Pre-1600: Religion: Overview

Heathens. In popular thought, the introduction of religion to America began with the Pilgrims’ arrival in Plymouth in 1620. The Native Americans, the argument continues, were heathens who lacked any religion, not only Christianity. Even the other English who arrived earlier, those who settled in Virginia, came for riches and were notoriously godless. In fact the first Americans, the Native Americans, did have a religion and possessed a well-developed sense of spirituality, albeit one unrecognizable to the Europeans. Christianity arrived in the Americas not with the Pilgrims or, a decade later, the Massachusetts Bay Puritans but with the explorers who began arriving in the late fifteenth century. Indeed, in part, exploration was prompted not only by economic and political goals but also to spread faith to the “ignorant masses.” Priests and missionaries were present on the ships bound for the New World. To understand religion in the sixteenth-century Americas and what occurred when Native American and European systems of faith encountered one another, one must consider the two very different ways of belief.

Universal System. Throughout history every culture and people have had religion. Though varying in whom or what is believed, how faith is expressed and practiced, religion has universally offered comfort and explanation. To people living in worlds in which mysteries of nature seemed unknowable and undiscoverable and in which tragedy and hardship seemed to abound, faith provided answers. Despite common reasons for religious belief, religions varied widely in the sixteenth century. The philosopher Huston Smith has divided religion into two broad categories: historical religion and primal religion. Adherents to historical religions (such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) hold certain texts to be sacred. Historical religions also tend to change over time. In contrast, followers of primal religions, such as Native Americans, do not have a sacred text, nor do their belief systems tend to be in flux. They are often nature-based.

Changes. The sixteenth century witnessed much change in the practice of religion in Europe. The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response, the Counter-Reformation, not only affected how many individuals practiced their religion but also had far-reaching effects on government, economy, and society. These changes led to further alterations in religious belief and practice. Such changes did not only affect Europe; exploration, fueled in part by new interest in religion and the missionary impulse, brought Europeans to the New World and into (often disastrous) contact with indigenous peoples.

Emergence of Protestantism. Until the late sixteenth century the vast majority of Europeans were Catholics, adhering to the idea that one church existed, governed on Earth by the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. Several reasons led to the emergence of Protestantism: nationalism (movements in various countries to strengthen their own governments and cultures and a lessening of the Pope’s authority); the emphasis on individualism during the Renaissance (the belief that individuals were capable of self-education and self-direction); and the growth of political economies. Another factor was the abuse of ecclesiastical authority. Local parish priests enjoyed riches at the expense of their parishioners, who were starving both physically and spiritually. Such discontent led to the rapid growth of Lutheranism and especially Calvinism. In contrast to the Catholic Church’s emphasis on the role of intermediaries such as priests and bishops helping individuals make their way to heaven, and on embellishments such as stained-glass windows, incense, and elaborate churches as a way to glorify God, the tenets of John Calvin, Martin Luther, and other prominent Protestant reformers and thinkers emphasized the concept of Sola Scriptura, or Scripture alone. Fancy structures such as the soaring gothic cathedrals, jeweled chalices, and other elaborate apparatus, as well as human mediators (priests), were unnecessary and in fact hindered an individual’s road to salvation. Each individual through faith and study of the Bible might find God for him- or herself.

Varieties. In 1505, after nearly being struck by a bolt of lightning, Martin Luther, a young German man intending to become a lawyer, chose to become a monk instead. As an Augustinian monk, however, he found the Church rituals such as Mass and confession to lack meaning. Instead inward faith or grace was the means of personal salvation, he argued. Luther rejected the idea that Church officials could help guide others to grace. While this doctrine of justification by faith did not initially cause the church to be suspicious, his open attacks in 1517 on the sale of indulgences did. Indulgences were purchases of forgiveness, by which an individual might reduce time spent in purgatory and by which the Pope was raising money for the building of St. Peter’s in Rome. Luther published his Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences and also urged German princes to take control of religion in their states, in direct defiance of Rome. Another belief system, Calvinism, held great appeal for both uneducated and educated Europeans and would influence the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts beginning in the 1620s. By 1534 the French John Calvin had converted (though not in the formal sense as we think of it today) to a scripture-based form of Christianity. Going to Geneva, Switzerland, to reform religion in 1536, he was forced out by 1538 as the political climate of the city changed and Protestant leaders were no longer welcome. Three years later, reformist advocates were once again invited as the town’s politics changed again. Calvin remained there until his death in 1564. Calvin stressed predestination, the tenet that even before an individual was born God had determined if he were to be saved or damned. Calvin placed the reading of Scripture at the center of worship. He also emphasized the primacy of faith: “All we have attempted ... is to restore the native purity from which [the Christian ordinances] had degenerated” and “to bring ... faith back to its [biblical] fountainhead.” Without faith the Christian could not find lasting benefit from word or sacrament.

