Religion in american experience - Essay Example

Task: Religion in American experience The Protestants were committed to a mission of strengthening the ethical values of all the ethnic affiliations caught by the tragedy of slavery. This tragedy, in the America history saw a rise in African-American churches and strong protestant advocacy for the abolition of slavery, which had affected many tribes both in the North and South (Noll 70). From the North, the same era saw the strengthening of Protestantism in the South where slavery was strongly condemned by use of scriptures, like quoting of Galatians 3:28.

The work of the Protestants in abolishing slave trade also saw support from the moderate social thinkers who taught that the Protestants initiated steps of abolishing slave trade would bear fruits. The Protestants encouraged the slaves to disobey their masters because they taught that the Bible would free the slaves. The Protestants believed that the civil war was a religious war and it was being predestined by God. According to Protestants in 1860s, the civil war marked a period of their influence in United States; however this also marked the end of the domination of Protestants in America (Noll 72).

Abraham Lincoln, who was not a member of any religious church, had the same opinion as Protestants since he believed that the civil war was as a consequence of religious war. During his second Inaugural speech in 1865, he captured on the religious distress of the civil war than any protestant follower (Noll 72). He says those who fought were the same people who read the same Bible, and prayed the same God; however, these people turned against each other. Lincoln was assassinated just some days after the Civil War ended and many Protestants mourned and expressed their dissatisfaction for his death.

These Protestants believed that Lincoln contributed immensely to the end of civil war, which also led to the abolition of slave that had penetrated most parts of the Northern America (God in America, Episode Three).Works CitedNoll, Mark. Religion and American politics: From the colonial period to the 1980s.London: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print