© 2024
Virginia's Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Role of Religion

www.patheos.com

Originally aired on December 30, 1994 - In part 18 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson discusses the role of religion during the Civil War. 

#18 – Religious Denominations and War

Religion and war usually become inexorably linked together. Warfare does not always explode over religious differences; but once combat starts, religion often becomes a foundation as well as a fortress for participants. The American Civil War is applicable on both counts.

The years leading to the civil war sorely traumatized the foundation of faith on which the young nation had been built. Religious liberty had been a major impetus in the colonization of America; church growth and revival movements were an integral part of society well into the 19th century.

One commentator noted that while there might often be a wide divergence between the preacher’s exhortations and the laity’s response, “religious sanction was demanded by the righteous, approved by the lukewarm, and tolerated by the wicked. All felt better to have had the blessings of the church.”

It was somewhat natural that the major religious denominations were the first large groups of any kind in American society to face the issue of slavery; and in doing so, the larger of the sects became the first casualties of the sectional schism. In 1845, after a fierce debate among its bishops, the Methodist church divided into northern and southern wings. This separation lasted until far into this century. The Baptist church did not undergo such a formal split, since each congregation was an entity unto itself. However, when Northerners in 1840 organized the American Baptist Convention in New York, Southerners responded a few years later by creating the Southern Baptist convention. That division became permanent.

Civil War did not split the Presbyterians only because they had already divided earlier in the century over theological issues. The Northern-dominated New School Presbyterians strongly backed the Union in 1861. Old School Presbyterians just as ardently supported the Confederacy.

Lutheran synods found too that they could not withstand the pressures of secession and war. When the Virginia Synod left the main church body in October, 1861, the Carolina synods followed suit. No southern wing of the Lutheran church was ever organized, but Lutherans south of the Potomac displayed strong loyalty to the Confederate cause.

Although the Episcopal Church managed to hold together through the years of the slavery controversy, state acts of secession tore that denomination asunder. In July, 1861, delegates from a majority of Southern states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and established the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States of America. The Southern church made only one change in its Book of Common Prayer, but it was a major one. Where Episcopalians had once prayed for “the President of the United States,” they now offered oblations for “the President of the Confederate States.” More than one Southern priest who spoke that prayer in federally occupied war zones was put in jail as a result.

No official cleavage occurred among American Catholics, even though some of its clergy and many of its laity staunchly defended the Southern nation. The same can be said of the Jewish people who, under no denominational restraints, were left individually free to determine which side they would support.

The fractured state of the major religious sects not only contributed to the breakup of the Union; such schisms helped widen the gap between North and South once war began because each section could insist fervently that God was on its side in this holy American crusade. Faith in God became the single greatest institution in the maintenance of morale in the armies of North and South.

Even if a soldier had some doubts about his standing with the Almighty, he acknowledged the existence of that Almighty. Just before one of the Civil War’s major battles, one Confederate looked heavenward and intoned: “Lord, if you ain’t with us, please don’t be agin us. Just stand aside and watch the damdest fight you are ever likely to see!”

Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech.