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Religion & Superstition in Colonial America

Religion and superstition went hand in hand in Colonial America, and one’s belief in the first confirmed the validity of the second. The colonists' worldview was completely informed by religion and so everything that happened - good or bad - was open to a supernatural interpretation.

The Anglican settlers who established Jamestown Colony of Virginia in 1607 and the Puritans who settled the New England Colonies 1620-1630 were Protestant Christians who believed deeply in God, the reality of the unseen world of angels and devils and understood, based upon their interpretation of the Bible, that everything – large or small – happened for a reason: either God’s will or the devil’s wiles.

Many of the superstitions which developed in Colonial America arrived with the colonists while others were a reaction to the threats and uncertainties of the New World. Although these superstitions are regarded by many in the modern day as irrational, the colonists – for the most part – understood them as conforming naturally to the world as they recognized it.

The Bible made it clear that the devil and his evil spirits were as much a reality as God and his angels and either – or both – could be at work in one’s life at any given time. Superstitions, therefore, developed naturally from religious belief and confirmed the colonists’ worldview (what is known today as confirmation bias) and directed their responses to the events of their lives. As more superstitions were “confirmed” through experience, they became more deeply embedded in the cultural consciousness and periodically found expression through events such as witch trials, banishments, and various persecutions of marginalized segments of the population. Although people in the modern day may find many of the acts of the early colonists incomprehensible, they were a natural development of the superstitions encouraged by the religious beliefs of the time.

Religion in Colonial America

Although it is commonly believed that the English colonies were uniform in religious thought and behavior, this is not so. The colonies of New England were established by separatists (Plymouth Colony) and Puritans (Massachusetts Bay) but over half of the passengers on the Mayflower, which brought the separatists to Plymouth, were Anglicans who worshipped differently, observed Christmas (unlike the separatists and Puritans), and rejected the separatists’ strict moral and behavioral code.

Dissension among the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony was apparent as early as 1633 when Roger Williams (l. 1603-1683) was exiled for contradicting the Puritan magistrates of Boston. He would then establish Providence Colony (modern-day Providence, Rhode Island), which advocated a much more liberal theology, and the colonies of Connecticut and New Hampshire followed this same model as they were also developed by exiles from Massachusetts Bay.

The New England Colonies each insisted their interpretation of Christianity was correct and others were wrong and the same was true all the way down the eastern seaboard. The Quakers who established Pennsylvania were religiously tolerant, welcoming people of all faiths, but still believed their understanding of the Bible was the only right one.

In Virginia, the Anglican Church was thought to be the true church, rejecting not only Catholicism but any other Protestant sect, while Maryland was founded as a haven for Catholics who claimed their church as the original founded by Saint Peter through the authorization of Jesus Christ himself. Religious conflict in Maryland eventually resulted in Catholic persecution and the deportation of Jesuit priests. North and South Carolina followed the Virginian model but, as with all the colonies, not every citizen accepted the view that the 'official' church ordained by God was the Anglican Church and there were invariably conflicts just as there were in the more tolerant and diverse colonies of New York and New Jersey.

All of the colonies could agree on one basic truth of their faith, however, and that was that God was a reality and was ultimately in control of their lives. They could struggle against God’s will, even defy it, but God had the last word. Satan and his demons could try as hard as they liked to disrupt God’s plan but, in the end, according to the assurances of the biblical Book of Revelation, God’s will would prevail.

By the Rev. Darren Miner

Gospel Reading

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Today’s Gospel reading is the story of the angelic Annunciation to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive and bear God’s Son. The museums of Europe are full of paintings of the Annunciation. Many are quite spiritually moving, but none captures even a semblance of the real event.

Imagine, if you will, an illiterate peasant girl around the age of fifteen, for that was the typical age of betrothal in Mary’s day. Out of the blue, she receives a strange greeting from a messenger of God. And she is told that she will conceive a child out of wedlock who will be acknowledged as God’s own Son and who will sit on the throne of David forever. Her response to this amazing announcement is pragmatic. She asks how such a thing can happen when she is a virgin. The angel goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and overshadow her, so that she will conceive.

