Religious Tolerance: Made in America | 5 Minute Video
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Religious tolerance is a given in the West. But it's a historical aberration -- an ideological revolution created by the Puritans and pre-1776 Americans. What was it that led to the religious tolerance revolution? Was there something unique in Protestantism and Americanism? Or would tolerance have eventually arisen elsewhere, perhaps in Europe? Larry Schweikart, best-selling author and professor of history at the University of Dayton, explains.
🚨 PragerU is experiencing severe censorship on Big Tech platforms. Go to www.prageru.com/ to watch our videos free from censorship!
SUBSCRIBE 👉 www.prageru.co...
📲 Take PragerU videos with you everywhere you go. Download our free mobile app!
Download for Apple iOS ➡ itunes.apple.c....
Download for Android ➡ play.google.co....
📳 Join PragerU's text list! optin.mobiniti...
SHOP! 🛒 Love PragerU? Visit our store today! shop.prageru.com/
Script:
Each year the President of the United States lights a national Christmas tree, hosts a Hanukkah party at the White House and issues a proclamation honoring Ramadan. Only in America.
Indeed, America is known for religious tolerance. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that America, where people of all faiths are free to worship (or not worship) as they please, invented modern religious tolerance. This tolerance, which Americans take for granted, didn't exist anywhere in the world before America invented it. How did this happen?
To answer that we have to look to America's origins which were overwhelmingly religious and, to be precise, overwhelmingly Christian. To put it another way, America became the religiously open nation that we know today because it was first a Christian nation, specifically a Protestant one.
Let me explain.
Until the beginning of the 16th Century religious life in Europe was dominated by the Catholic Church. All religious power was concentrated in the Pope and the Catholic clergy. They determined religious doctrine. The power structure was top down. All that changed in 1517 when Martin Luther, a German priest, led a revolt that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. The theme of the Reformation was that people should be free to interpret the Bible and manage their houses of worship as they saw fit -- a bottom up power structure.
The most zealous of England's Reformers were known as the Puritans, so called because they wanted to purify the Church of England. Some of these Puritans became so disenchanted they decided they had no choice but to leave England. Only in the New World of America, untainted by European prejudices, could they practice their Protestant Christianity in its purest form. We know these hardy souls as Pilgrims. The strength of their conviction can easily be measured by the incredible risks they took in crossing the North Atlantic on small wooden sailing ships, of which The Mayflower was only one.
True to their religious background these early settlers, and those that followed, were fiercely independent. Given that the Puritans believed that people should read and interpret scripture for themselves, how could it be otherwise? Not surprisingly, it didn't take long before disputes broke out among the settlers regarding doctrine. In fact, the colony of Rhode Island was established in 1638 as a haven for some of these dissidents.
Throughout the 17th century more colonists arrived, including Catholics and Jews but their numbers remained small relative to the Protestant majority. All the way through American Independence in 1776 and the Revolutionary War that followed Protestants remained dominant. But with more settlers came more religious discord. The only thing that everyone could agree on was that religion, specifically Christianity -- firmly rooted, it is important to note, in the Hebrew Scriptures -- was central to the new nation's life.
For the complete script, visit www.prageru.co...
I thought the Mongol Empire had a religiously tolerant society LONG before the USA. And guess what? They were Shamanist......
+Violent2aShadow Nope, in fact they hated all other religions and in fact at the battle of Visby which is right outside the gates of Novgorod the mongols butchered over 40000 Shiites.
+Vieltrien Lol that's not religious intolerance, they did that to everyone.
Tony Xun I don't you think you got the joke.
+Vieltrien Oh, there was a joke...? I'm dense, I know.
Tony Xun You're not dense. The joke is pretty obscure. Battle of Visby was held by 2 completely different groups of people, in a completely different time period, in a place where the Mongol Empire never reached.
Awesome. Ancient Persia had religious tolerance too. And more recently, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the 1200's, the MONGOLS had religious tolerance, or at least religious freedom. The Mongols actually had a really good legal system for the time.
Big Bad Wolf Spain had it too as it was a califat by the Arabian Nations.
Big Bad Wolf you forgot the mongols and buzantioum
Don't forget the Netherlands. That's actually where the pilgrims went before heading to America.
As Ukrainian, respectfully disagree.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth oppress ortodox (one of the reason for Bogdan Khmelnitsky rebellion).
I think the focus of the video is wrong. It shouldn't be that America created religious liberty. It should be that religious liberty is a core American value and should be protected. Nevertheless, America has a right to be proud: religious liberty is enshrined in our 200+ year written constitution and we have NEVER fought an internal war based on religion.
James Jefferson Well, some could argue that the Civil War was based on religion (people's attitudes toward slavery were mainly influenced by their very different interpretation of Scripture). But you have the right idea: we're not the only people to have had religious tolerance, but we ARE the only people to make it so central to our governmental structure (Amendment #1).
Religion certainly was not at the core of the War. Some slaveholders simply attempted to justify slavery with religion, but they were not fighting for religion. The closest thing I can think of to a sectarian war in America in the Mormon War, and that was very small scale.
James Jefferson the Dutch did it 100 years before the US was formed... They brought the idea of personal freedom to the place that now is called New York. The Dutch protestants were oppressed and persecuted by the catholic Spanish crown. after a 80 year independance war, the dutch focussed on the idea that private practicing beliefs is of nobody's concern. Overt practicing was less tolerated out of fear of returning to catholic days where the church and the state dictated doctrine and how to live your life or be persecuted.
After that it evolved to what the western culture has now and it defenitely is not an american thing and not even a particulary christian thing. It has been a protestant thing, stemming from the countries that shed themselves from catholic oppression and totalitarianism. The Netherlands and England happened to be 2 of those countries and both of them have layed the foundation of what the US is today regarding personal freedom.
AwoudeX Glad that some persecuted people can overcome their persecution and not desire to seek another group to persecute immediately afterwards. Because sometimes it starts to look like that never happens. Good to find examples in history to give people a little hope.
AwoudeX that is not the case, I've read accounts of the Dutch being persecuted for their religious views. And they had to hold secret meetings just to be able to worship how they wanted.
Poland (at that time called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Republic of Both Nations) was religiously tolerant country (we were called a country without stakes) before most colonies in America was established.
I lived in Poland for a year and I was pleasantly surprised to hear this. It makes sense. About 3,000 Jews who were murdered during the holocaust where Polish Jews.
BeedlePencil I think you meant 3 million Jews
Michał Kotuła I
cinzsur
Preach 🙌
Religious Tolerance invented in America? Improved maybe. Americans forget there Dutch roots very often, but I be loved to remind you:
The Dutch brought the traditions of religious freedom and tolerance to New Amsterdam (New York today) in the year 1624, the first settlement of Europe in America. And these Dutch freedoms inspired English Pilgrims and the French Huguenots, years later, who did not have these rights in Europe yet, but the Dutch already have in Europe.
And also the Dutch Republic (Netherlands today) was also among those systems of government that inspired America's founders as they shaped today's Constitution. The Dutch Republic, then one of the few other Republics in the world was in that time for a century the most wealthiest and successful nation by far in Europe.
I do not want to spoil the mood, but these are facts of your own history. The English wipe the Dutch legacy out probably. We were always at war with each other in the 17th century.
True. Dutch allowed even freethinkers like Spinoza, who did not believe in God the traditional sense, to publish his ideas. That is real religious freedom.
Prager University; Religious tolerance, an american invention, now let's look at the German inventor who opposed an Italian based church, inspiring the British to move to a new place.
MrTableturns history is not that simple... the german inventor was supported because of economic reasons.
MrTableturns Yes, but america was the first to openly accept all religions, with the first amendment to the bill of rights. It would be at least another ~70 years before freedom of religion became a right in Europe.
*****
That's not what is being said. What is being said is that it was the first government law stating that freedom to exercise any religion was enforced and upheld by a court of law. You're absolutely right concerning the anti-native sentiment, but this law quelled any attempt to unify the entire country under one religion, unlike the european countries at the time which were heavily influenced and controlled by religious dogma.
***** Feel free to vacate my land and move to Liberia in protest of America. Please transfer all of your property to the closest tribal nation before you go. We will put it to use to both preserve and promote our rich heritage while we work to improve the US as a whole.
Daniel Biazoto Do you have sources for those claims? The only thing I remember about Sao Paulo is that it was a Jesuit settlement, was extremely poor, and was not a center of religious tolerance.
This is incredibly historically inaccurate. Firstly this video diminish the existence of history in Asia. By all means America is indeed a religious tolerant country compared to other countries, however to claim that america invented the religious tolerance is historically a false statement.
The indian subcontinent has many times in history witnessed leader, empires and acts of religious tolerance. Akbar I was a Mughal Emperor i.e a muslim however he decreed that Hindus who had been forced to convert to Islam could reconvert to Hinduism without facing the death penalty. Akbar attempted to foster communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. These sentiments were earlier encouraged by the teachings of popular saints like Guru Nanak, Kabir and Chaitanya. Akbar practiced several Hindu customs. He celebrated Diwali. Also his royal queen-consort was a Hindu princess, Harkha Bai. Contrary to the usual practice of sultans, Akbar allowed her to remain a Hindu and to maintain a Hindu temple in the royal palace.
Akbar was one of the many religious tolerant rulers who ruled the indian sub continent, another great example was Ashoka (304-232 BCE). And there are many such rulers who advocated religious tolerance way before United Stated of America was even established as a country. Not to mention that the indian subcontinent is the home to hinduism and buddhism, which are both vastly accepted as the most tolerant religions in the world.
Viveka Gondalia this is false, please watch the video carefully again ! Nobody made such an absolute claim. context = whole video !
"however to claim that america invented the religious tolerance is historically a false statement."
***** well, USA has not that big and long history... let's wait few century and see how this "lasting" really works.... Even 50 years ago black people were still oppressed and black president would be a joke. Now your economical freedom is more and more limited and soon there will be no trace of your 200 years of free market tradition (I honest hope I am wrong). Everything is changing my friend and that's how it will always be. There are no guaranties of "lasting" anywhere...
Viveka Gondalia
This is very true and very ahead of its time. The problem is that the decrees he stated didn't hold up for very long and weren't very concrete. I agree that the video does a poor job of stating what is being said. It should say "Why has the United States gone so long without strong influences from a single religion or dogma?" or "Why didn't protestant law become prevalent in the U.S. during its emergence?"
asia isnt a country
Ah yes, Asia. Most famously Japan, where worshiping Jesus Christ was punishable by death for over 200 years.
How tolerant.
I want to point out that Protestants in Maryland were incredibly antagonistic to the Catholics who lived there, so much for tolerance.
Graybat12 I am a Marylander, still in elementary school, and even I know this. My Caucasian Catholic friends said that their foremothers and forefathers didn’t like the Puritans because they were shmucks to them. CONFIRMED
The Persian empire had religious tolerance over 2,000 years before the USA was Evan created.
thanks to syrus the great same here in north africa where christians and jews and local religions lived in peace
Don't forget the Mongols either
That's probably why he specifies that the United States "invented 'modern' religious tolerance".
Daniel Mejía Dutch empire
Manchester Senator the mongol empire also had remarkable religious tolerance
Never tolerate foreigners who are a potential danger for your family, but give respect only to those who respect your principles.
Very agreeable
tell that to native american in 16th century, lol
0:25 That is not true, because, for example, Poland was a place where during all its history people were allowed to belive or not belive, whatever they wanted (no religious wars, no discrimination towards any religious minority)
This channel says a lot of things that aren't true, things that couldn't possibly be proven and two times I have even seen them treat something that is a human invented concepts that varies from person to person as measurable quantities. Yet despite all of this a lot of people still listen to them.
True. Poland-Lithuania had many humane rulers, it's why so many Jews moved to Poland.
1573 year, Poland-Lithuania Commonweal Parliament establish "Warsaw Confederation" establishing freedom of religion, and tolerance across whole wast country. Catholics, Protestants (Calvin's, Lutherans,...), Orthodox noble's (with has common voting right's) were guarantee same right's regardless of their faith, and what follow was exceptional in whole rest of Europe religious peace and freedom.
Sorry I don't agree with you. In India political party like to give organize Iftar party for Muslims but some of them never celebrate Hindu festivals like Diwali or Holi in the name of secularism. I agree with you that India should get their definition of secularism from USA but unfortunately currently it means to promote Islam or Christianity and bash Hinduism in the name of secularism
Red Warrior Let me give an example to explain what exactly I meant. Last year during month of Ramzan a Muslim who was working in an parliament canteen was fed forcefully by a leader of the Hindu right party became blasphemy for Indian media(I agree force feeding any1 is wrong). The media highlighted it as a Hindu leader tried to break a Muslim persons Ramzan fast. It was clear that no way for the MP to know that person was a Muslim(no name tag) and he was fasting during the month of Ramzan. Almost next day a Muslim group attacked a Gurudawara (Sikh's holy place) but this particular case the religion of the people instigating violence was ignored. The media reported it as, "Section of two minority group had a clash", even when Sikh people (one 1 sikh man was standing infront of Muslim fanatic group) where just trying to save their holy place. Is it called secularism?
Let me point out another example. India is a multicultural country. People of different faith live there. Hindu, Muslim, Christianity, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Jew and others. But few years back the then Prime Minister (former PM) of India, Man Mohan Singh said, Muslim have a the first right on India's resources. The leftist liberal people in India praised such statement and label it as secular. But do you think its a secular statement by PM of a country where people of different faith live together. I agree Muslim people are in minority in India but there are people of other faiths also. Why should we are forced to consider Muslim as minority when their population in India is more then that of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Please let me know if you need another example. I like secularism definition of USA where once a terrorist is caught no one talk about his/her religion but the criminal act he/she has committed.
Rakesh M 1st example is wrong. Guy was a railway canteen employee and the Shiv Sena worker fed him chappatis bcoz he wanted to show him that the Chapatti was so rubbery u couldn't digest it. It wasn't bcoz he was Muslim it was bocz he was IRCTC employee. The news was first featured completely in local marathi papers before the spin by English media, as evident by ur misinformation that guy was parliament worker.
Venkat G Thank you for correcting me.
Rakesh M that is why Christians especially persecuted in India. Christians are banned from celebrating Christmas utter pradesh
Rakesh M only Gandhi and Nehru and few leaders believed in secular India. The reason why Pakistan started their own country
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
Total BS. Ancient India had religious tolerance for centuries and centuries before the concept even existed in the West.
Comparing India with the west is stupid. Western religions were designed to spread hatred. Whereas Indian religions were made to co-exist with each other
+Airhead “Daisuke” l Western religions where not made to spread hate, that is how some people practiced them. There is a difference between the root religion and how some people spread or worship it.
+Airhead ‘Daisuke’ l Alright, how about the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan? They had religious freedom.
Or for western European countries: The Netherlands perhaps? They had religious tolerance as early as 1588 and freedom of woreship in the early 1700s, still decades before the USA's creation.
The Mongols were pretty tolerant of other beliefs too
+Aditya Tyagi Agreed, Ancient India and The Mongol Empire practiced true religious freedom. Modern states usually force one form of religion on it's populace or ban them from practicing any. Those nations that do not have written law, practice this with state sponsored propaganda machines.
America: land of the free. Unless you're a Jew, Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, etc.
What on Earth are you talking about?
CreepahKillahRSA It was a joke, I exaggerated a bit.
Non-Christians are discriminated in the US.
Camille Arroyo I gotcha.
***** How? You bet your poor feelings hurt when you're not allowed to force your beliefs on others? Christians are the majority and have never been discriminated against.
***** No one cares if a Christian shares his beliefs. That's the norm. But if an atheist mentions thing such as evolution or separation of church and state, everyone gets mad.
sorry but America was not the first nation to grant religious freedom both the Mongols and the Persians did it long before and there are properly many other i don’t know about.
bertil jensen he sad MODERN religious freedom.
bertil jensen First Example I know is of Ashoka declared Religious tolerance.
bertil jensen medieval Islam, ottoman empire was also religious tolerance.
you can find many example.
***** for turkey I am not sure but cenk on TYT said that turkey is very secular.
***** "Islam it was hardly tolerance. You weren't permitted to proselytize or openly worship."
I would really like further reading on that if you have it.
The puritans didn't just leave, they were practically kicked out. No one liked them.
Pocket Heart when he was describing puritans I thought he was talking about Game of Thrones and their High Sparrow.
It's a summary
Pocket Heart They were actually enjoying religious freedom in the Netherlands, but they decided to move on. (most likely due to cultural and linguistic differences)
+Pocket Heart is that how at around the same time puritans and otehr disssenters overthrew the English crown after winning the English Civil War
+The Dutch Merchant That was exactly it. They still considered themselves englishmen and so they didn't like how their kids were becoming increasingly Dutch.
I can already see Atheists and Europeans just coming here to bash on the USA's religious freedom. Good video.
***** Italy
Matt the dutch had an emphasis of personal freedom and a non-interference of state and church in personal life 100 years before the declaration of independance. The dutch are one of the peoples and the English another that brought that spirit to the US... to claim that it is an US invention is false. They just expanded upon what was set in motion after the reformation, which also brought the age of enlightenment due to these personal freedoms, which defenitely didn't stem from the US... sorry. the US were however a testing ground for those that sought freedom and there was enough struggle going on in north america before the declaration of independance on how to make the ruling protestant majority and the people of other religion cooperate.
but keep believing that everything good in the world is 'because america did it'.... nice ego stroking and an attempt at rewriting history...
also, if you think the government is violating the Constitution, you can always bring it up to the Supreme Court. That's the beauty of the United States. An ordinary citizen can challenge the government for the violation of the Constitutional right. That's why it's the FIRST Amendment, not the Second or Third, that guarantees the freedom of religion. Freedom of religion is so important in the US that it had to be the FIRST right mentioned in the national Constitution. You just proved my point.
NOS482 Music Those laws were to keep away Catholic Supremacism. America is and always has been a Christian country.
42OuncesofPAIN These laws were written for religious freedom. If it were to keep Catholics away, it would have been written in favor of protestants. However, the law was not written even for protestants since it prohibits the establishment of ANY religion, including Christianity.
existed in Poland long before America happened
Notice he said MODERN religion tolerance.
i believe in freedom of religion within reason. islam is not within reason..
Why not?
cause islam supress women..
And encourages violence. And tells it's followers to kill all nonbelievers (Or at least tax them really heavily)
The Bible contains a lot of messed up verses, including extreme violence. Religion in general is terrible.
JonMarTwins
*The Old Testament
How does everyone always forget that part? The Old Testament is not commandments for Christians, simply history. Of course it's gonna contain a lot of violence. All history of humans contains violence. ESPECIALLY in those days.
America didn't invent religious freedom, they where just one of the first Western countries to implement it since it's beginning, due to widespread Enlightenment ideals at the time
of course like all ideals, it took a long time for them to actually be put in serious practice
Ekhm, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Mongol Empire
The Dutch were the first, starting with the Dutch decleration of independence of 1568!
This video's estimation of Martin Luther is entirely too Americanized and very misleading. It's also very telling that in relaying religious history in England (immediately following the discussion on the Protestant Reformation), the video skips over Henry VIII's creation of his own religion (the Church of England) in spite of the Catholic Church and force his citizens to convert, an element of the Protestant Reformation that itself was top-down and, frankly, tyrannical (as were all the Protestant conversions of rulers in the Germanic countries). And, again, the Puritans did not believe that people should interpret Scripture for themselves. They held courts and executed people if there was even an unconfirmed (and almost always denied) suspicion of people holding different beliefs (Salem witch trials). Frankly, Deism (a doctrine for which I personally have little respect) has more influence on the concept of religious liberty than does Protestantism, and it's no coincidence that so many Founders were Deists.
I usually like Prager University videos, but this one seems to be purposely misleading by skipping parts of history that don't support its narrative (which is a characteristic of the Left), overly harsh on the Catholic Church (which translated the Bible for people because most people couldn't actually read in any language, and which itself also started off as a victim of TWO top-down religious power structures), and overly generous towards Martin Luther (who wasn't some champion of the right to worship, but a man who wanted to redefine how the Church thought of sin) the Puritans, and Protestantism in general.
This video feels more like a puff piece for Protestantism than it does an honest exploration of the history of the freedom of religion in America. Pretty much the only accurate thing the video states is that religious liberty is a uniquely American idea. It fails to demonstrate why exactly that is the case. I'm very disappointed that Dennis Prager would endorse it and put it on his channel.
kangarookirby The heights of irony is that the PRAGER UNIVERSITY is endorsing MARTIN LUTHER who was an OUT and OUT ANTISEMITIC TERMITE, especially when Denis Prager himself is a JEW!
indian2012 Yup. Martin Luther was kind of a scumbag in many ways.
And one thing he was definitely NOT was an arbiter of religious liberty. He just wanted to supplant one type of established religious understanding with his own, unestablished beliefs (which were poorly researched, given his terrible attempts to translate Latin and Greek).
kangarookirby What you said mirrored my opinion and criticisms almost exactly. This is truly one of the rare disappointments from Prager U.
Christopher De La Rosa Glad to have a kindred mind on this one, Chris.
"Indeed, America is known for religious tolerance" - that statement alone had me pissing myself with laughter for about 15 minutes!
Not on the college campuses
Crusades, Inquisitions, Thirty years war, Forced religious conversions - Europe has an apalng history with religion
Millions of people died due to europes disgusng religious history.
Some of the stuff on this channel I strongly agree with but other times there's just stuff like this which is utter bollocks.
Agreed.
*****
Yes, I have thought about this before. Because some of their vids are bullshit, one might seriously doubt the content of the rest. "doubt" should however be a concurring emotion whenever you absorb information, so maybe its not a bad thing?
One should also treat all of these people as individuals. Some speaker should not necessary be blamed for another speaker is talking nonsense.
Yoges Singha I'm a big Prager fan and a strict Conservative, but this video is depressingly inaccurate in its history of religion. Either it's intentionally misleading or it's genuinely ignorant. Either way, I expect better from Prager University. I got a better history of European religion in 8th grade, and I went to a public school.
kangarookirby Exactly.
kangarookirby The public school textbooks are inaccurate. The same goes for 9/11. Anyone with a brain knows it was an inside job demolition.
We are not and never have been a christian nation but a nation built upon christian principles... Theres a difference...
