From the Archives Preaching the Insurrection Angry colonists were rallied to declare independence and take up arms because of what they heard from the pulpit. By Harry S. Stout, from issue 50: The American Revolution
It's 1775. The year 1787, with its novel constitution and separation of church and state is a long 12 years away. At the moment, you and your friends are just a bunch of outlaws. More …
As for Me and My House The house-church movement survived persecution and created a surge of Christian growth across China. by Tony Lambert
Worshiping Under the Communist Eye The birth of an "official" Chinese church helped Christianity thrive in public under political constraints. by Ryan Dunch
From Foreign Mission to Chinese Church Missionaries in China were hampered by pressures from home, mistakes in leadership, and identification with the West, but they planted the seeds that would someday yield an astonishing harvest. By Daniel H. Bays
"I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits, A Poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong, For such despite they cast on Female wits." —Anne Bradstreet
July 9, 1925: The Scopes "Monkey Trial" begins in Dayton, Tennessee, as John Scopes is tried for teaching evolution to his students. Though William Jennings Bryan, acting as prosecuting attorney, won the courtroom battle, the creationists lost where public opinion was concerned. Chagrined, fundamentalist Christians largely withdrew from American culture (see issue 55: The Monkey Trial and The Rise of Fundamentalism)
The Revolutionary War was supported by most Baptist men and at least one Baptist woman! In 1782 Massachusetts Baptist Deborah Sampson donned a soldiers uniform and successfully enlisted in the Continental Army as Private Robert Shurtliff. Assigned to the infantry, she was wounded twice. Her sexual identity went undetected for over a year. After the war, Deborah married a farmer and bore three children. She eventually received full payment, a pension, and public praise for her military service. Her church, however, excommunicated her for impersonating a man.
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency …"
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