Now, despite all this language about what will happen to Mary, in point of fact, the angel is announcing what is only a possible future for the girl and for the world. At this point of the story, the virginal conception of Jesus Christ is not a done deal. The teenage Mary could, in fact, say No (and in my experience, teenagers often do!). At this pivotal moment, the fate of the world hinged on the willing cooperation of a frightened teenage girl. For that one instant, the whole universe must have held its breath as it awaited its fate. Fortunately, Mary’s response was Yes, and the universe could breathe a sigh of relief.

Her “Yes” was an act of full and irrevocable commitment to God’s will. Mary knew how her culture worked; she knew that saying Yes to God might be very costly for her. For by agreeing to conceive outside of wedlock, Mary was accepting the very real possibility that she would be publicly disgraced and cast out from her family to fend for herself. Even so, she took the risk and accepted the cost of obedience.

But what does this story of Mary have to say to us today? More than I could include in one sermon, that’s for sure! But for us here today in our present circumstances, two themes come to mind: krísis and expectancy. Krísis is the Greek word underlying the English word crisis, and it can mean a moment of decision, an act of judgment, or even the interpretation of a vision. Today’s story of the Annunciation to Mary is a story about krísis in every sense of the word. In the moments following the invitation to be the mother of God’s own Son, Mary had to use her judgment, interpret a vision, and make a rather difficult decision.

As we know, what followed for Mary was a prolonged period of expectancy, the second theme of this sermon. Mary literally became expectant. But not only did she go through the normal nine months of expectancy associated with pregnancy, she also had to endure a much longer period of expectancy. She had to wait an additional thirty years to see the start of Jesus’ ministry as the Messiah of God. Only then did she know for sure that the promise of the angel Gabriel had indeed been fulfilled.

This time in which we live now is also a time of krísis and expectancy. Like Mary, we are being called to use our judgment, to make difficult decisions, and then to wait for God’s plan for us to unfold. For some, the difficult decision may be to keep going in the midst of loss and grief, waiting for the pain to let up. For others, the difficult decision may be to give sacrificially to the church in a time of great financial insecurity, waiting for the parish to return to life. And all of us are faced with the difficult decision to stay home and stay safe, even when we are desperate to gather with our family, and to wait for the day when God frees us from this pandemic. In so many ways these days, we are called to use our judgment, to make difficult decisions…and then to wait.

Now, our decisions may not change the world in the way that Mary’s decision did, but they have their effect. They either advance God’s plan, or they hinder it. So let us learn from Mary to decide for God at every turn and then to wait patiently upon the Lord.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Charles I of England

Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649) was a Stuart king who, like his father James I of England (r. 1603-1625), viewed himself as a monarch with absolute power and a divine right to rule. His lack of compromise with Parliament led to the English Civil Wars (1642-51), his execution, and the abolition of the monarchy in 1649.

King Charles grew tired of wrangles with Parliament over money and so decided to do without that institution for eleven years. Then between 1640 and 1642, Charles was obliged to call Parliament to raise cash for his campaigns against a Scottish army, which had occupied northern England, and a full-blown rebellion in Ireland, both fuelled by religious differences and the king’s high-handed policies. Parliament attempted to guarantee its own future, and when the king broke his promises of reform, war broke out. The English Civil War was largely fought between ‘Roundheads’ (Parliamentarians) and ‘Cavaliers’ (Royalists) in over 600 battles and sieges in England alone. Ultimately, the professional New Model Army won the day for Parliament and Charles I was tried and found guilty of treason to his own people and government. The king was executed on 30 January 1649. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) ruled the ‘commonwealth’ republic as Lord Protector, but his death was soon followed by the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The new king was Charles’ son, Charles II of England (r. 1660–1685).

