IAH 202a: Europe and the World, Religion and Colonization

Religion and Colonization
Name
Institution
Introduction
For one to understand how the current positive changes that have been witnessed in the United States of America in terms of law, individual freedom and beliefs, local community practice came to be, it would be prudent to first look into some of the common patterns and experiences surrounding religion in colonial days in the 17th century. In ancient years before the united sates was established, different Christian religious groups such as Catholics and Protestants played a key role in most of the British colonies and most of the religious leaders also took the opportunity to establish stringent religious observance using both of the colonial governments as well as the local authority rules. Despite the fact that most of colonial masters considered themselves as Christians, but their characters were very much contrary to the teachings of the Christian religion. During the colonial period, there were some of the religious leaders that played a key role in condemning the brutality of colonialists in different parts of the world. For instance, sermons from the Jesuit priest in Brazil, a group of nuns led by Maria Rosa sailed to Peru to open a new convent, and the Puritan community in Eastern New England (Greer, 2000).
This essay examines the most important aspects of contemporary religion in social terms among Protestants or Puritans and Catholics like the Jesuit preacher and the nuns.
The Role that Religious Institutions Serve in the New Colonies of Americas
Religion played a major role during the colonial period of the currently known as the United States of America. By the 17th century, there was religious persecution made settlers flee from Europe to the current United States. Colonization of North America by the British came as a result of conviction that was held by both Catholics and the Protestants; this conviction was necessitated by the fact that both the Protestants and the Catholics wanted uniformity of religion in any given society (Greer, 2000). This conviction was brought by the idea that Christianity was the only true religion and therefore it was the duty of the people in the authority to impose it with whichever the means including force if possible, with the intention of saving souls of all citizens. In addition to that, nonconformists were to expect no mercy and might as well be executed as heretics. This concept meant that the major religious groups that were controlling political powers were to punish dissenting voices among them. As a matter of fact, there were some areas Catholics were persecuting Protestants and at the same time, Protestants were persecuting Catholics. There were some areas where both of the Catholics and Protestants were persecuting coreligionists. Religious institutions played a great role in promoting colonial activities. According to de Montoya (1993), most of the religious leaders from both Catholics and Protestants played a great role in promoting colonial activities not only in the North America, but also in almost all the countries where there was colonial authority. They used the colonial authority to force other people to change into Christianity. Instead of preaching to the non-Christians as instructed by the B...