Spread of Calvinism. Calvin gained many adherents in Geneva; his system of belief, which he and his students continued to develop, spread to other Swiss cities, such as Zurich, and to other countries, especially England. The ascendancy of the Catholic queen Mary Tudor in 1553 drove many Protestants into exile. Since the late fifteenth century, Protestantism had been growing in strength in England. Henry VIII had created the Church of England in 1534 largely because of his dissatisfaction with the Pope’s refusal to grant him a divorce. The Church of England retained many elements of the Catholic Church; what had changed was the confiscation of monasteries and other Church property, to the profit of the Crown and national independence under the Crown as head of the Church in England. Henry’s son Edward moved the Church of England in a more Protestant direction, to the satisfaction of many English people who found greater spiritual nourishment in several varieties of reformed religion. The Marian exiles, as those Protestants were known who fled England after Mary became queen and rejoined Rome, studied Calvinism on the Continent. As such, upon their return to England, Genevan Calvinism took a firm hold at both Cambridge and Oxford. The tenets of Calvin and his successors shaped (though by no means exclusively) Church of England doctrine in the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Some of the most prominent reform theologians in Europe, including William Perkins, William Whitaker, John Reynolds, and Lawrence Chaderton, were English. They taught generations of students, some of whom in turn became preachers in English parishes and some of whom would bring their theology to new England, formulating varieties of American Puritanism.

Religious Wars. If after Mary’s reign Protestantism was able to spread in England with only a limited amount of conflict and with the monarchs’ sanction and support, this was not the case in other European countries. The division between Catholic and Protestant not only engendered disagreement but also caused wars and political strife. The example of France between the years 1559 and 1589 illustrates particularly well how extreme religious division might become. The nobility, at odds with the Catholic monarchy over questions of power, took advantage of the three weak sons of Henry II to strengthen their own position. To gain the upper hand, they often cloaked themselves in reformed religion (in this case French Calvinism) so that Huguenots (as French Calvinists were called) would side with them. Both sides encouraged their followers to desecrate the others’ sacred property, including churches, religious statues, and stained-glass windows. The violence did not end there; often rioting led to personal injury and death. One of the worst episodes began 24 August 1572, St. Bartholomew’s Day. In Paris, as the king’s sister was marrying the Protestant Henry of Navarre in an attempt to reconcile the two sides, Huguenot gentry were slaughtered. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, as it has become known, spread from Paris to the provinces, and over the next six weeks perhaps twelve thousand Huguenots were killed. Besides France the Netherlands also experienced severe religious division.

Exploration and Colonization. Those countries that did not experience religious wars were able to focus their resources on exploration. Both for profit and for the glory of God (especially in light of the growth of Protestantism) mainly Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal set sail for distant lands. Portugal was the first to venture out, beginning with voyages to Africa in the 1420s. It was Columbus, however, who met with the greatest success. The Genoan was supported by Queen Isabella of Spain. He reached the Bahamas in 1492; upon his arrival in the New World, Columbus declared that “God has shown his will.” A well-circulated pamphlet he wrote on his return to Spain praising the friendly natives, fertile soil, and rivers overflowing with gold ensured support for Columbus. As a result he would make three more voyages. Several clergymen arrived in the Antilles with Columbus on his second voyage. Five members of the Franciscan order were sent to the New World in 1500 and another seventeen in 1502. Members of the Dominican order began arriving in 1510. Spanish Jesuits and then Dominicans settled in Florida, which Juan Ponce de León had first explored in 1515 and 1521, and Franciscans accompanied voyagers to California and the Southwest. Seeing Spanish success, the French turned their attention to the New World, though not as avidly as the Spanish. French Jesuits were entrusted with missionary activity. Jacques Cartier arrived on the St. Lawrence River first in 1534, but it was not until 1608, led by Samuel de Champlain, that the French would establish a permanent settlement, also in the St. Lawrence Valley. The first Jesuit team arrived in Nova Scotia in 1611. The missionaries baptized more than one hundred Indians. Led by Pierre Biard and Enemond Massé, they catechized the natives in their own language. The French enjoyed slight success for a while, but their most enduring result was making the Indians economically dependent upon them.