***** specifically which Christian principles?
***** Religious freedom is not a Christian Principle, the whole point of Christianity is to convert people to Christianity which is the opposite of Religious Freedom. And even if you could convince someone that religious freedom is a Christian Principle why would you think that is an idea exclusive to Christianity or hasn't been around before Christianity? It seems like a really generic and secular principle.
***** Christian principles that are open to "individual" interpretation which establishes a foundation of subjectivity rather than objectivity; thus, the manipulation of biblical context to suit the desires of those in power.
FoOtBaLLFrEaK4434 In other words, what's Christian to one Christian isn't Christian to another Christian. And you definitely can't say our nation was built on the ten commandments(the most straight forward of principles) because every one of those were broken to create our "prosperous" nation.
Only 2 of the 10 commandments are law (murder and stealing). and 1 of the commandments (thou shall not covet) is against the basis of our economic system. I don't think anyone could make a case for US laws having anything to do with the 10 commandments.
Few egzaples of countries that has religion freedom and tolerance enforced by law. Indians (that ones in asia), Mongols, Rome, Poland (in Poland muslim jewish, katolicks, protestants was cooegzisted from 14-17 century). Also Poland was only nation in europe Wybouth massive jewish killings, and even today have small group of native muslims who 100% assimilated with society
I wouldn't say they invented tolerance, but they are certainly more progressive than many here in Europe are when it comes to tolerance of religion and nationality.
***** Really? Try running for president of USA being atheist. You can't even run for the office in some states if you are an atheist.
That is mostly atheist victim complex talk.
pacinpm2 Try being a muslim immigrant in eastern germany. You'll be happy if you get a job at all.
pacinpm2 which
pacinpm2
XD
First point: wtf is with Ireland's shape in the map???
Second: Puritans were infamously intolerant of everyone except Puritans
America was not the first place ever to accept all religious beliefs
The Warsaw Confederation bring to Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth "religious tolerance to nobility and free persons" (so for everyone in the nation, because slavery was illegal) on January 28, 1573. And even before that for Jewish People was a Statute of Kalisz in 1264. So it can not be stated that religious tolerance was made in the United States
Its like you guys seem to forget he stated America invented *MODERN* religious tolerance. 0:10
Shameless Antics too busy trying to look like the smart ones.....also overlooking the fact that this was a summary of the reason Protestants left England. The video would be hours long if he had gone into detail.
Shameless Antics Reading comprehension is not a big thing here in the internet.
Shameless Antics And you think that means earlier civilisations couldn't have invented modern religious tolerance centuries ago? Modern science was officially invented centuries ago in Arabia, but the very same techniques were employed by scientists in Ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. The Ottomans built churches and synagogues right alongside their own mosques, even in Istanbul, and members of any religion could become a member of the government.
How would you describe "modern" religious tolerance anyway? It's not a concept I've ever heard of. I've heard of religious tolerance, but not "modern" religious tolerance.
NOS482 Music The US is indeed a secular nation, if you're seriously trying to use the already controversial ("in god we trust") motto to argue that there is some kind of "National establishment" of a religion in the US then you're very delusional. The only solid reasoning I would have for them removing the old motto in favor of the religious one is simply due to the popularity of Christianity in the US at that time. Only a few states have biases against atheists running for public office, Atheist candidates have won before just the chances of him/her actually winning is almost impossible since Atheism isn't a popular choice with the majority of people in the US, likewise with being gay wouldn't help either along with being black in the 40s or 50s. Like I said religion is dominate in the US and despite your stance on the matter we end up going with the majority on a lot of the issues that go on here.
Magnus Anthun What are you saying? The US is clear leader in modern religious tolerance in the world as we know it today, others may have tried but never achieved what the US had done in its history. This man doesn't try to discredit what other civilizations have done. Did you even listen to the first 30 seconds of the video or did you just feel the need to play devil's advocate on something clear and straight forward as soon as you read the video's title?
I call BS
Religious freedom was in : Polish lithuanian commonwealth, Persian empire, Anceint India, Mongolian empire
The 16th century Commonwealth (Poland) was multi-cultural country. Tolerance came with free market, simply because war was just not profitable for anyone. USA was not unique, USA was not first, USA was not perfect (bill comparing with free market).
Sure you're "free to practice" it. But within US society people are also free to hate you for it. Watch one Christian mention one thing about not supporting gay marriage and the backlash will strike him like a whip. Kind of sad, however true.
that's how freedom works dear, you're free to believe, I'm free to ridicule you for it. If you don't like it, Iran has laws against speaking against their religion. you could leave
Andrew Fowler Iran is an unstable Islamic providence you scrub. Don't make idiodic suggestions simply because you don't like someone's comment.
+Angel Wins Nonsense. Udder nonsense. I was married to my wife by a lesbian deacon of the Episcopal Church. In the South too, by the way. I travel all over this country and I've never once seen such behavior you speak of. Sure there are bad apples like the westboro whatever, but that is extremely rare. All the Christians I've encountered are very community minded, altruistic, and even when I tell them I'm an atheist they treat me with kindness. The stereotype you speak of is manufactured for political reasons. Don't believe me? I implore you to go volunteer at any christian church. They don't care if you believe or not.
My uncles roommate used to live in India and he was almost killed by a gang of men because he was Catholic, American Christians are NOT oppressed
+Anon NC They are, just not to the extent of some places. In America, they prefer to allow Christianity, so long as you also worship Satan and personal seeking of pleasure with the rest of the populace. You can profess in Jesus if he isn't the Way the Truth and the Life, you can worship him if you also support sin, and you can worship him if you aren't too obvious about it.
It's probably been said before me, but America was NOT the first religiously tolerant nation. The Persian Empire, the Macedonian Empire, and many others implemented this waaaayyyyy before hand. But America was the first Modern Western nation to let tolerance go so far.
