The Making of American Christianity: From Revivalism to the Religious Right
A New Yorker article by an unnamed author traces the evolution of American Christianity from the colonial era to the present, focusing on the interplay between religious freedom, revivalism, and political power. The narrative begins with Jeremiah Moore, a Baptist preacher jailed in 1773 Virginia for unauthorized preaching, and follows the fight for disestablishment led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, culminating in the First Amendment's ambiguous separation of church and state. The Second Great Awakening, epitomized by the 1801 Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky, democratized faith through charismatic preachers like Francis Asbury. The 1922 sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" by Harry Emerson Fosdick sparked a modernist-fundamentalist split, leading to the rise of Billy Graham's new evangelicalism in the 1940s. By the late 20th century, white evangelicalism, infused with fundamentalist politics, dominated America's religious marketplace, as seen in the work of David Barton and Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA. The article concludes with current trends: a Pew survey showing stabilization of Christian identity and a Gallup poll indicating rising religiosity among young men, suggesting a potential resurgence shaped by market forces.
Key facts
- Jeremiah Moore was a Baptist preacher jailed in 1773 Virginia for preaching without Church of England authorization.
- Thomas Jefferson drafted a bill barring punishment for religious beliefs in 1776; James Madison passed a modified version in 1786.
- The First Amendment's final language: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'
- The Cane Ridge Revival in August 1801 in Kentucky drew thousands and marked the Second Great Awakening.
- Francis Asbury traveled 250,000 miles and preached over 16,000 sermons in 45 years as a Methodist circuit rider.
- Harry Emerson Fosdick's 1922 sermon 'Shall the Fundamentalists Win?' at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan ignited the modernist-fundamentalist controversy.
- Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles crusade under a tent attracted 350,000 people over eight weeks.
- David Barton founded WallBuilders in 1989 and published 'The Myth of Separation' promoting Christian nationalism.
- Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012; after his 2024 assassination, his wife Erika Kirk continued his work.
- A 2024 Pew survey found about two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, down from nearly 90% in the 1990s, but decline has leveled off.
- Gallup data shows a surge of religiosity among young men.
- The article cites historians Matthew Avery Sutton, Brook Wilensky-Lanford, Mark Noll, George Marsden, Joseph L. Locke, and sociologists Roger Finke and Rodney Stark.
Entities
Artists
- Jeremiah Moore
- Thomas Jefferson
- James Madison
- John Locke
- Matthew Avery Sutton
- Brook Wilensky-Lanford
- Barton Stone
- Francis Asbury
- Charles Grandison Finney
- Mark Noll
- Harry Emerson Fosdick
- William Jennings Bryan
- John Thomas Scopes
- Clarence Darrow
- Billy Graham
- George Marsden
- David Barton
- Joseph L. Locke
- Charlie Kirk
- Rob McCoy
- Erika Kirk
- Frederick Douglass
- Jerry Falwell
- Donald Trump
- Walter Lippmann
- Roger Finke
- Rodney Stark
Institutions
- Church of England
- Virginia House of Delegates
- First Presbyterian Church (Manhattan)
- Wheaton College
- Youth for Christ
- WallBuilders
- Oral Roberts University
- Turning Point USA
- Conservative Political Action Conference
- Pew Research Center
- Gallup
- Atlantic Monthly Press
- Basic Books
- University of Texas Press
Locations
- Virginia
- Fairfax County
- Difficult (Virginia)
- Falls Church
- Leesburg
- Alexandria
- Albemarle County
- Connecticut
- Kentucky
- Red River (Kentucky)
- Gasper River (Kentucky)
- Logan County (Kentucky)
- Cane Ridge (Kentucky)
- Louisiana Purchase
- Manhattan
- New York City
- Fifth Avenue
- Dayton (Tennessee)
- Los Angeles
- Aledo (Texas)
- Utah
- United States