From Greek gods and monsters, to yin and yang, to Jesus, religion has affected the growth and cultures of civilizations for thousands of years, dating back to the first humans that walked the Earth. The first Europeans to set foot on America were no exception as they too were affected by the power of religion. Beginning with the first colonists, religion has encouraged growth in the colonies, politically, socially, and imperialistically.
Religion affected the growth of the colonies politically. Unlike in Europe, in Maryland Protestants and Catholics lived peacefully together (64). This attracted many people to the colonies knowing they could live in a more harmonic society. Church and State in the colonies also worked in harmony. “The Government of Massachusetts reflected the Puritans’ religious and social vision” (69). The government’s religious views and decisions helped the colonies’ grow in not only social unity, but also political unity. Not only was the church ideas incorporated into
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The spread of religion was the justification for most European countries to imperialism and set up colonies in the Americas. Walter Raleigh, and Richard Hakluyt convinced Queen Elizabeth I to support the colonists, through the idea that the “New World’s inhabitants” were “crying out to come and help”, with the intention of converting the Indians to Christianity (52). Although, the intentions for conversion drove the imperialistic ambitions, they were not entirely successful. “The aim of converting Indians to Christianity foundered on Indian indifference to the religious disputes that wracked Europe and the unavoidable reality that churches transplanted to English america had their hands full providing religious services for European colonists” (56-57). Overall, imperialism and conquest of North America by Britain was influenced by religious conversion, that may not have been successful, but helped to drive