The American Civil religion in the 1890s: in crisis and revival
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Description
Many historians believe that during the 1890s, a crisis existed in the American mind. There were various responses to this perceived crisis, including evangelical and, in particular, patriotic/nationalistic revivals. This study offers a new perspective on these latter revivals in that they may be viewed as part of a Civil Religious revival At the center of the revival were America's public school children who, most observers agreed, were the most appropriate agents for perpetuating the country's Civil Religious heritage. The driving force behind this effort was a children's magazine called The Youth's Companion and two industrious staff members, James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy. These men, in league with such organizations as the National Education Association, the Grand Army of the Republic, and especially the American Institute of Civics, organized and executed the revival There were three factors which moved these individuals into action. First, the increasing tide of immigration generated concern that the newcomers would worship 'false gods' (anarchism, communism, or worse, Romanism) because of their unfamiliarity with the God of the Republic and the Providential meaning of American history and destiny. Second, because of increasing urbanization, materialism, and scientific investigation, there was a diminution of patriotic conviction or fervor. More often than not, patriotism was synonymous with Civil Religion (viz., the belief that the history of America is a manifestation of Providential Will, that America and Americans occupy a position of uniqueness among the nations of the earth, and that the divinely ordained mission of American civilization is to exemplify and spread the concepts of liberty, justice, equality, and democracy), which is to say, the trend of the age was leading to an increased amount of Civil Religious apostacy and/or heresy. Third, because of this growing cosmopolitanism in American society, many groups and individuals were becoming increasingly sensitive about the content of moral instruction in the public schools. Until the 1880s, the basis of ethical or moral training was usually a nondenominational but Protestant Biblical Christianity. When this basis was challenged, educators and other interested parties became concerned that if the religious or divine sanction was removed as the basis of morality, society would revert to heathenism and/or barbarism The solution to all three dilemmas was to instruct America's public school children in the principles of their Civil Religious heritage