That's not what Luther said. He said to take the Bible literally and to follow a very narrow set of beliefs. He would have been shocked to think that religion or society could be governed from the bottom-up. That's why he wrote tracts condemning the German peasants when they revolted.
Totally agree with you. All he did was replace the words bishop and pope with German princes. Still hierarchical, but this time, more church and state unity, not less. This sounds like a radical idea, but there was more church-state separation before the Reformation than after.
He brought much of Germany closer to a theocracy than it had been in the middle ages.
Jesus appointed Peter as the first Pope. All subsequent popes have been Peter's successor. That's the reality.
+Dumps Mcdumps I feel like your argument is a complete straw man. No one ever said the pope is the solution to the world's problems. The OP and I simply took issue with the historical basis for this video.
Yeah, it is a strawman on his part, I suppose.
In short:
America = Great
Rest = not so good or bad
As always....
Düssel Stadt well is he wrong in this instance?
Well yes he is. Its just a retrospective of different historical incidents and putting them in nonexisting context. And the latent feelibg of exeptionalism that these pargerU guys have - as a person who s born into swiss democracy and someone who s very interested in american politics and developments (also the development of the state of your democracy) i can tell you: you are NOT more exeptional than any other western democracy. In contrary, when all the others make steps forward, american national politicians throw snowballs in congress and deny global warming (just to name one example)
Düssel Stadt their not talking about democracy in this instance just religious tolerance of all religions, is there another country that is tolerant of all religions before america?
Polish -Lithuanian commonwealth had identical rules about religius tolerance - AND IT HAPPEND IN 1573- 30 years BEFORE Jamestown was establithed! (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrician_Articles) And it wasn't small minor country- In 1563 it had bigger area than France or Ukrain today (3rd and 2nd biggest coutries in europe today).
Anayway America reinvented religius tolerance on their own- but first time it was in P-L Commonwealth.
Persians
I knda forgotten to write about Modern religious freedom model. My foult
nothing to apologize over, we're all right on these countries having religious freedom before The U.S.
Radosław Orman
nah religious tolerance first appeared in Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in the 16th century but it wasn't retarded back then
And sadly even here Christians and Jews are persecuted.
*****
We are mocked, ridiculed, and spit on by society as madmen. And now people who hate us are trying to use the laws to force us to do things we view as sins.
Improvman ψ Do what?
Loli21
For instance, if a Christian businessmen refuses to participate in a gay wedding. Even if they do so respectfully, even if they refer them to others who will. The government will deliver an ultimatum. Participate or close your doors forever.
Is it just to tell a person to do something they think is sinful, to spare someone else feelings?
Improvman ψ I doubt you would be fine with a business owned by an Islamic extremist kicking out women in "revealing dress" or some obscure religion banning blacks, etc.
Loli21
If someone refuses to do business with you, find someone who will.
For the first one that is an extreme example, however it has precedent. It is called a dress code. If a business wanted it could refuse to sell pizza to anyone entering with blue shoes.
The second one, why would any African American wish to go to a church that is racist?
Are you forgetting about the puritans that labeled outsiders as Witches and burned them at the stake? The framers wrote a distinctly atheistic constitution (in function, they weren't promoting atheism for any flamers out there), specifically for their disdain of both the Church of England *AND* the Puritans.
*
"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher."
-- 14th Dalai Lama
Many people have come to America to freely practice religion. I have friends who are from burma who’s parents came to America because they were being religiously persecuted for being Christian.
I thought Cyrus the Great´s reign in Persia (559 - 530 BCE) was one of the earliest examples of religious tolerance.
America became a secular nation because a lot of the colonists who first came to America came because they were being persecuted, not because of Christianity.
I have a feeling that the only people to dislike this video, are Atheists who were pissed as soon as he even mentioned a "Christian America." By no means does he imply that America's LEGISLATIVE roots are Christian. In fact, he does the exact opposite. He explains that because of the natural diversity within Christian worship lead to an agreement of a secular legislature within a predominately Christian Society. By no means am I a Christian conservative. But I am just so annoyed at all the annoying Atheists who give the secular community a bad name
The Principality of Transsylvania granted religious freedom in 1568, way before the Thirteen Colonies even existed.
Well, I'm not quite sure it was as simple as "the freedom-lover Protestants" against "inquisition-prone Catholics", so to say. In fact, the principle of "cuius regio eius et religio" was applied by both factions, wasn't it? If so, maybe the root reason for tolerance lays in Christianity as such, in the Gospel, which historically includes the Catholics in the first place. Protestants were having their own inquisition as well, believe it or not, which kind of denies a clear condemnation of Catholics' lack of tolerance due to just being Catholics or for a "top-down power structure". Eventually the tempora brought change for everyone, Prots and Caths.
Martin Luther was a vicious antisemite who recommended that Jews should be driven out of Germany if they did not accept Jesus as the messiah.
Let me explain, large part of (eastern) Europe is Orthodox Christian and had nothing to do with Roman Catholicism and Pope for almost one millennium.
OH NO! Prager U mentioned god, comment section gonna explode.
Yea...RUclips will call this video Hate Speech.
If religious tolerance is unique to America, why is it that India was the only place in the world where Jews were never persecuted (till the Europeans got there?)
slavery, manifest destiny, the witch hunts. thanks protestants.
The Mongolian empire practised religious tolerance. America wasn't first
Why does this video come off as anti-Catholic? Has anyone else noticed this?
India, poland, Persia, and Babylon were secular and tolerant too before America
I subscribed to their philosophical videos not continuous American propaganda. An occasional video of this kind I can take, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.
Evija3000 Then leave. Nobody is forcing you to watch them.
shadowsmustfall1 Yes. That was the point of my comment.