Family & Early Life

Charles was born on 19 November 1600 in Dunfermline Palace, Scotland. His father was James I of England (who was also James VI of Scotland, r. 1567-1625), and his mother was Anne of Denmark (l. 1574-1619), the daughter of Frederick II of Denmark and Norway (r. 1559-1588). Charles’ grandmother was Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542-1567). James I was of the royal Stuart line, and he had unified the thrones of Scotland and England after Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603) left no heir. Charles was the second son of King James, but his elder brother Henry died of typhoid fever in 1612 and so he became the heir apparent. Charles’ elder sister Elizabeth (b. 1596) married the King of Bohemia, and her grandson would rule England as George I of England (r. 1714-1727), the first of the Hanoverian Dynasty.

Charles did not enjoy robust health as a child, he was shy - perhaps because of his stammer, and he always came second-best when compared to his more favoured brother Henry. Reaching maturity, Charles spent a lot of time with King James’ hated courtier George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. The duke was seen as a talentless social upstart who had enjoyed a meteoric rise only thanks to the king’s infatuation with him.

In 1624 it was arranged for Charles to marry Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), the young sister of Louis XIII of France (1610-1643). The French royal obviously did not mind the small stature of her betrothed - a mere 1.6 metres tall (5ft 4 in) or his reputation for being rather stubborn, dull-witted, and a complete stranger to a sense of humour. The couple went on to have nine children, the two eldest sons being Charles (b. 1630) and James (b. 1633), both of whom would one day become king.

Of Plymouth Plantation: Brief Summary & History

Of Plymouth Plantation (also known as History of the Plymouth Plantation and William Bradford's Journal, written 1630-1651 CE) is the first-hand account of William Bradford (l. 1590-1657 CE), second governor of the Plymouth Colony (1620-1691 CE) relating the events leading to his congregation of religious separatists (later known as pilgrims) leaving Europe for North America, their voyage aboard the ship Mayflower, and the establishment of the colony in modern-day Massachusetts. Bradford's book is the ultimate source for the term 'pilgrims' as applied to the separatist congregation as he writes of them, "they knew they were pilgrims" in describing their journey of faith to an unknown land (Book I. ch. 7). The work is considered among the most significant of early American literature and history, not only for its artistic and historical value but also its influence on the development of the national character of the United States of America.

Bradford's narrative emphasizes the importance of people of different backgrounds, nationalities, and religious beliefs working together for their collective good but, at the same time, highlights individual accomplishment and how, in a land of unlimited opportunity, one may rise only as high as one's character and determination allow. In concise prose, Bradford narrates the experience of the early colony noting how their commitment to work together with each other and the Native Americans, for the collective good of all, established a community where individual effort was rewarded by benefits, not only for one's self but for all involved.

Although this aspect of the work is far from its focus, the theme of the self-made man creating something from nothing runs throughout and has informed the collective vision of the United States since the book became available to the general public in the 19th century CE. Bradford speaks directly to the reader in an honest voice throughout, emphasizing personal devotion and responsibility to one's God, self, and the greater good, and the determination to succeed in spite of seemingly overwhelming odds.

Persecution & Relocation

Bradford's work begins with the history of the persecution of the religious separatists by the Anglican Church under King James I of England (r. 1603-1625 CE). Although the church had been founded by Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) during the Protestant Reformation in opposition to the Catholic Church, it still retained many aspects of Catholicism which some Protestants, derisively known by Anglicans as “Puritans” because they wished to purify the Church, objected to.

King James I, the same who commissioned the famous King James Translation of the Bible, was the head of the Anglican Church, interpreted this criticism as treason, and authorized officials to fine, arrest, imprison, and even execute dissenters. By age 12, Bradford had read the Geneva Bible, a translation influenced by the theology of the reformer John Calvin (l. 1509-1564 CE), who advocated strict adherence to a literal interpretation of the scriptures which encouraged worship services modeled on the simplicity of the early Christian community. Bradford was further influenced by a religious movement known as Brownism, founded by a former Anglican priest named Robert Browne (l. 1550-1633 CE) who claimed the Church was too corrupt to be purified and the only course for a true believer was to separate one's self from it. Bradford found like-minded Christians in a separatist congregation in the village of Scrooby, close to his hometown of Austerfield, England.

In 1607 CE, the Anglican Church became aware of the Scrooby congregation and arrested some, placing others under surveillance, and fining those they could. The congregation, under the leadership of John Robinson (l. 1576-1628 CE) sold their belongings and relocated to Leiden, the Netherlands, where the government practiced a policy of religious tolerance.

