Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

English oppressor s; "hile the En glis h br ought wi t h
t hem f rolll the west country a he rit age of puritani ­
cal Pr otestantism, social deference, lind semif
eudal economic relationships. Thus the consti tuen
t elements o f the new cOJimunity froll the very
beginning cont ained in their respective t radi tions
a nd memories fro. th; old world the see d s of social
conflict i n the new .
Herein l ay the roots of both religious sectar ianism and social
co nflic t i n Newf o u ndl a nd . As with most n i ne t eenth century
west e rn s oc i eties , Newfo und land considered Itself Chris t ian,
a nd r e ligion was a n expression o f e t h n ic identit y a s much as
anything else. s tate Anglic an i sm dom I nated t he s t art of t he
ni ne t e en t h c entury . After 18 32 Roman Catholi c s, wi t h clerical
ba c ki ng, began reform a nd Cat holic r i qht s ag i t ation . The
Cat holics ....ere joined i n time by t he Met hodists, a str on g
third c hur ch, ....hich was s trong ly reviva listic a nd h ad ou t port
roots . I n 1855 Ne....found l and became i nt ernal l y self-governing,
largely because ot t he Roman Ca t ho l ic/Met hodist alliance . As
a r e sult Anglican domina nce wa s brok en. This wa s follo....ed by
the r e lig i o u s comp romise of the 1860$ Wh e n pa t ronage and
education ....ere a ll d ivided proportionately . Thus relig i on ....as
embedd ed i n t h e s t a t e. 8
Th e country that Alice B. Garr igus e nt e r e d i n 191 0 ....as a
deepl y relig i ou s one ( s e e Figur e 2). The Roman Catholic
Church ....a s t h e l a r g e st d e no mina t ion i n 1911 , with 3 3 . 8\:. The
Ch ur c h of Eng land , with a consti tuency of 77 ,075 or 32 . 2 \: , was
not f ar be hind. The Met hodist po r t i o n of the popUl a tion wa s
6 7 ,310 o r 28.2\ , foll owed by the Sa l vation Army , Which had a
,s
membership of 1 0, 1 3 6 or 4 .2\: . The Presbyte r i an a nd Cong r ega-