20 MORE religions and faith practices 101

Robyn Lebron

During the Evangelical revival, men such as Wesley
and Whitefield preached across the land, and this enthusiasm
touched the Congregationalists. By 1811, there were some 799
Congregational churches. In the years 1805–1825, the
Congregational churches of colonial New England divided into
two groups. The liberal wing became a separate body called
Liberal Christians or Unitarian Congregationalists and, finally,
just‹–ƒ”‹ƒ• .
Harvard University, founded by Congregationalists, became a
center of Unitarian training. Prompted by a controversy over an
appointment in the theology school at Harvard, in 1825 the
Unitarian Churches separated from Congregationalism…This
group had dissented from Calvinist orthodoxy on the basis of their
belief that all persons could find salvation4 (as opposed to the
Calvinist idea of predetermination excluding some from salvation).
The other wing was called orthodox or Trinitarian Congregationalists
and, eventually, just Congregationalists.
As a result, the
Congregationalists developed an increasing sense of denominational
identity that
was expressed in a series of conventions
ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‘—…‹Ž‘ˆ–Š‡
culminating in the formation of a
‘‰”‡‰ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ Š—”…Š‡• ‘ˆ –Š‡ ‹–‡† –ƒ–‡•Ǥ
By this
time,the denomination had spread far beyond its New England
origins, particularly
in northern states where New Englanders
had migrated. The church spread wherever New Englanders

migrated, including significant numbers in
the Great Lakes
region of the Midwest (including Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.).
For
the Puritans, the value system of the state was
not secular. They argued that piety and sound morals are
essential to good citizenship and that the state may,
therefore, encourage the dissemination of religious truth.
Hence, in New England (except Rhode Island), the towns were
authorized to tax their inhabitants for the support of public
worship. Ordinarily, this meant tax support for the ministers
of the Congregational churches. Š‡ –ƒ†‹‰ ”†‡” ǡas it
was called, came under attack in the eighteenth century by
minority groups,
particularly the Quakers, Baptists, and
Anglicans. With
the growth of religious pluralism, tax
support for public worship became increasingly hard to justify,
and the Standing Order was abolished in Connecticut in 1818Ǥ
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