American Minute - Oct. 31 - Protestantism & American Independence

American Minute
with
Bill Federer

Upon signing the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams stated:

"This day, I trust, the reign of political protestantism will commence."

The 56 signers were mostly Protestant, with a notable exception being Catholic Charles Carroll of Maryland.

New York University Professor Emeritus Patricia Bonomi, in her article "The Middle Colonies as the Birthplace of American Religious Pluralism" wrote:

"The colonists were about 98 percent Protestant."

British Statesman Edmund Burke addressed Parliament, 1775:

"All Protestantism...is a sort of dissent.

But the religion most prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant religion."

Protestantism traces its origins to OCTOBER 31, 1517, when Martin Luther posted 95 questions on the door of Wittenberg Church.

Summoned to stand trial before 21-year-old Emperor Charles V, Luther was declared an outlaw.

Frederick of Saxony hid him in Wartburg castle where he translated the New Testament into German.

Luther later wrote:

"I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth."