Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-77pjf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T12:28:32.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Managing Religious Diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2011

Natalie A. Zacek
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the period under study, metropolitan observers were on the whole highly critical of the state of the Church of England in Britain's American colonies, particularly in relation to the plantation-based settlements of the mainland south and of the islands. The clergyman-philosopher George Berkeley spoke for many of his fellow church members when he wrote in 1725 that “there is at this day, but little sense of religion, and a most notorious corruption of manners, in the English colonies settled on the continent of America, and the islands.” To Bishop Berkeley, this unhappy state of affairs could best be remedied by sending more and better qualified clergy “to reform morals, and soften the behaviour of men,” as in his view the Anglican churches throughout the colonies were nothing more than “a drain for the very dregs and refuse” of British clergy. To Charles Leslie, whose account of his experiences in Jamaica was published in 1740, the fault lay at least as much with the men who constituted the island's elite; although there were “indeed here several Gentlemen that are well acquainted with Learning … these are few; and the Generality … love a Pack of Cards better than the Bible.” The physician and evangelical Christian Robert Poole, who traveled throughout the Leewards in the late 1740s, complained repeatedly that the various churches he encountered were “thinly visited and carelessly attended to,” which he interpreted as a sign of the settlers' irreligious nature, as corroborated by the fact that “many of those who call themselves Christians, [were] keeping open Shop, with their Goods publickly exposed to Sale” on Sunday, and that even those who attended services “by their Behaviour, seem'd pretty great Strangers to the Duty of worshipping God with Decency and Reverence.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

The Jewish Community in Early New York, 1654–1800 (New York:Fraunces Tavern Museum, 1980), 13
Hubbard, Vincent K., Swords, Ships, and Sugar: A History of Nevis to 1900 (Placentia, CA:Premiere Editions, 1991), 17Google Scholar
Braddick, Michael J., “Civility and Authority,” in Braddick, and Armitage, David, eds., The British Atlantic World, 1500–1800 (New York:Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Managing Religious Diversity
  • Natalie A. Zacek, University of Manchester
  • Book: Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670–1776
  • Online publication: 05 July 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760907.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Managing Religious Diversity
  • Natalie A. Zacek, University of Manchester
  • Book: Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670–1776
  • Online publication: 05 July 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760907.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Managing Religious Diversity
  • Natalie A. Zacek, University of Manchester
  • Book: Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670–1776
  • Online publication: 05 July 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760907.006
Available formats
×