A look at religion in the South during the War Between the States
Confederate Religion and Morals
Confederate Religion and Morals
(Monica’s Dark Corner) - “Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me....That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.” ~ Stonewall Jackson
According to estimates from the United States census, approximately half of Southerners in 1860 did not belong to any church. Nonetheless, evangelical religion exerted considerable influence on Southern society. By 1830, the previously prevailing skepticism and tolerance of the Jeffersonian era had largely been replaced by religious orthodoxy, which emphasized original sin, the concept of hell, individual repentance, justification by faith, and the belief in an omnipotent, personal God governing human affairs. These doctrines aligned with frontier individualism and the political ideals of Jacksonian democracy, and were actively promoted during the Great Revival of the early nineteenth century as well as by subsequent generations of evangelists at summer camp meetings. Baptists and Methodists emerged as the predominant denominations within the evangelical movement, accounting for nearly three-quarters of Southern church membership by 1860. The remaining quarter consisted of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, Cumberland Presbyterians, Quakers, and various other sects.
Evangelical denominations, along with several smaller groups, consolidated their influence over Southern communities by…