American Religion Timelines
All Entries - Events by Name
| Event | Introduction | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 Revelation on Priesthood | In 1978, the Church of Latter-day Saints opened the priesthood to male members of African descent for the first time. | |
| 9/11 | On September 11, 2001 ("9/11"), al-Qaeda terrorists crashed two planes into the Twin Towers and one into the Pentagon. More than 3,000 people died. | Historical Content |
| Autobiography of a Yogi Published | Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946, continues to be used by followers of his Self-Realization Fellowship and as college textbooks. | |
| Abington School District v. Schempp | In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that required Bible readings and recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools was unconstitutional. | |
| Adopting Act of Westminster Confession | By adopting the Westminster Confession of Faith (1729) as its doctrinal standard, American Presbyterianism moved a step closer to becoming a fully regularized denomination. | |
| Adrian Rogers Elected as President of the Southern Baptist Convention | In 1979, Baptist conservatives elected Adrian Rogers as president of the Southern Baptist Convention as the first part of a takeover strategy. | |
| African Methodist Episcopal Church | In 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal Church formed after years of unequal treatment with white Methodists. It is the oldest existing African-American denomination in the U.S. | |
| African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | The African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church formed in 1821 as a response to racial discrimination and segregation. | |
| Al Smith Presidential Campaign | Alfred E. "Al" Smith became the first Catholic nominee for president when he ran as a Democrat in 1928 against Herbert Hoover. | |
| Albert Cleage and The Black Madonna | In 1967, Albert Cleage revealed to his congregation a painting called "The Black Madonna," a provocative start to the Black Christian Nationalist Movement. | |
| Allegheny County v. ACLU | This 1989 case dealt with religious holiday symbols on government property and found that a combination of religious symbols does not violate the Establishment Clause. | |
| Alma Bridwell White Becomes First Female Bishop | In 1918, Alma Bridwell White (1862-1946) was consecrated bishop of a Holiness sect she founded, becoming the first woman bishop of a Christian church. | |
| American Bible Society Founded | The American Bible Society (est. 1816) is a faith-based voluntary society that distributes millions of Bibles throughout the country. | |
| American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions | In 1810, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions formed in order to send Congregationalist and Presbyterian missionaries all over the world. | |
| American Chapter of Soka Gakkai Formed | The Japanese-based Soka Gakkai Buddhist society commissioned its U.S. chapter in 1960. In 1991, the chapter reorganized as Soka Gakkai International-USA. | |
| American Indian Religious Freedom Act | The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, passed in 1978, acknowledged the importance of Native American religious traditions and pledged to protect their rights. | |
| American Revolution | When the first shots were fired in 1775, the Colonies didn’t even have a military. Eight years later, the United States had defeated England. | Historical Content |
| Ann Lee Migrates to America | Ann Lee (1736-1784) brought a Christian sect known as the Shakers from England to the American colonies in 1774. | |
| Antoinette Brown Ordained by Congregationalists | In 1853, Antoinette Brown (1825-1921), a woman's rights activist and abolitionist, became the first woman to be ordained by a Mainline Protestant church. | |
| Assemblies of God Founded | The Assemblies of God started with a handful of Pentecostal ministers in Hot Springs, Arkansas in April 1914, but would grow into a global phenomenon. | |
| Auburn Affirmation | In 1924, the Auburn Affirmation denounced the Five Point Deliverance as a necessary means for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Augustus Tolton Becomes Ordained Catholic Priest | On April 24, 1886, Augustus Tolton became the first fully and recognizably African-American Catholic priest. | |
| Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois | The Baha'i House of Worship, located near Chicago in Wilmette, Ill., was opened in 1953 and is the only Baha'i temple in North America. | |
| Baptist Bible Union | The Baptist Bible Union was a fundamentalist association of churches which had separated from the Northern Baptist Convention in 1923. | |
| Baptist Missionary Association of America | The Baptist Missionary Association of America, which split from the American Baptist Association in 1950, is the largest Landmark Baptist denomination in the United States. | |
| Barbara Harris Ordained as Anglican Bishop | The Right Rev. Barbara Harris (1930-present), an African-American Episcopalian, was consecrated the first female bishop in the Worldwide Anglican Communion in 1989. | |
| Bay Psalm Book printed | The Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in English in North America. | |
| Benjamin Randall Organizes the Free Will Baptists | Itinerant preacher Benjamin Randall organized the Free Will Baptists in New England in 1780. | |
| Bible Baptist Fellowship | The Bible Baptist Fellowship formed after a split with J. Frank Norris in 1950 and became the largest association of independent Baptists in America. | |
| Bible Presbyterian Church | The Bible Presbyterian Church, led by Carl McIntire in 1937, was the product of division between Presbyterian traditionalists and fundamentalists in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| Billy Graham Holds First Integrated Crusade in Chattanooga, TN | In 1953, Billy Graham's decision to hold an integrated crusade in the South helped shift racial attitudes among white evangelicals. | |
| Billy Graham's Los Angeles Crusade | Billy Graham's Los Angeles Crusade (1949) catapulted the southern evangelist into the national spotlight for the first time. | |
| Billy Graham's New York Crusade | In 1957, Billy Graham's New York Crusade became his largest American revival campaign with more than two million attendees. | |
| Birmingham Church Bombing | On September 15, 1963, a bomb detonated inside 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. Four young African-American girls were killed, sparking national outrage. | |