English Attempts. Initially Queen Elizabeth I of England did not sponsor much overseas exploration. She was preoccupied with helping other Protestant monarchs, such as the Dutch king, and with fighting Catholic Phillip II of Spain. In 1588 Phillip sent the Spanish Armada—130 ships, 30,000 men, and 2,400 artillery pieces strong—to the coast of England. Despite a weaker fleet, the English defeated the Spanish Armada. This victory solidified Protestantism in England, and with a stalemate in the religious wars England was able to join the exploration race. In the 1580s and 1590s exploration captured the English imagination. For the nobles this was a chance to gain new authority and new lands, for the merchants new markets, and for radical Protestant clergy the opportunity to convert literally millions of heathens. First attempts were unsuccessful, but later they met with greater success. Sir Francis Drake defeated the Spanish in Florida. As the economy worsened and the tide turned against radical Protestantism, more and more English looked to colonization as a way to leave. In time the English gained a more solid foothold and established Protestantism in their colonies more strongly than the Spanish did Catholicism.

Native Americans and Spirituality. The Native Americans were guided by spirits and deities. They did not worship a single god, nor did they hold a single text to be sacred. Though several tribal and language groups lived in the Americas, each possessing its own set of myths, Native American religions were, fundamentally, based on the same idea. As polytheists they believed that the spirit power dwelled throughout nature. Every element in nature was sacred and interconnected. In contrast to Europeans who adhered to the biblical injunction found in Genesis that humans were to reign over the earth and all lesser creatures, Native Americans saw themselves as equal parts of a larger system; it was not for humans to disturb this balance. They regarded plants and animals as gifts to be used wisely. If they misused nature’s gifts, they risked retaliation. Animals were thought to have great spiritual power. Thus, rather than killing them excessively for food, Native Americans sought other sources. Different animals possessed different powers: crows, for example, were not to be harmed as these birds brought the gift of grain. Other deities had different powers, and Native Americans believed in a paramount deity, though not in an historical religious sense. As well as singling out deities, Native Americans looked to certain gifted men known as shamans. They were respected for their spirituality and healing powers. Shamans also led ceremonies acknowledging nature’s gifts at annual and cyclical festivals such as the harvest.

Encounters. To the European explorers and settlers, Native American belief systems represented not a respect for the power of nature but worship of false gods. Native American practices were to the newcomers at best peculiar and at worst satanic. One Englishman in 1589 noted that he had seen the Devil at an Indian’s house. Three years later another Englishman noted that Native Americans in New Spain actually talked to the Devil and made sacrifices to him. The Dominican Tomas Ortiz noted that the natives were “most hostile to religion” and that never had God “created a race more full of vice.” Europeans regarded Native American dances and noisy ceremonies that were performed to please the gods as evidence of demonic possession. European settlers made several attempts to convert the native peoples. While the Spanish settler Bartholomé de las Casas noted in 1550–1551 that Indians understood Christianity and were eager to embrace the faith, missionaries, for the most part, met with only limited successes. In many cases the Christian missionaries mistreated the indigenous peoples, including stealing food and raping and murdering those whom they had come to save. Often the missionaries’ own infighting made sustained conversion efforts impossible; so too did their unwillingness to try to survive in the New World. Priests often misinterpreted the Native Americans’ hospitality toward newcomers—an integral part of the Indians’ system of morality—as success in conversion. Indians “converted” not out of new faith or belief but in an effort to understand and take part in the Europeans’ culture. In contrast, with few exceptions, Europeans made little effort to understand the natives’ language or cultural ways. Though an integral part of the stated goals of exploration and colonization, conversion of the native peoples went largely unfulfilled.