Although many of the early American colonies are associated with religious freedom and the desire to flee European persecution, religious toleration within the colonies was anything but the norm. Weekly church attendance was mandatory: In the more egalitarian Virginia, an offender missing three consecutive Sundays in church could be put to death in the early days of the colony. New England Puritans, long viewed as a persecuted group in England, were the least tolerant of other faiths. In most of the thirteen colonies, Catholics and Jews were considered persona non grata.
Congregationalism and Calvinism in New England were Intolerant of other Religious Beliefs
The example of Thomas Morton in Plymouth, Massachusetts illustrates the limits of morality allowed by the early Pilgrim and Puritan settlers. Morton’s plantation, known as “Merry Mount,” featured wild celebrations that included extra-marital sexual encounters which frequently involved local Native Americans. An affront to Puritan moral standards so much a part of their religion, Morton was deported and ultimately died in irons after returning to the colony.
Detractors to the faith like Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were exiled from the colony. “Heretics” were physically beaten. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story Young Goodman Brown, the devil tells the young prospective initiate, “I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem…” Quakers were not welcome in Massachusetts and well into the 19th-century, New Englanders annually burned an effigy of the pope.
Early State Religions in the English Colonies of North America
The accepted churches within colonial boundaries were directly supported by the state and frequently involved in the political issues of the colony. In Massachusetts, the commonwealth was comprised of “godly communities” that reflected the theocratic order John Calvin had attempted in Geneva in the late 16th century.
In Virginia, no men could serve on a jury unless they were practicing members of the Anglican Church. Historians have pointed out, however, that earlier laws regulating church attendance were often ignored in later years, yet the official church still received tax support and preferential treatment.
The Precedent of Intolerance Formed Future Views of American Denominationalism
Intolerance became a part of American religious tradition among the older, established churches. The Great Awakening of the early 18th Century, for example, was vigorously opposed in Virginia. In 1704 a Maryland law made it illegal for a Catholic priest to say mass. Maryland had been founded by Lord Baltimore as a haven for persecuted Catholics.
Views of Catholicism in Early American History
Opposition to Catholicism played an important role during the War of 1812 when French Catholics in British Canada actively supported British efforts against the Americans due to perceived American animosity toward their faith. Later, as Irish Catholic immigrants arrived in Boston and other large northeastern cities, frequent clashes, often violent, demonstrated the intolerance of established faiths.
Similarly, new sects seeking the freedoms offered by an emerging American nation battled ignorance and opposition. Mother Ann Lee’s Shakers were often the targets of physical violence as they strove to establish their communities in New England. Much later, another group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or more commonly known as “Mormons” journeyed to Utah after decades of violent persecution that began in Palmyra, New York.
Religious Intolerance Continues to Characterize America
Invariably, American history is replete with sad examples of faith groups that were once persecuted yet turned their achieved freedoms into vehicles to persecute others. Even in a post-modern America it is not unusual to hear members of one faith tradition consigning to hell the members of other traditions. Catholics refuse to open the Eucharist to those not in their fellowship; evangelical Protestants equate Catholicism with paganism, and few Christians understand Islam, seeing only terrorism within every mosque.
Religious Diversity in Colonial America did not Produce Inclusion or Ecumenism
This state of affairs began in the 17th Century, when colonial religious practices set long term precedents of intolerance and ignorance. It may only be ended when a true spirit of ecumenical belief breaks the barriers perpetuating the irrational fears of established faith traditions. Colonial religious diversity did not lead to toleration.
Sources:
- John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988)
- William W. Sweet, Religion in Colonial America (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1965)
- Dale Taylor, The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America, From 1607-1783 (Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1997)
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