PROTESTANTS -- LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE

Americans have been swept up in many waves of religious excitement. One that occurred in the 1740s, called the Great Awakening, united several Protestant denominations in an effort to overcome a sense of complacency that had afflicted organized religion. A second Great Awakening swept through New England in the early 19th century.

Not all of New England's clergymen, however, were sympathetic to the call for revival. Some had abandoned the Calvinist idea of predestination, which holds that God has chosen those who will be saved -- the " elect" -- leaving humans no ability to affect their destinies through good works or other means. Some ministers preached that all men had free will and could be saved. Others took even more liberal positions, giving up many traditional Christian beliefs. They were influenced by the idea of progress that had taken hold in the United States generally. Just as science adjusted our understanding of the natural world, they suggested, reason should prompt reassessments of religious doctrine.

Liberal American Protestantism in the 19th century was allied with similar trends in Europe, where scholars were reading and interpreting the Bible in a new way. They questioned the validity of biblical miracles and traditional beliefs about the authorship of biblical books. There was also the challenge of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to contend with. If human beings were descended from other animals, as most scientists came to believe, then the story of Adam and Eve, the biblical first parents, could not be literally true.

What distinguished 19th-century liberal Protestants from their 20th-century counterparts was optimism about the human capacity for improvement. Some of the early ministers believed that the church could accelerate progress by trying to reform society. In the spirit of the gospels, they began to work on behalf of the urban poor. Today's liberal clergymen -- not just Protestants but Catholics and others, too -- may be less convinced that progress is inevitable, but many of them have continued their efforts on behalf of the poor by managing shelters for homeless people, feeding the hungry, running day-care centers for children, and speaking out on social issues. Many are active in the ecumenical movement, which seeks to bring about the reunion of Christians into one church.

While liberal Protestants sought a relaxation of doctrine, conservatives believed that departures from the literal truth of the Bible were unjustified. Their branch of Protestantism is often called " evangelical, " after their enthusiasm for the gospels of the New Testament.

Evangelical Christians favor an impassioned, participatory approach to religion, and their services are often highly charged, with group singing and dramatic sermons that evoke spirited responses from the congregation. The South, in particular, became a bastion of this " old-time religion, " and the conservative Baptist church is very influential in that region. In recent decades some preachers have taken their ministry to television, preaching as " televangelists" to large audiences.

In 1925 the conflict between conservative faith and modern science crystallized in what is known as the Scopes trial in Tennessee. John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was indicted for violating a state law that forbade teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. Scopes was convicted after a sensational trial that featured America's finest criminal lawyer of the time, Clarence Darrow, for the defense and the renowned populist and former presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, for the prosecution.

Since then the Supreme Court has ruled that laws banning the teaching of evolution violate the First Amendment's prohibition of establishing religion. Subsequently the state of Louisiana tried a different approach: It banned the teaching of evolution unless the biblical doctrine of special creation was taught as an alternative. This, too, the Court invalidated as an establishment of religion.

Despite the Supreme Court's clear rulings, this and similar issues pitting reason versus faith remain alive. Religious conservatives argue that teaching evolution alone elevates human reason above revealed truth and thus is antireligious. And even some thinkers who might otherwise be considered liberals have argued that the media and other American institutions foster a climate that tends to slight, if not ridicule, organized religion. Meanwhile, the trend toward removing religious teaching and practices from public schools has prompted some parents to send their children to religious schools and others to educate their children at home.

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