| Bishops' Program for Social Reconstruction | The "Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction" (1919) was a Catholic initiative supporting guaranteed wages, health insurance, and worker protections. | |
| Brown University | In 1764, the Philadelphia Baptist Association commissioned James Manning to found Brown as a Baptist college. | |
| Buddhist Churches of America | The Buddhist Churches of America, formed in 1944 and headquartered in San Francisco, represents mainstream Japanese American Buddhism. | |
| Bureau of Immigration | In 1920, the National Catholic Welfare Council gave aid and guidance to new Catholic immigrants through its Bureau of Immigration. | |
| Cane Ridge Camp Meeting | Barton Stone organized the Cane Ridge camp meeting (1801), the largest and most famous religious revival of the Second Great Awakening. | |
| Catholic Charismatic Renewal at Duquesne University | The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement influenced by both Catholicism and Pentecostalism and whose American roots can be traced to Duquesne University in 1967. | |
| Catholic Church Abuse Scandal | The Catholic Church has recently been the subject of a widespread scandal involving Catholic officials accused of sexual abuse and cover-ups. | |
| Catholic Worker Movement | In 1933, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement, a group of Catholic communities promoting social justice and hospitality toward the poor. | |
| Charles Finney's Rochester Revival | Charles Finney's Rochester Revival (1830-1831) played a foundational role for the more widespread revivalism and conversions of the 1830s and 1840s. | |
| Chief Seattle's Speech | An 1854 speech by Native American Chief Seattle (1780-1866) inspired the 20th century environmental movement, despite being heavily rewritten. | |
| Christian Methodist Episcopal Church | In 1870, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church formed after southern black Methodists desired to form their own denomination following the Civil War. | |
| Christianity and Liberalism Published | John Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism (1923) challenged the cultural shift toward modernist interpretations of the Bible within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Church of God (Cleveland, TN) | The Church of God (Cleveland, TN) was founded in 1886 and is the oldest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. | |
| Church of God in Christ | The Church of God in Christ was formed in 1897 in Mississippi. It is the oldest and largest black Pentecostal body in the United States. | |
| Church of Satan | Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-97) started the Church of Satan in 1966, offering a new Golden Rule: "Do unto others as they do unto you." | |
| Church of Scientology | In 1954, L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) began the Church of Scientology with teachings on how to reach a blissful "state of clear." | |
| Church of the United Brethren in Christ | In 1800, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ formed as a result of evangelizing German immigrants. It is the first uniquely American denomination. | |
| City of Boerne v. Flores | In this 1997 case, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had overstepped its constitutional powers in enacting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. | |
| Civil War | The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought between the U.S. government and 11 southern states. The Union prevailed, slaves were freed, and nearly 700,000 people died. | Historical Content |
| Cold War | The antagonistic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War (1947-1991), lasted for nearly half a century. | Historical Content |
| Colonial Period | Colonial America took root in Virginia in 1607 and gained momentum when the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. By 1760, there were two million settlers. | Historical Content |
| Congregation Rodeph Shalom | The first Ashkenazic congregation in the Western Hemisphere, Rodeph Shalom, was founded in Philadelphia in 1795. | |
| Congregational Methodist Church | In 1852, the Congregational Methodist Church broke off from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South over church governance disputes. | |
| Conservative Baptist Association of America | William Bell Riley, fundamentalist minister and Bible college president, led the Minnesota Baptist Convention out of the Northern Baptist Convention in 1947. | |
| Cooperative Baptist Fellowship | Moderate Southern Baptists formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1991 to protest the conservative dominance in the denomination during the prior decade. | |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church | In 1810, the Cumberland Presbytery formed as a response to ordination and theological differences with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America Founded | In 1874, former slaves in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church founded an independent denomination, later named the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America. | |
| Death of Francis Asbury | Francis Asbury’s 1816 death marked the end of an influential 55-year ministry, but American Methodists continued to flourish following his death. | |
| Death of Joseph Smith | An angry mob broke into Joseph Smith's jail cell and killed him on June 27, 1844. Smith became a martyr at the age of 38. | |
| Dennis Bennett's Charismatic Outpouring | In 1960, Dennis Bennett's public announcement of his baptism by the Holy Spirit led to the Second Wave of Charismatic Christianity in America. | |
| Diocese of Baltimore | On November 6, 1789, the first diocese in the United States was established in Baltimore, Maryland. | |
| Duke University Founded | A group of Methodists and Quakers founded a subscription school in 1838 that would eventually become Duke University. | |
| Dzemijetul Hajrije | Dzemijetal Hajrije, America's oldest existing Muslim organization, was formed in 1906 by Bosnian immigrants who came to Chicago to help dig subway tunnels. | |
| Early Mormon Women Found Female Relief Society | In 1842, four Mormon women organized the Female Relief Society to aid the poor and help women grow in the church. | |
| Election of Jimmy Carter | In 1976, Jimmy Carter was the first self-proclaimed "born again" Christian elected president of the United States. | |
| Election of John F. Kennedy | John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic President of the United States when he defeated Richard Nixon in the 1960 election. | |