***** Some pride is good, but this looks more like arrogance.
I was on the point to comment the same thing you did, but you already said anything I would have. This propaganda really sucks.
Evija3000 I'm from europe but American democracy IS a major part of political philosophy that shaped the world. You can't talk about philosophy without mentions of America, its just a fact.
I wish the speaker would have mentioned Roger Williams (1603-1683) and honored his contribution to Religious Toleration.
This channel has a huge hardon for America. Pure blatant exceptionalism, like okay we get it.
+Julian Escobedo Could they only be using America as an example in their videos because they are American?
Josh IsBaws No, they are firm believers in American exceptionalism.
+Josh IsBaws No, they should do videos on the triumphs of the Nazi Reich like the History channel. "American Exemptionalism"
Ha.
(I'm agreeing with you.)
***** I guess it is admirable that Nazi Germany had a great sense of self-confidence. Hooray nationalism!
***** No, but America is known for authoritarian statism and its support of fascist dictatorships. The government and the corporations work together, which is one of the principles of fascist economics. The fervor of nationalism has created a military state, where politicians are always attempting to expand the military-industrial complex.
You forgot to mention that the first place the puritans went to was the religiously tolerant Holland. But left when their children started becoming more like Dutchmen than Englishmen who were living in Holland.
Although it was a great video, it had a factual error - "Made in America" which is untrue. Religious Tolerance has been a major pillar of the India Society, long before Christianity even EXISTED!! . It exists in India since the last 5000 years and is written in the ancient Hindu epics. India today is also the most Diverse nation of the world encompassing more religions in itself than any other country on Earth yet Most Religious Tolerant and Secular.
Grand Duchy of Lithunian, sizable Jewish, Muslim, and Lutheran minorities, And the rest was split between the Orthodox and Catholic Church along with Greek Catholics of Uniates (Orthodox Christian who recognize the pope), and they had an official statue that allowed freedom of religion.
0:25 what about the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth ?
@@cinzsur xddddd
To all those saying that India and Persia and others had religious freedom before the US, key word, MODERN religious freedom. American religious freedom is what made it go global today, except for, of course, Muslim countries.
So funny! In Poland we had religious tolerance since 14th century!
PLEASE, in the Netherlands Religious Tolerance has been here for so long, the US didn't even EXIST when there was religious tolerance. And I'm sure there are many other countries (LIKE INDIA!!)
No offense, but a hierarchical structure is the only way to ensure doctrinal consistency.
+Dumps Mcdumps Not really. You're free to believe what you want. But if you want religious belief to stay consistent, a top down structure is necessary. It's not like ISIS at all.
In Poland we didn't have any religious war in times of reformacy, while in other European countries religious wars and lack of terance were normal. Made in America? I'm sure Poland isn't the only exaple.
You are very based towards USA and Christianity
Welcome to PragerU, the most biased "university"...ugh joke ugh...on the internet!
+Itspietertime yea but they are right
+The Kegster
No...not really...not at all. Watch their videos about climate change, theyre a joke. Claiming the left "ignores" or "denies" problems while they are denying climate change. Hypocrites!
+Itspietertime I kind of hate their climate change videos. Despite this. I agree with pretty much 90% of their videos. Especially those dealing with economics and progressivism.
Any Christian who involve in religious intolerance is NOT a Christian. So stop blaming. If a Christian go offensive against any religion he would actually go against his religious belief and the Holy Bible.
While the video may seem inaccurate because of its simplicity, the message rings true. The USA would not be the same without the benefit of the protestant ethic. Max Weber wrote extensively on this subject. I'd recommend his work, but you probably wouldn't read it.
It seems to me people do their best to ignore American Christian roots because their parents made the go to church... or a preacher told them sexual promiscuity was sinful.
And also the media wants you to believe that the founding fathers were irreligious so they can push their satanic ideals and abortion agenda
In truth, America didn't create Religious Tolerance, rather cultivated it, expanded it and preserved it through out its history. THAT's the difference. America wasn't the original founder, it was the one that held onto it the longest and in turn inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
Here we go again: at 3:05 "Christianity firmly rooted in the Jewish Bible". So is Islam.
Here is the reminder: Jews crucified Jesus Christ who was the only reason for the creation of the Christian religion.
Judaism and Christianity could mix as well as Judaism and Islam would. But right now Israel needs the Christian West and its incredible unique progress so hence the term "Judeochristian religions". And "Happy Holidays". And menorahs everywhere even in the White House (for less than 2% of the population).
I'm part of the Mormon church and we were badly persecuted in America. BUT if we had tried to create our religion anywhere other than America, we would have been destroyed. Because of America's overall tolerance to religion, the persecution that was there, as violent as it often was, was never permitted to totally eradicate us like it would have in Europe.
What about when it's Diwali or or Hindu festivals ...
President Obama released a video wishing everyone a Happy Diwali. Check it out. It’s here on RUclips.
@@signalfire15 your point?
The Dutch Republic had religious tolerance.
Know about India.
Know about caste system.
Our founding was not based on Christianity or any other religion, but on religious freedom and freedom from religion and that is fact. Jefferson said in his inaugural address- " We had banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered". A much greater ideal than tolerance is freedom and that is what our Constitution stands for regarding religion.
I am sure the american wasn't the first one
COMMANDO PLA Romans have freedoom of religion , untill IV CE .
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Confederation
Wroooooooooong: The Netherlands invented religious tolerance. After we kicked out the Spanish many religious minorities like Jews and Hugenots fled to the Netherlands. They could trade and prosper. Willem of Orange, our founding father, already called for freedom of conscious in 1566!!
Also Sweden and Poland are great examples.
Bull crap, ancient India kings allowed all types of people to practice their religion.
Prager University forgot to do homework before posting a video
Middle Age Greece had full religious tolerance.
