Religion's Impact on American Social Issues

Abstract

Americans have often appealed to religion to explain how society ought to be organized, and to express their concern over particular social issues. By considering two important social issues at two different periods in American history, this teaching strategy explores religion's impact on people's beliefs about society and also the impact of society on religion. The lesson is designed to highlight historical variability in the relationship between religion and society. To facilitate comparison of the two cases, the lesson focuses on how Americans have used the Bible to explain and justify their stands on social issues. Of course, the impact of religion on social issues in American history is not limited to use of the Bible, and instructors will want to point out that Americans revere other sacred texts, too, and that appealing to sacred texts is only one way people express their religion. Nevertheless, the Bible has figured prominently in American debates over social issues. The first part of the lesson considers Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet, Common Sense, published in January 1776, and its appeal to the Bible to justify American rebellion against the British monarchy. The second part of the lesson considers proslavery writing during the 185os, focusing on the support defenders of slavery drew from the Bible to establish their position that slavery was a legitimate institution. The third and final part of the lesson considers differences in the social contexts that led different groups of people to interpret the Bible's message about government and human equality differently.