| Elisabeth Elliot Publishes Through Gates of Splendor | Elisabeth Elliot’s (1926-2015) book about the martyrdom of her husband and three other missionaries, Through Gates of Splendor (1957), is an evangelical classic. | |
| Ellen White Helps Found Seventh-day Adventists | In 1863, Ellen G. White (1827-1915), was instrumental in founding the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which worships on Saturday and believes Christ's return is imminent. | |
| Emory University Founded | In 1836, the Methodist Episcopal Church founded Emory College in Georgia. | |
| Employment Division v. Smith | This 1990 case determined that citizens could not be exempt from generally applicable and religiously neutral laws because those laws burdened their exercise of religion. | |
| Eugene Peterson's The Message Published | In 1993, Eugene Peterson began publishing sections of The Message (Bible), which translated the Christian Bible into modern everyday language. | |
| Evangelical Methodist Church | In 1946, the Evangelical Methodist Church formed in response to fears of liberalism within the Methodist Church. | |
| Evangelical Presbyterian Church | In 1981, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church became the third major conservative denomination to split off from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). | |
| Everson v. Board of Education | In this 1947 case, the Supreme Court first applied the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (i.e. no law establishing religion) to the states. | |
| Execution of Mary Dyer | On June 1, 1660, Mary Dyer (1611-1660), a friend of Anne Hutchinson, was executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her Quaker faith. | |
| Fanny Crosby Writes "Blessed Assurance" | Fanny Crosby’s "Blessed Assurance" (1873) became one of the most popular Christian hymns. | |
| Female Ordination Controversy in Methodist Episcopal Church | In 1880, Anna Howard Shaw and Anna Oliver both were denied ordination rights by the Methodist Episcopal Church, stirring tensions regarding female ordination. | |
| First African Presbyterian Church Organized | In May 1807, John Gloucester organized the first African American Presbyterian Church. | |
| First Buddhist Temples Built | In the 1850s-1880s, Chinese and Japanese immigrants brought Buddhism to America as they searched for work in Hawaii's plantations and California's gold rush. | |
| First Buddhists Elected to U.S. Congress | In November 2006, voters in Georgia and Hawaii elected the first two Buddhists --Democrats Hank Johnson and Mazie Hirono -- to the U.S. Congress. | |
| First Camp Meeting, Rehobeth, NC | In 1794, Daniel Asbury and the Methodists held the first recognized camp meeting in the United States. | |
| First Convent of Nuns in America | The first Catholic convent in America was founded in 1790 in Maryland by four contemplative Discalced Carmelite Nuns who came from a convent in Belgium. | |
| First Daoist/Traditional Chinese Temples in the U.S. | Daoism (i.e., Taoism), one of China’s recognized religions, arrived in San Francisco in the 19th century as Chinese immigrants sought work in California’s gold rush. | |
| First General Assembly of the PCUSA | In 1789, American Presbyterians created the General Assembly and adopted a new name, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (i.e., PCUSA). | |
| First LDS Temple (Kirtland) | Joseph Smith founded the first Latter-day Saints temple in Kirtland, Ohio, on March 27, 1836. | |
| First Methodist Missionary Societies Organized | In 1819, American Methodists organized their first missionary societies in New York and Philadelphia. | |
| First Methodist Societies Established | From 1763 to 1766, the first Methodist societies in America were established in Maryland, Virginia, and New York. | |
| First Ordained Southern Baptist Woman, Addie Davis | In 1964, Addie Davis became the first woman ordained in a Southern Baptist church. | |
| First Presbytery Formed in Philadelphia | The formation of a presbytery in Philadelphia in 1706 brought official Presbyterianism to the colonies. | |
| First Purpose-Built Mosque | In 1929, Syrian-Lebanese immigrants constructed the first purpose-built mosque in America in Ross, N.D., to serve their small community of Muslims. | |
| First Salvation Army Meeting in America | The Salvation Army conducted its first formal meeting in the United States in New York City in 1880. | |
| First Shinto Shrine in the U.S. | On November 3, 1898, Japanese immigrants built the first Shinto shrine in the United States in Hilo, Hawaii. | |
| First Sikh Gurdwara | The first gurdwara, a Sikh gathering place, was built in 1912 in Stockton, C.A., by settlers attracted to the fertile farmland similar to their native Punjab. | |
| First Wave of Feminism | The 72-year struggle to grant women the right to vote evolved as the central theme of the first wave of American feminism (1848-1920). | Historical Content |
| First Wesleyan Missionaries Arrive in America | Though Methodists were already in America, John Wesley sent Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore to America in 1769 in order to further spread Methodism. | |
| Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple | Built in 1988, Hsi Lai Temple near Los Angeles is the largest Buddhist temple in the western hemisphere. | |
| Formation of the Alliance of Baptists | Liberals in the Southern Baptist Convention, frustrated by the conservative takeover of the denomination, formed a progressive association of churches in 1987. | |
| Formation of the Associate Reformed Presbytery, or "Seceders" | The Associate Reformed Presbytery, formed in Philadelphia in 1782, represented Scottish immigrants from the "seceder" tradition in the Church of Scotland. | |
| Founding of Heaven's Gate | Heaven's Gate was a new religious movement founded by Bonnie Lu Nettles and Marshall Applewhite. Its 39 members died in 1997 via mass ritual suicide. | |
| Founding Period | With independence won, the United States of America began creating a new government during the Founding Period (1783-1791), including the selection of the first president. | Historical Content |
| Fox Sisters Contact a Spirit | America's Spiritualism movement, which believes spirits of the dead can communicate with the living through mediums, traces its roots to two young girls in 1848. | |
| Francis Asbury Arrives in America | Methodist missionary Francis Asbury travels from England to America in 1771 and becomes the leader of American Methodism. | |