And it wasn't only Greece, there were many.
The ones who DIDN'T tolerate, were mostly Catholics and Muslims.
what about india
What about the caste system?
web cast system was created by Portuguese to divide society
Did anyone else notice the very "anti-Catholic" vibe in this video, or was it just me?
Shame on you! You used to be better than that! Poland, Transsylvania and many others came hundreds of years before!
India was a tolerant place but we have to admit it America was the first Nation to introduce religious tolerance in constitution..
"America is known for religious tolerance" LMAO
?
yall got donald Trump in office...
Henry Ficklin Okay then anime pfp
One should note that those "headstrong Puritans" prohibited celebrating Christmas. They were not for religious freedom, outside of their own rules.
A video that paints Christians in a good light? Better down vote the hell out of that, screw historical fact.
Some Christians were good, some where bad. I don't see how people can just lump a bunch of people in one category.
This isn't historical fact.
dalmation black Cause it makes them feel good. And justifies their aggression against what ever group of people they oppose in their own minds.
suuuuuure
America did not invent religious tolerance, if your entire video is going to enshrine something you didnt invent and claim it as yours, expect criticism
To be fair the Mongolian empire was tolerant of all religions
This video is bad
That's right
and this ratio is bad ?
Yannis dose
@@maximebouletreaux6849conteur ratio
still subbed to this channel to see what the corporate racists intelligentsia think.
Almost every sentence is a corruption of history and logic.
LordOfTheObvious Same, this stuff is hilarious.
LordOfTheObvious Actually it's you who is sounding incredibly hateful and racist.
I have heard about half a dozen people say that the history is innacurate including yourself with no explination of what truely happened. Care to explain what actualy happened?
max radke science.jrank.org/pages/11240/Secularization-Secularism-History-Nature-Secularization-Secularism-1914.html
max radke I normally just tell people to google things like u should./
But as the video is very packed with false information i will just point out a few.
First of all, religious tolerance is not some new american idea. Heck the whole core of the Hellenism more then 2000 years ago was cultural and religious tolerance. and even during the height of the Islamic empire all religions were tolerated and even "doubters" (atheists) as they were called were tolerated.
The point of the video is to show that the US is based on tolerant morale Christian principles.
While there killing all the indies and buy more and more slaves, very morale and tolerant of them.
This is white washing history. Its a round about way of lying .
Also, the first amendment is not there because of the christian settlers, its there because the founding fathers didn't want any religion affecting government. They didn't trust the religious to run the country. Its also why there's an electoral college, they didn't trust the general population to make the right choice.
Do your own research, this channel is pushing for a very very specific type of propaganda.
The first country in our Latin Civilization that granted the religious tolerance and freedom was Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the year 1573, exactly 200 years before The Boston Tea Party, the polish nobility establish a document called Act of Warsaw Confederation. This act made a tolerance and freedom of religion in all of the country. The cartholics, the protestants and the future king agreeded to this and it was introduced to Henrican Articles - which was some kind of constitution and which all monarchs must sign. Polish-Lithuenian Monarchy was inhabited by many different religions - catholics, orthodox, lutherans, calwinists, arians, hussites, jews or muslims etc. and many different nationalities - Poles, Ruthenias, Lithenians, Germans, Jews, Armenians, Tatars Scots or the Dutch etc. So don't tell that the America was the first place of religious peace and freedom. And in Poland we didn't have slavery and genocides since the christianization. On the other hand, in USA there was slave industry, genocide of indians, sterilizations and race segregation. And also now, in America thousands of unborn babies were killed because of abortions.
Honour and Glory to the Great, Catholic and Free Crown of the Polish Kingdom!
Honour and Glory to Christendom!
Honour and Glory to Latin Civilization!
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tuo da Gloriam!
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam!
This is a good one. Most of the Founding Fathers were nonreligious, and the US didn't invent religious tolerance, but were the first to make it permanent law.
A few things. America did not invent modern religious tolerance, whatever modern means in that situations since religious tolerance is an all or nothing game. You cannot be kinda religiously tolerant. Plenty of nations were open to all religions such as Poland-Lithuania, the Dutch Republic, the Ottomans etc.
What does a "Christian Nation" mean, and how does this make America the inventor of religious tolerance, rather than the plethora of other nations that had it before the pilgrims set sail?
Yes, the New World was untainted by European prejudices but it was introduced when the Europeans massacred the natives, and introduced slavery and discriminated against non-whites.
DoctorZtormtrooper
The Ottoman Empire, really? Kidnapping the eldest sons of Christian subjects. You must be high?
religious tolerance DID exist in places around the world before "America" was even in existence; it is painful to watch how this guy confuses western Europe with "the world"; there was no religious freedom in Western Europe, specifically England, Germany, and other Germanic states, but these do not constitute "the world"
The Pilgrims left Britain not because of a lack of religious freedom but because they believed there was too much religious freedom. The Pilgrims were overly zealous puritans who believed their extreme view of Christianity was the only one and wanted to create their own nation based on their extreme ideology. They were not escaping religious persecution, they were seeking to strengthen it.
Ancient Persia had religious tolerance, Byzantine empire had religious tolerance, Polish-Lithuania had religious tolerance and many more. Murica is so special, isn't it?
I salute the Dutch when it comes to religious tollerance because even in its colony of Indonesia they practiced non-interference policy regarding religion.
I agree with the B.S. callers. I'm certain Ancient India needed tolerance. Additionally in the Western World, the historical Kingdom of Transylvania (not the fictional one) was diverse, and tolerance was necessary. Unitarian Universalist churches (in and outside of Red states in the U.S.) have documented this well (because this actually matters to these nearly 200 year old organizations). Wikipedia has as well.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Transylvania