Religion and Reform: Religious Movement

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Religion and Reform
The early century was a period of tremendous changes in the history of America. A succession of religious revivals was known as the second Great Awakening sharpened the nation’s religious landscape. The preachers traveled far away from sharing the message of spiritual and moral renewal to many. The residents of both urban and rural centers like the religious revivals where intense physical and emotional which is accompanied by Christian conversion. The improvements provided a unifying moral plan and a new sense of spiritual community for Americans to struggle with the great changes of the day. The religious revivals of the awakening reignited the spirituality during the nineteenth century.
In the current movement, religious movements developed in that it underscored the possibility that everyone in the society could be able to achieve both perfection and salvation. Because there is a spread of the gospel to almost every Conner of the world, preachers preach to everyone for sinners and those are saved, the wealthy and the have-nots. As decisions are made by the person, salvation does not mean perfection (White, Cedric, and Charles, pg. 236). Contrary to the earlier preaching that salvation was only for those few who have been saved by God can be linked to the reform movements as situations do change and people also need change. When one is saved, they become perfect with God as they have a new relationship.
Religion shaped the early family through the first preachers where they lay a foundation by declaring that both men and women are equal. They preached that both male and female are endowed by the creator with certain rights to each which include liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. Through religion, the government has been able to formulate regulations that try to see that both male and female are treated the same, unlike the early movements where women were seen as inferior and that their roles were in homes (MacLoughling and William, pg. 186). Today, women can own properties, spread the gospel as well as holding critical positions both in government and organizations as leaders.
Religion in the early years tried to liberate women through many who speak for many through their live experiences and what the Bible says. One of the slave preachers exposed that women are equal to men as they can eat as men do and that they have to have their rights (MacLoughling and William, pg. 78). They claimed that women should have equal rights as men because if it were not women, the world could not have had a king who brought salvation to the world. Because from one woman the world was saved, also, from women, they can turn the world into a better place. Before the liberation, women were compelled to submit to the laws that did favor men; women were denied their rights of citizenship, the elective franchise that leaves women without any representation in the legislation, and women were not able to own properties. However, through religion, women in the current generation forced the government to formulate laws that take care of women’s well beings. Preachers also read from the Bible that men should love their wife as they submit to them.
Past reformers especially the religious leaders much concentrated in improving the society well-being. An example is Angelina Grimke appealed to Christian women to oppose slavery in the year 1836. She mentioned that slavery is contrary to the declaration of the independence, it contradicts with the cheater of human rights that God gave to both Adam and Noah. She continued fighting for the rights by explaining again that slavery never existed in any patriarchal dispensation. Also, the preachers focused on shaping the world in their preaching that there should be equality in treatments. In it, women were mistreated by men because they believed that they are the one who is in control of everything and women were just takers of the made final decisions from men. Through reforms, things changed for example women were able to own properties and exercise their electoral rights through participation in elections (White, Cedric, and Charles, pg. 177).
People in reform movements like abolitionism view the government as a cone that has oppressed them and one that doesn’t want to free them in their situations. David, Walker, castigated the United States for its slave system in 1829. He claimed that the government has reduced them to a wretched state of slavery and treat them in a more cruel condition. Because he is a Christian, he expressed his lament to God that believed that one day they would be freed through the help of Jesus Christ. He sees the government as one that is in concern with their situations. The man expressed that they hate them and that if they want to be loved, they have to throw their fears away and the prejudice and enlighten as well as treat them like men. Willian Lloyd Garrison one of the abolitionists also called for the immediate abolition.
Through the religious reforms, many things have been achieved that shape the nature and doings of the world. Through the reformists, governments have been able to formulate policy and laws that ascertain equality of both women and men in the society. Many have also got the message about God and been able to live according to what the Bible reveals to them. Through the phrases like loving your neighbor as you love yourself, wars and conflicts have drastically reduced because people have learned to accommodate others.
Works cited
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MacLoughling, William G. Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform: An Essay on Religion and Social Chance in Amerika, 1607-1977. Chicago u.a, 2001. Print.
White, Ronald Cedric, and Charles Howard Hopkins. The social gospel: Religion and reform in changing America. Temple University Press, 2006.
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