| Free Methodist Church | Benjamin Titus Roberts and John Wesley Redfield founded the Free Methodist Church in 1860 after failing to reform the Methodist Episcopal Church. | |
| Free Will Baptists Founded in North Carolina | In 1727, Paul Palmer founded North Carolina’s first Baptist Church. This led to the spread of Baptist churches throughout the state. | |
| Freedmen's Aid Society | In the 1860s, the Freedmen's Aid Society formed with the goal of increasing educational opportunities for blacks in the American South. | |
| George Bourne Dismissed for His Opposition to Slavery | Presbyterian minister George Bourne lost his pastor position in 1815 for advocating the immediate emancipation of the slaves. | |
| George Washington's Letter to Touro Synagogue | President George Washington's 1790 letter to Jews in Rhode Island is widely regarded as his most emphatic endorsement of religious liberty and acceptance. | |
| George Whitefield's First American Preaching Tour | George Whitefield's preaching tour (1739-1740) helped propel his career as the preeminent revivalist of the First Great Awakening. | |
| Georgetown Founded | In 1789, Georgetown University became the first Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. | |
| Gilbert Tennent Preaches "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry" | Gilbert Tennent's 1740 sermon, "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry," helped spark the Old Side-New Side division among American Presbyterians. | |
| Great Depression | The Great Depression (1929-1939) brought the biggest economic upheaval in U.S. history. Millions of people were unemployed, banks/businesses failed, and there was sweeping poverty. | Historical Content |
| Half-Way Covenant | The Half-Way Covenant adjusted the requirements for full membership in the New England Congregational churches | |
| Hanover Presbytery Organized in Virginia | The 1755 founding of Hanover Presbytery in Virginia highlighted the rapid expansion of evangelicalism in the South during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe Publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin | In 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1886) spread a powerful message that slavery was evil and Christian love could eradicate it. | |
| Harry Emerson Fosdick Preaches "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" | In 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick's sermon accused fundamentalists of being "essentially illiberal and intolerant." His subsequent dismissal made Fosdick a martyr for liberal mainline Christianity. | |
| Hebrew Union College | Hebrew Union College, the oldest center of Jewish higher education in America, was founded in 1875 with its first campus in Cincinnati. | |
| Henry Dunster Becomes President of Harvard | In 1640, Henry Dunster became the first President of Harvard College and helped lay the foundational structure for America’s most renowned institution for higher learning. | |
| Hindu Temple Established in San Francisco | On Jan. 7, 1906, Indian-born Swami Trigunatita helped build one of the first Hindu temples of the western world in San Francisco. | |
| Huston Smith Publishes The Religions of Man | In 1958, Huston Smith published his landmark textbook on comparative religion, The Religions of Man in 1958, later renamed The World's Religions. | |
| Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 | The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (i.e., Hart-Celler Act) permitted more Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu immigrants into the United States, changing the U.S. religious landscape. | |
| Indian Manual Training School Founded in Oregon | In 1835, Methodist missionaries established a mission and manual labor school for American Indians, which was largely unsuccessful. | |
| Initiation of the Baptist Landmarker Movement | In 1851, the Baptist Landmarker movement began and embroiled the Southern Baptist Convention in controversy. | |
| International Society for Krishna Consciousness | A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Parbhupada (1896-1977) founded the International Society of Krishna Consciousness in 1966 in New York to bring Krishna worship to the West. | |
| Islamic Center of America | In 1963, after years of fundraising, Lebanese Muslims in the Detroit area opened the Islamic Center of America, one of the oldest Shi'a mosques in America. | |
| Islamic Society of North America | The Islamic Society of North America was created in 1982 as an umbrella group to support and unite the burgeoning Muslim population in America. | |
| James O'Kelly's Congregational Revolt | In 1792, James O'Kelly, concerned with the power of bishops, led the first schism in the American Methodist Church. | |
| Jerry Falwell Helps Found the Moral Majority | With the help of Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell in 1979, the founding of the Moral Majority would later influence Ronald Reagan's election in 1980. | |
| Jewish Theological Seminary of America | The Jewish Theological Seminary, founded in New York in 1886, is the educational center of Conservative Judaism. | |
| Jim Crow Laws | Abolition freed the slaves, but blacks were kept segregated from whites in the South through local and state regulations known as Jim Crow laws (1890-1965). | Historical Content |
| John and Charles Wesley Visit America | In 1736, John and Charles Wesley arrived in Savannah, Georgia. Although disappointing, the mission impacted the early stages of Methodism. | |
| John Chivington Leads Sand Creek Massacre | In 1864, former Methodist Episcopal Church pastor John Chivington led a massacre against Colorado Native Americans, now known as the Sand Creek Massacre. | |
| John R. Mott Awarded Nobel Peace Prize | In 1946, John R. Mott was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting religious peace through his ecumenical efforts. | |
| Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration | The Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of 1965 revoked the mutual excommunications of 1054 that led to the Great Schism. | |
| Jonathan Edwards Preaches 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' | Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741) was one of the foundational texts of the First Great Awakening. | |
| Junipero Serra Establishes First Missions in California | Junipero Serra established Mission San Diego on July 16, 1769. This helped extend Spanish control in California and brought Christianity to Native Americans. | |
