Protestantism

Diversity of Belief and Membership

Protestantism divides further into several denominations, which can be categorized as mainline denominations (e.g., Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist) and conservative denominations (e.g., Baptist, Pentecostal, Latter-day Saints). The division between mainline and conservative denominations heralds from the 1920s, when the mainline denominations, influenced by German scholarship, aligned with a more liberal, less literal interpretation of the Bible, while the conservative denominations did not. Some conservative denominations at that time further defended their liter-alist interpretation by asserting certain theological fundamentals (such as the virgin birth), from which the term Fundamentalist derives. Protestantism also varies by region of the country, with, for example, the Southern Baptist Convention dominating the southern part of the United States. It also varies by race, since most African American Protestants were originally not welcome in white churches, and thus they formed, for example, the National Baptist Convention and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It also varies by socioeconomic status, since the mainline denominations tend to be more affluent than the conservative ones. The umbrella of Protestantism, therefore, covers a large and diverse group of people who are also diverse in their social activism. One cannot say that all Protestants at any given time have been prone to a certain belief or behavior. There have, however, been particular social activist movements within Protestantism.

Abolition

The movement to abolish slavery began in the northern United States in the early 1800s, partly because of Enlightenment philosophy, which was optimistic about human progress, and partly because of the Second Great Awakening (1797–1801), which was a religious revival throughout New England that resulted in several religious voluntary associations created to redress social ills. Among these associations were mission societies aimed at spreading the Christian gospel domestically and overseas, Bible societies, Sunday schools, temperance unions, and organizations working on behalf of the physically disabled and mentally ill. The American Anti-Slavery Society was one of the formal faces of the abolitionist movement, which also included the Republican Party. Representative abolitionists include William Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin Lundy, Angelina Grimké, Arthur Tappan, James Birney, Theodore Dwight Weld, and the Beecher family. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, with its tale of slavery's oppression and Tom featured as a Christ figure, galvanized the nation.

White southerners of the time found northern abolitionists to be interfering and hypocritical, in the light of the economic and social oppression in the North. They also took refuge in a literal interpretation of the Bible, in which prominent figures such as Abraham owned slaves and the apostle Paul urges slaves to be subject to their masters.

Some Protestant denominations, such as the Free Methodists, were formed explicitly around antislavery lines. During the Civil War, most of the Protestant denominations split along North-South lines. After the war, but even into the 20th century, [Page 1175]they rejoined. The Baptists were one of the few denominations to maintain their North-South divide, so that today there is the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Convention of the North, and the African American National Baptist Convention.

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