The American History Of Us

From The Christian Reader:

The American History of Us


by Eric Rauch



The history of Christianity in the United States is a controversial topic in our modern day and age. Secularists and humanists want to claim that Christianity had little influence on the formation of this country, and that the influence that it did have was detrimental at best, tyrannical at worst. On the opposite side are Christian historians and scholars that want to find Christianity behind every event and decision that was made in the more than 400 years that have elapsed since the Mayflower crossed the Atlantic. While it is true that the secularists generally understate the case, it is also true that many Christians tend to overstate it. The real story, as it so often does, lies somewhere between these two extremes.



One of the problems of modern historical treatments of the history of Christianity in this country, is the lack of reference to original source documents. The paper trail documenting the birth of what became the United States is massive and well-preserved; so massive in fact, that the task of sorting through all of the paper can be daunting and defeating. Too often, historians are content to find a sentence or two from a source document that seems to say what they want it to say, and will then build an entire argument based on that small scrap of “evidence.” Rather than doing the hard work of being an accurate historical reporter, they will—like evolutionary anthropologists—construct an entire story based on a very small sample size. This is no way to do science, and it is no way to do history.



Just as the political climate in the modern United States has become deeply partisan, so has the historical reporting. If the saying is true (and it is) that “the winners get to write to history books,” then modern historians are not only trying to convince their present audience, they are also competing for the chance to convince our children and grand-children. This is why the battle over the real history of Christianity in this country is so important. It is not about elevating faith over non-faith so that Christians can conclusively prove that Christianity was a major factor in the founding of this country; it goes much deeper than this. If Christianity can be effectively written out of the history and the laws of this country, there is nothing preventing America from becoming a purely secular state, as France became after the French Revolution. If there is no higher Authority that both citizen and politician are accountable to, there is nothing to prevent the state from becoming a tyrant, putting itself in the place of God. History is not a meaningless topic of academic discussion; it is a bloody battlefield for the future.



It is for this reason that the re-printing of Daniel Dorchester’s Christianity in the United States is such a monumental and providential occasion. Dorchester completed his exhaustive history in 1888 and it contains facts, figures, and events that have long since been forgotten. He proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that America can and should be called a “Christian nation,” despite what modern historians may think or write in protest. Author and researcher Gary DeMar states the following about the book:



Dorchester’s massive study begins with the colonial era and continues through 1887. The author does something unique. Not only have the religious statistics of the churches been studied, but also the moral and social phenomena. [Modern-day] Liberals aren’t opposed to private religious beliefs. What really bugs them is the social impact of religion, and in the case of Dorchester’s book, it’s the impact of Christianity on all of life that interests him. He also uncovers the seeds of skepticism, how once Christian institutions were lost. There are lessons here for our day.



I have never seen such a comprehensive study of the subject before I obtained a copy of Dorchester’s Christianity in the United States. I don’t know how Dorchester did it in an era before the internet. He covers the good, the bad, and the ugly. There’s even a section on American Socialism. With this book in your library, you will be able to show anyone that America cannot be understood without understanding Christianity.



Dorchester understood well that the history of Christianity was not only a Protestant endeavor; Catholicism had a great influence as well. And while Dorchester himself was a Protestant, he fairly and evenly gives credit (and discredit) where it is due—whether due to Protestant, Catholic, or what he calls “Divergent Elements.” He explains his approach to writing the book in the “Preface:”



The genesis and purpose of this volume are easily told. It had a genuine spiritual conception, birth and growth. Before the death of that eminent historian of Religion in America, Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., the undersigned held correspondence with him upon questions pertaining to the religious history and prospects of our country—the beginning of a series of inquiries resulting in this volume. For over a dozen years the subject was studied for the author’s personal satisfaction, with no expectation of putting the results into printed pages. The mental exercises which led him to undertake the volume and the difficulties encountered in the task need not be here related. The work, sometimes intermitted for months and twice for several years, amid other heavy duties, though never out of thought, has constantly broadened and matured.



Believing that Christianity is best known and attested by its influence in the actual life of communities, not only have the religious statistics of the churches been studied, but also the moral and social phenomena, and the tidal movements and trend of the nation’s life. These phenomena, sometimes subtle and latent, sometimes overt and out-bursting, sometimes vibratory, and sometimes complex, require the most careful discrimination in the work of interpreting, analyzing and classifying. Conscious that the historian cannot too carefully guard lest he discolor or distort by his lens, the work has been undertaken and prosecuted under conscientious convictions, in the hope that the best interests of Christianity may be subserved by it, and that it may prove helpful to the Christian ministry and to the public at large.







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No attempt has been made to write the history of the various religious denominations, for the author did not so conceive his task. Taking a bird’s-eye view of the field, and apprehending what are currently regarded as three great competing forces in the religious life of the nation—Protestantism, Romanism, and a variety of Divergent Elements—he adopted and has kept this classification throughout the volume.



As to the Protestant Churches, the beginning of each, the organic changes, schisms and reunions, and the great benevolent, illuminating and evangelizing agencies employed by them, have been sketched, and, for the most part, kept grouped together, either by express statements or by implication, avoiding so far as possible invidious comparisons, and seeking to do full justice to all. Very much matter relating to individual denominations was, from necessity, omitted. The Roman Catholic Church has been freely, fully and generously treated, eulogies have been expressed upon some of the earlier gifted and devoted emissaries, and a great amount of expensive and wearisome labor put forth in efforts to adequately represent the body in the later statistical tables. The Divergent Elements, existing, as they do, as drifts of sentiment only slightly organized, have required different treatment from either evangelical Protestantism or Romanism. The statistical exhibits of all the religious bodies are the best their own official “Minutes” or Year Books make possible. To go behind them would be unfair and impracticable. Newspaper statistics have been omitted almost entirely, because very liable to errata, and only under stern necessities have estimates been accepted and used.



Deeply sensible of the delicacy of an undertaking in which such diverse and multiform interests are involved, the author commends his work to the Christian indulgence of the public.



The republication of this book by American Vision Press is a historical event in itself. No longer can modern historians be excused for ignoring it due to its scarcity. More importantly, it needs to be in the living rooms and on the bookshelves of every Christian home. This book does not simply tell the story of Christians in America, it is the story of our people in America. Just as the Jews were reminded to tell their children the story of their forefathers, so should we be telling our children the stories of ours. Dorchester has written the account and American Vision has made sure that the book is available once again. It is now up to us to tolle lege—”take up and read.”





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