| Keith Ellison Elected to U.S. Congress | On Nov. 7, 2006, Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to national office, joining the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota's fifth district. | |
| King Philip's War | For 14 months (1675-1676), Indians raided settlements and colonialists launched counterattacks. It ended after King Philip, the chief of the Wampanoag Indian tribe, was assassinated. | Historical Content |
| Knights of Columbus | The Knights of Columbus is a fraternal organization for Catholic men that formed in Connecticut in 1882. | |
| Lemon v. Kurtzman | This 1971 ruling established an influential precedent (the "Lemon test") for whether a law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. | |
| Liberty University | Jerry Falwell founded the small Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971, which would grow into the largest private, nonprofit university in America by the 2010s. | |
| Life of David Brainerd Published | Jonathan Edwards published The Life of David Brainerd (1749) to promote evangelical theology during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Lottie Moon Sent to China as a Southern Baptist Missionary | In 1873, Lottie Moon went to China as a Southern Baptist missionary at a time when sending unmarried women to the mission field was rare. | |
| Lynch v. Donnelly | This case interpreted the Establishment Clause as an accommodation between church and state, not an absolute separation of the two. | |
| Major Upsurge in Hindu Temples | The 1970s, and early 1980s, saw an explosion of Hindu temples in America, courtesy of a new law allowing for more immigrants from India. | |
| Margaret Towner Ordained in PCUSA | Margaret Towner's ordination in 1956 was the culmination of a long struggle for gender equality in the Presbyterian Church USA. | |
| Marjorie Matthews Elected Bishop | Marjorie Matthews was elected bishop in the United Methodist church in 1980. She was the first female elected bishop of any mainline Christian church. | |
| Mary Evans Thorne Appointed Class Leader | Mary Evans Thorne is believed to be the first woman appointed as a class leader in American Methodism around 1770. | |
| Massachusetts Bay Colony | In 1630, a group of Puritans, led by John Winthrop, established the Massachusetts Bay Colony after fleeing religious persecution in England. | |
| Merger of UPCNA and PCUSA | The merger of the UPCNA and the PCUSA in 1958 created the largest Presbyterian denomination in America, but was followed by controversy and dissension. | |
| Merger of UPCUSA and PCUS | In 1983, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the United States merged to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Methodist Episcopal Church | In 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church became the first official Methodist denomination in the United States. | |
| Methodist Episcopal Church, South | In 1845, the contentious issue of American slavery divided the Methodist Episcopal Church into Northern and Southern denominations. | |
| Methodists Approve Full Ordination of Women | In 1956, the Methodist Church finally permitted the full ordination of women after years of resistance. | |
| Mikveh Israel | Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia began as a Jewish cemetery (1740) but later became a synagogue (1782), one of the earliest existing Jewish synagogues in America. | |
| Million Man March | The Million Man March in 1995, organized by the Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan, was the largest gathering of African Americans in U.S. history. | |
| Mitt Romney's Presidential Campaign | Mitt Romney became the first Mormon nominee for president when he ran as a Republican in 2012 against Barack Obama. | |
| Mother Mosque of America | The "Mother Mosque of America," established by immigrants in 1934 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the oldest purpose-built mosque still in use. | |
| Muhammad Ali Converts to Islam | After winning his first heavyweight championship in 1964, boxer Cassius Clay (1942-2016) announced he had converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. | |
| Murders of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman | In 1847, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, early missionaries to the Oregon territory, were killed by the Cayuse Indians in a widely publicized massacre. | |
| Nat Turner's Rebellion | Nat Turner’s rebellion (1831) is the most famous slave revolt in American history. | |
| Nation of Islam Founded | On July 4, 1930, W.D. Fard founded the Nation of Islam, one of the most radical and militant religious movements of the 20th century. | |
| National Association of Evangelicals Founded | The National Association of Evangelicals was founded in 1942 to provide representation for evangelicals in Washington, D.C., and with the broadcasting industry. | |
| National Association of Free Will Baptists | In 1935, the two major "branches" of Free Will Baptists joined together to form the National Association of Free Will Baptists. | |
| National Baptist Convention | The National Baptist Convention has been the largest national association of African-American Baptists since 1895 despite major denominational splits in 1915 and 1961. | |
| National Catholic War Council | The National Catholic War Council in 1917 allowed the Catholic hierarchy to display its patriotism and to unite on a national level. | |
| Native American Peyote Controversy | Despite passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, legal judgments continued to challenge the use of peyote in religious services until 1994. | |
| New School-Old School Controversy Splits the General Assembly | The New School-Old School controversy, driven by theological differences during the Second Great Awakening, split the mainstream of American Presbyterianism in 1837. | |
| Northern and Southern Factions of the Methodist Episcopal Church Reunite | The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South reunited in 1939, nearly a century after the issue of slavery divided them. | |
| Northern Baptist Convention | The Northern Baptist Convention formed in 1907 and represents the theologically liberal and politically progressive strains of the Baptist tradition. | |
| Oblate Sisters of Providence Founded | The Oblate Sisters of Providence, founded in Baltimore, Md., in 1829, was the first Roman Catholic congregation founded by women of African descent. | |
| Olympia Brown Ordained By Universalist Church | In 1863, women's rights activist Olympia Brown (1835-1926) became the first woman to be ordained by the Universalist Church. | |
