Charles G. Finney, a revivalist, epitomizes the significance of faith and redemption in American history. He highlighted the enormous significance of the personal decision in salvation as early as 1836. When Charles Grandison Finney thought God had called him to become a preacher, he quit a prosperous legal career (Finney 4). In Finney’s perspective, the world is split into two big political parties; the difference is that one side selects Satan as the world’s god, obeys his rules, and is dedicated to his interests. Selfishness is Satan’s empire’s law, and all unrepentant sinners gladly subscribe to it (Finney 3). The other side declares Jehovah to be their king and devotes their entire lives to his service and glory.
This kind of transformation does not indicate a constitutional change in body or mind abilities, nor does it entail a shift in thinking about the structure or administration of human governance because people possess complete moral free will. Therefore, employing these powers in the Lord’s service is necessary rather than changing them. God gave people these abilities, and they can use them for good. According to Finney, the Lord provides men the ability to obey or disobey. Thus this is only man’s fault because he fornicates these powers into the service of sin and Satan while he preserves them.
In the work of another American thinker, Thomas Paine, one can learn about how the moral imperatives described above affect society and the state. In Paine’s world view, society and government are antagonized to each other (Paine 4). However, these two forces strive for creation in their conflict. The state provides free people with control over their own sinful impulses. The state protects people, including from each other, and from their internal sins. This concept is fundamental in understanding the moral and internal political principles on which the statehood of the United States is built.
In the face of the Lord, however, the principles of equality, freedom, and social contract devolved into hostile obscurantism. The Scopes Trial, often known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, took place in Dayton, Tennessee, between July 10 and 21, 1925, and exemplifies this. It was the widely famous trial of John T. Scopes, a high school teacher from Dayton, Tennessee. By presenting Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, Scopes was accused of breaking state law. The case was significant in bringing scientific evidence for evolution to the public’s attention and igniting a nationwide discussion regarding evolution’s legitimacy that has lasted to this day. Opening comments, which included Darrow’s impassioned address regarding the validity of the Butler statute and his allegation that the law infringed freedom of religion, began on July 13, while jury selection began on July 10. Because Scopes, not the Butler legislation, was on trial, Judge John Raulston threw out any constitutional challenge or debate about the legitimacy of evolutionary theory. Scientists’ expert evidence would be inadmissible, according to Raulston.
On July 20, the trial reached its height when Darrow summoned Bryan to appear as an expert witness for the prosecution on the Bible. Raulston relocated the trial to the courtroom grounds because of the large crowds and oppressive heat (Allen 41). Darrow’s cross-examination of Bryan centered on the legitimacy and practicality of literal interpretations of numerous biblical stories. The Texas Supreme Court maintained the 1925 law’s legality, but Scopes was acquitted because he had been punished unduly (Allen 204). Following the trial, Tennessee prohibited the teaching of evolution in schools until the Butler Act was repealed in 1967.
All these events throughout American history illustrate how the faith of American Christians has changed society around. From the liberating teachings of freedom and equality, Interpretations of the Bible gradually passed into the status of a more aggressive proletarian persuasion. As a result, this resulted in obscurantist aggression towards any innovations, even those that were objectively important and useful for society. However, all this determined the future of the American nation from its very inception to the present day.
Works Cited
Allen, Leslie. Bryan and Darrow at Dayton. Literary Licensing, LLC, 2013.
Finney, Charles Grandison. Sermons on Various Subjects. 28th ed., New York, 1834. Web.
Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. 3rd ed., National Humanities Center, Independently published, 2020. Web.