Early Religious Views
The
path to Angelina’s remarkable life was established in and influenced by her
religious beliefs. From the time she was a young woman she felt that God had a
greater plan for her life than she could imagine. She recorded her thoughts on
it in her diary:
“It
does appear to me, and it has appeared so ever since I had a hope,
that
there was a work before me to which all my other duties and trials
were
only preparatory. I have no idea what it is, and I may be mistaken,
but
it does seem that if I am obedient to the ‘still small voice’ in my heart,
that
it will lead me and cause me to glorify my Master in a more honorable
work
than any in which I have been yet engaged.” (Birney 55-56).
When
Angelina was thirteen she refused to be confirmed in the Episcopalian faith
because she did not agree with the regulations of the church. After she was
reassured that confirmation was a tradition of the aristocratic families, she
refused all the more (Goodman 182). Prodded by her sister Sarah’s concern for
her religious life, she eventually joined the church, but soon left it. She had
found that she was dissatisfied with her new religious commitment because its
ritualism did not touch her (Birney 41-42). She then embraced the comforting new
religion of Presbyterianism (Goodman 182).
Angelina felt she was making the right religious decisions and had
obtained salvation in her conversion to Presbyterianism. She liked
Presbyterianism because it was action oriented and had “weekly prayer
meetings” and classes (South Carolina 68). She liked that people of
other denominations were welcomed at the church (Birney 50). This religious
unbinding moved her to make a few decisions of her own that foreshadowed the
events of her later life.
Angelina set the tone for her unorthodox belief early in her conversion
to the Presbyterian faith when she began holding monthly women’s prayer
meetings for women of different faiths (South Coralina 69). Also, while a
member of the Presbyterian Church she took her first step toward abolition by
holding daily religious meetings for the servants in her mother’s house. Soon
neighbors’ servants were also attending these services (Birney 72). This was
unusual because allowing slaves religious education was thought dangerous. It
was during this time of social rebellion that Angelina began to disagree with
Rev. William McDowell, the minister of the Presbyterian Church. The disagreement
was over the moral obligation to denounce slavery in the church. Although Rev.
McDowell did not believe slavery to be right, he would not openly condemn it in
church (South Carolina 70). This greatly disappointed Angelina. Since he
was a Northerner, she had expected that he would hold the same opposition to
slavery she had, but he did not. In fact, he felt that ending slavery would do
more harm the good (Struggle Against 281-82). This incident and
Angelina’s general dislike of slavery led her to speak to the Church’s
elders about condemning slavery. Their response to her was that time would
reveal to her that slavery was reasonable. When confronting the elders of the
Church proved futile, Angelina talked to individuals within the Church. They too
would not speak out against slavery (South Carolina 71). The frustration
from these disagreements dimmed Angelina’s religious idealism about the
Presbyterian Church.
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Last updated March 2, 2001