| Ordination of Ruby Knapp Bixby by the Free Will Baptists | In 1846, the Freewill Baptists ordained Ruby Knapp Bixby, making her the first licensed female Baptist preacher. | |
| Orthodox Presbyterian Church Founded | In 1936, discontented conservative Presbyterians left the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| Papal Condemnation of Slave Trade | In 1839, Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade in the papal bull entitled In supremo apostolatus, but American Catholics were tentative about ending slavery. | |
| Pat Robertson Founds Christian Broadcasting Network | In 1961, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Broadcast Network, which became a multi-million dollar outlet for Christian television. | |
| PCUSA Allows Same-Sex Marriage | On June 19, 2014, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed an amendment to allow pastor to perform same-sex marriages. | |
| PCUSA Approves Gay/Lesbian Ordination | On July 8, 2010, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved the ordination of "openly"/partnered gay and lesbian members. Many conservative members left the denomination thereafter. | |
| Peyote Religion and the Native American Church | Use of peyote, a psychedelic source for Native American spirit ceremonies, became widespread in the mid-1880s. In 1906, peyote groups formed the Native American Church. | |
| Philadelphia Baptist Association | In 1707, Welsh Baptist immigrants in Philadelphia formed the first permanent Baptist denomination in America. | |
| Philadelphia Confession of Faith | The Philadelphia Baptist Association adopted the Philadelphia Confession of Faith in 1742, unifying Particular Baptist churches throughout the country. | |
| Phoebe Palmer Writes The Way of Holiness | In 1843, Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) first published The Way of Holiness, an important evangelical classic outlining a "shorter way" to ecstatic union with God. | |
| Pilgrim Holiness Church | The Pilgrim Holiness Church (1897) was originally a Methodist prayer league that grew into a denomination by the early 20th century. | |
| Plenary Councils of Baltimore | The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were a series of meetings of the American Catholic bishops held in 1852, 1866, and 1884. | |
| Plymouth Plantation | Plymouth Plantation was a North American colony settled in 1620 by English Separatists, later known as Pilgrims, who desired to practice their own religion freely. | |
| Presbyterian Church in America | In 1973, conservative Presbyterians dissatisfied with the liberal tendencies of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. left to form the Presbyterian Church in America. | |
| Presbyterian Church in the U.S. | The Civil War divided northern and southern Presbyterians, leading those in the South to secede and form the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in 1861. | |
| Presbyterian Church v. Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church | In 1969, this Supreme Court case prohibited the government from interfering in doctrinal disputes between churches. | |
| President McKinley Addresses Methodist Ministers on Philippines | On November 21, 1899, President William McKinley told Methodist leaders that he had been divinely inspired to annex the Philippines. | |
| Princeton University Founded | New Light Presbyterians founded Princeton University in 1746 as one of the first national colleges in America. | |
| Progressive National Baptist Convention | In 1961, the Progressive National Baptist Convention split from the National Baptist Convention, USA, due to disputes regarding Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights activism. | |
| Prohibition | The 18th amendment made the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol illegal in the United States for 13 years (1920-1933). | Historical Content |
| Publication of "Economic Justice for All" | The United States Catholic bishops wrote the pastoral letter entitled "Economic Justice for All" (1986) to promote the economic well-being for all citizens. | |
| Publication of "The Challenge of Peace" | In 1983, the Catholic bishops of the United States published the "Challenge of Peace," which denounced the arms race during the Cold War. | |
| Publication of An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty | In 1773, Isaac Backus published a collection of sermons promoting religious liberty and the separation between church and state. | |
| Publication of Appeal to the Christian Women of the South | In 1836, Angelina Grimke published Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, which urged other southern Christian women to denounce slavery. | |
| Publication of Autobiography of Peter Cartwright | Peter Cartwright’s Autobiography (1856) recounts the famous Methodist circuit rider’s life, from his conversion to his encounters with famous American figures. | |
| Publication of Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery | Maria Monk's controversial Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery (1836) depicted illicit encounters between priests and nuns, rape, infanticide, and murder. | |
| Publication of Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee | Jarena Lee’s 1836 autobiography is one of the first extended life accounts of a black woman in America. | |
| Publication of Encyclical Humanae Vitae | Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae reaffirmed the Catholic Church's ban on artificial birth control and serves as a continuing source of controversy. | |
| Publication of Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis | Pascendi Dominici Gregis, a 1907 encyclical by Pope Pius X, defined Modernism as "the synthesis of all heresies." | |
| Publication of Encyclical Rerum Novarum | Rerum Novarum, an 1891 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on protecting the working class, is a foundational text in modern Catholic social thought. | |
| Publication of Encyclical Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae | Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, an 1899 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII, condemned the heresy of Americanism. | |
| Publication of Scofield Reference Bible | The Scofield Reference Bible, first published by Oxford University Press in 1909, would sell two million copies by the end of World War II. | |
| Publication of Shailer Mathews's The Faith of Modernism | Shailer Mathews's The Faith of Modernism (1924) was an influential systematic theology of theological liberalism. | |
