Religion in the Civil War: The Southern Perspective

National Humanities Center ^ | Harry H. Stout

[CondoleezzaProtege]

It’s abundantly clear that religion stood at the center of the Civil War for both sides. Both North and South looked to God for meaning, and each side believed—that God was on its side...

The new Confederate Constitution, adopted on February 8, 1861, officially declared its Christian identity, “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God.” Southern leaders chose as their national motto Deo Vindice (“God will avenge”.)

Confederate President Jefferson Davis proclaimed that the time had come “to recognize our dependence upon God … and supplicate his merciful protection.” This national acknowledgment of religious dependence, as the South frequently pointed out during the war in both the religious and the secular press, stood in stark contrast to the “godless” government of the North that ignored God in its constitution and put secular concerns above the sacred duties of Christian service and the divine commission.

Not only did church-goers hear the message that their war was a holy one, but so did virtually anyone who read a newspaper, attended a public gathering or served in a military camp or on the battlefield.

Within the privacy of the southern slave quarters, the Bible told a different tale...It was the slaves’ conviction that God was ultimately on their side.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: civilwar; confederacy; juneteenth; religion; slavery; south

[maddog55]

Whenever I read an article about the Civil War I like to show this letter from President Lincoln to Horace Greeley that shows what the war was actually about:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 22, 1862.

Hon. Horace Greeley:
Dear Sir.

I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

As to the policy I “seem to be pursuing” as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be “the Union as it was.” If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.

Yours,
A. Lincoln.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

That was relatively early on...By the time of his 2nd Inaugural Address in 1865, it’s a much much different tune:

“Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other...

The prayers of both could not be answered ~ that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’

If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come but which having continued through His appointed time He now wills to remove and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came ...”

[CondoleezzaProtege]

And one more quote from the end of the 2nd Inaugural regarding the Civil War as God’s judgment on America for the sin of slavery:

“Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”

^ The language is densely stunning, and striking. It takes several re-reads! So heavy.

[AuntB]

The civil war in Indian Territory is a fascinating study. The Southern Cherokee who fought for the Confederacy were absolutely convinced they were doing the Christian God’s will preserving slavery and starting the Kkk known as the Knights of the Golden Circle in the territory.

Their story
https://jesusweptanamericanstory.blogspot.com/?m=1

[CondoleezzaProtege]

That really is an angle worth exploring. Thank you for sharing. It makes me realize that the crossover between Indian lands and the Confederacy does become apparent went visiting certain states.

Even Mexico is somewhat relevant given Stonewall Jackson’s start in the Mexican-American War. And all the new territory that was acquired…

[chajin]

This is the kind of question I loved bringing up when I taught Philosophical Ethics way back when.

Lincoln ended slavery, not because hiss priority was to end slavery, but because he wanted to preserve the Union, and crushing the South and its system of slavery aided the effort.

The CSA wanted to establish a Christian republic, a nation truly under God, and since southern Christians believed slavery was allowed in the Bible, they also specified allowing slavery in their constitution.

So Lincoln ended up doing the right thing for the wrong reason, and Davis ended up doing the wrong thing for the right reason. Which is more ethical?

(This is the point when Kant and Mill get to enter the cage for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.)

[AuntB]

I had a second book started when I lost it in the fire. It was going to be called Cherokee Gold.
No group was more devout in their faith. After the war, they helped the freed slaves with property and education.

[AuntB]

“That really is an angle worth exploring”

I was such a fool for not protecting all that research better. I had transcripts of their diaries...one from a Cherokee wagon train to the California golf rush.
The Mormans had just settled in Utah and charged the Cherokee to pass through!!

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I tried to further slice the parts that show Lincoln had evolved from the Greeley letter. His 2nd Inaugural was his magnum opus. I don’t know how schools can properly teach and discuss it, given its density and theological depth that would go over the heads even of seminary scholars! And to think, the late President famously didn’t go to college. 😱

“If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come but which having continued through His appointed time He now wills to remove and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came.”

** Scripture reference Matthew 18:7 - "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"

“If …all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword - ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”

** Scripture reference Psalm 19:9 - the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

The Baptist schism was a direct consequence of slavery, and the Confederacy supporting Southern Baptist Church was created to give white Southerners spiritual absolution from that grave sin.

Slavery will always be our “original sin,” and continues to impede the full realization of the freedoms asserted in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

You know. For all the discussion surrounding Juneteenth, and Columbus Day vs. “Indigenous Peoples Day” which bleeds into Thanksgiving — I think we are due for a proper, non-PC and uniting recognition of Native Americans. Not sure what day to pick and what to specifically commemorate. But yeah…

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Amen. Thank you.

It split Baptists, Methodists & Presbyterians…

The context also illuminates Lincoln’s own spiritual evolution and wrestling with the matter, as a skeptic turned seeker of religion.

[spintreebob]

“Friendly persuasion” (Reagan’s favorite movie) best describes the human side of the civil war.

In GA 5,000 whites volunteered for the Confederate Army. 1,000 whites volunteered for the Union Army. It would be interesting to see the religous breakdown of those 6,000 volunteers.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

They say the Civil War generation was the most Biblically literate of all. And you can argue it reflected in what the parents named their kids: *Abraham* Lincoln…And common ones like *Joshua* Chamberlain too, but you go through soldiers’ letters and correspondences, names show up like Elisha, Hezekiah, Jedediah, Thaddeus, Theophilus, etc…

Most at least knew the Bible’s content. Faith of course is separate from mere knowledge, and the war clearly both shook people’s faith as well as drew them to it…