Between 1607-1618 CE, the congregation lived freely in Leiden but could only hold menial jobs and became concerned that their children were losing their English heritage. The English had established the colony of Jamestown in the Virginia Patent of North America in 1607 CE, which, ten years later, was flourishing, and the Leiden congregation were already looking into some means of creating their own colony in Virginia when, in 1618 CE, one of their leading members, William Brewster (l. 1568-1644 CE), published a tract criticizing the Anglican Church and orders were given by the English officials for his arrest. Brewster was hidden by his friends, but the congregation stepped up their efforts to relocate and contracted with Thomas Weston (l. 1584 - c. 1647 CE), who was a merchant adventurer who matched potential colonists with investors. By June of 1620 CE, they had two ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower, and were ready to begin their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to a new home.

Roger Williams

Roger Williams (l. 1603-1683 CE) was a Puritan separatist minister best known for his conflict with both the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633-1635 CE, resulting in his banishment and founding of the colony of Providence, Rhode Island. Williams believed that the clergy of both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were corrupt in continuing to adhere to the concept of one's deeds as an important aspect of spiritual salvation rather than acknowledging the biblical precept that only God's grace grants salvation (Romans 8:32, Ephesians 2:8). Further, he claimed, these churches were still aligned with the basic policies of the Anglican Church they had supposedly rejected.

Williams is also well-known as an advocate for the separation of church and state (claiming that politics poisoned religious practice and belief), complete religious freedom, the abolition of slavery in the colonies of North America, and respect for Native Americans. One of his criticisms of the colonies of New England was that they felt free to take land from the Native Americans without payment. When he founded Providence, he paid the Narragansett tribe a fair price for the land.

Providence became the first successful liberal colony in New England which was not informed by Puritan ideals and theology. Anyone of any religion or ethnicity was welcome to settle there as long as they recognized the fundamental human right of what Williams called the "liberty of conscience" – the freedom to express one's self - especially in religious matters, without fear of persecution or reprisal. Providence was scorned by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, especially, as populated by riffraff, lunatics, and heretics but became one of the fastest-growing settlements in the region under Williams' vision and guidance. In the modern day, parks, schools, and memorials around Rhode Island are named in his honor.

Early Life & Migration

Roger Williams was born, probably in London, England, in 1603 CE, the son of a merchant, James Williams, and wife Alice. Records of his early life were lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666 CE. As a young man, he was educated first at Charterhouse School and then Cambridge University's Pembroke College where he mastered a number of languages including Dutch, French, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. He was intensely interested in religious matters from a young age and studied to become an Anglican cleric. At Cambridge, however, he was drawn to Puritan theology and practice which would later set him at odds with the Anglican Church.

The Anglican Church, although founded in opposition to Catholicism, still retained a number of Catholic aspects in its organization, worship service, and beliefs. The Puritans were Anglicans who objected to any Catholic influences or observances in the Church and wished to 'purify' it, bringing it in line with the simple practices and beliefs of the first Christian community as depicted in the biblical Book of Acts. The more radical Puritans were known as separatists – those who felt the Anglican Church was wholly corrupted by Catholic influences and separated themselves from it completely – and, in time, Williams aligned himself with this theology and belief.

During his years at Cambridge, Williams was apprenticed to the famous jurist Sir Edward Coke (l. 1552-1634 CE), an independent and courageous thinker whose insistence on the concept of equality before the law brought him into conflict with the monarchy. Coke's unwavering stand for justice, as well as his practice of regularly speaking out against policies or even laws he considered unjust or inequitable, significantly influenced Williams' outlook and later actions.

The Anglican Church had replaced the pope with the English monarch as its head and so any criticism of the Church was considered treason against the crown. Throughout the reign of James I of England (1603-1625 CE), Puritans who voiced dissent were persecuted, fined, and jailed, some even executed, and under Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649 CE), these persecutions continued. Recognizing that England was no longer safe for an outspoken Puritan separatist, Williams left with his wife Mary in 1630 CE.