| Quebec Act | The Quebec Act of 1774 led to a resurgence in anti-Catholic sentiment in the American colonies and increased tensions between colonists and the British government. | |
| Ququnok Patke Prophesies | Ququnok Patke (c.1790s-1837) was a Kootenai Indian whose prophecies in the early 1800s made her legendary throughout the Pacific Northwest. | |
| Ralph Elliott Fired in the "Genesis" Controversy | When Southern Baptist seminary professor Ralph Elliott challenged the historicity of Genesis, conservatives forced him to resign (1962), foreshadowing the conservative resurgence in the SBC. | |
| Rebecca Gratz Founds First Hebrew Sunday School | Under Rebecca Gratz's oversight, the first free Hebrew Sunday school opened in Philadelphia in 1838. | |
| Reconstruction and Industrialization | During the Reconstruction and Industrialization period (1865-1890), the South struggled to recover after the Civil War. Meanwhile, United States was emerging as an industrial giant. | Historical Content |
| Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 | The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allowed the "compelling state interest" test to apply to federal level, not just the state level. | |
| Reunification of New School and Old School Presbyterians | After 30 years of division between New School and Old School Presbyterians, the factions reunited in 1869. | |
| Rhode Island Royal Charter | In 1663, the Rhode Island Royal Charter made a unified government in the colony possible, acknowledged American Indian land rights, and declared religious toleration. | |
| Rise of Equal Rights Movements | The social justice movements of the 1960s were infectious, giving rise to women, racial minorities, and LGBT groups seeking equal rights in the United States. | Historical Content |
| Roger Williams Founds Providence, Rhode Island | In 1636, Roger Williams founded Rhode Island, which became known for its religious tolerance and deregulation of religious behavior. | |
| Salem Witch Trials | During the Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693), citizens accused one another of witchcraft, leading to mass hysteria and the imprisonment/death of approximately 170 community members. | |
| Sally Priesand Becomes First Female Rabbi | On June 3, 1972, Sally Priesand became the first female rabbi ordained in America -- and the first woman in Judaism to earn seminary ordination. | |
| Sarah Dickson Becomes First Female Presbyterian Elder | On June 2, 1930, Sarah Dickson became the first female elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). | |
| Scopes Trial | The Scopes Trial (1925) highlighted the tension between literal interpretations of creation accounts in the Bible and evolutionary theory in the 20th century. | |
| Scottish Covenanters Form First Presbytery in Pennsylvania | Expatriates from dissident Scottish Presbyterians formed a presbytery in central Pennsylvania in 1774. | |
| Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) | The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was a Catholic ecumenical council that attempted to reconcile Catholicism with the challenges of modernity. | |
| Sherbert v. Verner | This 1963 case introduced the "Sherbert test"; the government must show that burdening the individual's practice of religion is based on a compelling state interest. | |
| Siege of Branch Davidian Compound | Most remember the Branch Davidians, a sect of Seventh-day Adventism, the US Government laying siege to their compound outside of Waco, Texas in 1993. | |
| Signing of the American Baptist Bill of Rights | The American Baptist Bill of Rights (1939) defended the separation of church and state, paving the way for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. | |
| Silver Bluff Baptist Church | Silver Bluff Baptist Church was founded over the course of 1773-1775 as the first black Baptist church in America. | |
| Sojourner Truth's Methodist Conversion | In 1843, Sojourner Truth converted to Methodism and found her calling as an important social activist for blacks as well as women. | |
| Sojourners Magazine | Sojourners magazine, founded in 1971, promoted a greater prominence of liberal Christian views on social issues within the evangelical community. | |
| Southern Baptist Convention Founded | The Southern Baptist Convention (1845) resulted from a split between Northern and Southern Baptists over slavery. It is now the largest Protestant denomination in America. | |
| Southern Christian Leadership Conference | Founded in 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) believed that racial equality was a Christian imperative and utilized non-violent protests to combat racism. | |
| Sufism Comes to United States | Fulfilling the wishes of his Sufi teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan sailed to America in 1910 to spread the message of this mystical arm of Islam. | |
| Swaminarayan Akshardham | The world's largest Hindu temple, the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, opened in 2014 in Robbinsville, N.J. | |
| Synod of 1737 and the Old Side-New Side Controversy | The Synod of 1737, which restricted itinerancy and tightened ordination standards, launched the Old Side-New Side Controversy, which divided American Presbyterianism for two decades. | |
| The Christian Advocate First Published | In 1826, the Methodist Episcopal Church commissioned the Christian Advocate, a weekly newspaper that became one of the most popular periodicals in the country. | |
| The American Sunday School Union | In 1817, the American Sunday School Union formed as a faith-based voluntary society to spread education and knowledge of the Bible throughout the country. | |
| The Cooperative Program Instituted in the Southern Baptist Convention | In 1925, the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program centralized budgetary authority and aided the growth of the denomination. | |
| The First Great Awakening | The First Great Awakening (1730s-1770s) was a series of religious revivals that propelled the expansion of evangelical denominations in the colonies. | |
| The Methodist Social Creed Adopted | In 1908, the Methodist Episcopal Church developed an official creed to address social problems of poverty and child labor exploitation. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1758 | The Plan of Union in 1758 ended the Old Side-New Side controversy among American Presbyterians. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1801 | In 1801, the Plan of Union united the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in efforts to evangelize the Midwest. | |
