they left behind, not to mention their centuries of warfare and corruption of those same churches. Although religion may have played a part in certain colonists coming to the new world (e.g. the Pilgrims), once they stayed a while religious devotion seemed to drop.

Despite references to the "creator", etc. in the Declaration of Independence and a general sort of language about God, the founding fathers seemed to view God from a deistic perspective--one where God creates a natural order but then lets it go to run itself. That view seems to be the extent God was thought of if at all by most people in the revolutionary era.

My reading coincided with my hearing an interview with historian Gary Wills on NPR's Fresh Air last week. Wills makes this same point while explaining the rationale behind the freedom of religion granted in the first amendment of the constitution. It's worth listening to and his book, I assume, is worth reading.

Grace and Peace,

Chase