| The Primitive Baptists Coalesce | In 1827, the Primitive Baptists began forming in response to growing Baptist denominationalism. | |
| The Second Great Awakening | The Second Great Awakening(s) (1790s-1840s) fueled the rise of an evangelical Protestant majority in antebellum America, giving rise to new denominations and social reform organizations. | |
| The Trial of Margaret Meuse Clay | In 1770, local authorities trialed Margaret Meuse Clay for challenging the gender norms of colonial society and for preaching without a license. | |
| The Wesleyan Methodist Church Connection | In 1843, abolitionists split from the Methodist Episcopal Church over slavery and church governance. | |
| Theosophical Society Founded | Founded in New York in 1875, the Theosophical Society popularized such Eastern tenets as karma and reincarnation in a new religious movement emphasizing spiritual evolution. | |
| Thomas Coke's Anti-Slavery Resolution, "Christmas Conference" | The Christmas Conference of 1784 allowed American Methodists to establish their new denominational identity in the United States and to reaffirm their opposition to slavery. | |
| Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists | In 1802, Thomas Jefferson's letter contained the phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State," important in later legal interpretations of the first amendment. | |
| Tim LaHaye publishes Left Behind | Starting in 1995, the Left Behind series of novels about the Rapture would become the best-selling works of American Christian fiction. | |
| Touro Synagogue | Touro Synagogue was dedicated in 1763 in Newport, R.I. It is the oldest dedicated synagogue in America. | |
| Trial of Albert Barnes | The trial of Presbyterian minister Albert Barnes regarding his unorthodox theology in 1835 increased tensions between Old School and New School Presbyterians. | |
| Trial of Anne Hutchinson | In 1637, Anne Hutchinson was put on trial in Massachusetts for promoting "free grace" theology and challenging colonial authorities. | |
| Trial of Charles Augustus Briggs | The 1892 heresy trial of theologian Charles Augustus Briggs anticipated the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church twenty years later. | |
| Triennial Convention | In 1814, the Triennial Convention became the first formal Baptist missionary agency in America. | |
| UMC General Conference Denies Sexuality Amendment | In 2008 and 2012, the United Methodist Church denied changes in the Book of Discipline, which would have permitted a more liberal stance on homosexuality. | |
| Union Church of Africans | In 1813, the Union Church of Africans became the first independently organized black church in the United States. | |
| United Methodist Church | In 1968, Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church, the largest Methodist denomination in the United States. | |
| University of Chicago | In 1890, John D. Rockefeller and William Rainey Harper founded a non-sectarian university in Chicago to promote progressive education and modernist theology. | |
| University of Notre Dame Founded | French Priest Edward Sorin founded the University of Notre Dame in 1842. It became the most renowned Catholic university in the world. | |
| UPCUSA Confession of 1967 | The 1967 Confession added calls for racial and social reconciliation, but conservatives in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) accused it of hedging on essential doctrines. | |
| Ursuline Convent Riots | In 1834, an anti-Catholic mob burned down a convent and school run by Ursuline nuns in Charlestown, Mass. | |
| Utah | In 1847, Brigham Young led the Mormons into Utah after facing persecution at home. The land was considered a Mormon "Zion." | |
| Vanderbilt University Founded | In 1873, Vanderbilt University was founded in Nashville, Tennessee with the initial goal of training local Methodist ministers. | |
| Vietnam War | America’s two-decade involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) was costly and divisive. It claimed more than 58,000 U.S. lives and cost 140 billion dollars. | Historical Content |
| Vietnamese Buddhists Come to United States | Vietnamese Buddhism spread across America as thousands of refugees arrived after the Vietnam War ended in 1975. | |
| Virginia's Religious Disestablishment | In 1786, the Virginia legislature passed a bill by Thomas Jefferson ending the Anglican Church's formal establishment as the state religion. | |
| War of 1812 | The War of 1812 (1812-1815) is often called the second American Revolutionary War, because it again pitted America against Britain. | Historical Content |
| Wesley's A Collection of Hymns, for Use of the People Called Methodists | This 1780 hymnbook, written by John Wesley, became the definitive hymnbook for Methodists. | |
| Wesleyan Church | In 1968, the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church merged to form the Wesleyan Church. | |
| Wesleyan College | In 1836, Wesleyan College was founded in Macon, GA. It is the oldest college for women in the world. | |
| Westward and Southern Expansion | The United States of America began pushing beyond the boundaries of its original 13 states, until its holdings spanned from sea to sea (1790-1848). | Historical Content |
| William Seymour and Azusa Street Revival | The Azusa Street Revival (1906-1915) was a defining event for early Pentecostalism and functioned as the catalyst to the growth of American Pentecostalism. | |
| William Tennent's "Log College" | In 1727, William Tennent's "Log College" became the first seminary in North America. | |
| Woman's Christian Temperance Union | The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio, after a series of anti-alcohol protests by women. | |
| World Parliament of Religions | In 1893, the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago introduced many non-Christian faiths to America -- including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto and Taoism. | |
| World War I | World War I (1914-1919) began in Europe, but grew into an unprecedented global conflict with 65 million troops. It was called the Great War. | Historical Content |
| World War II | With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Germany began annexing neighboring countries, leading to the second World War (1939-1945) and the deadliest conflict in world history. | Historical Content |
| Xavier University of Louisiana Founded | Xavier University of Louisiana (est. 1915) is the only historically black Catholic institution of higher learning in America. |
