Yes I agree there is indeed such a conservative American Protestantism that seems far removed from an America of “Deist and Masonic influences” as you say. Frequently I find a moving piety in this aspect to America and was perhaps amiss in not acknowledging the beauty I do see here. In its own way it too resists the stripping of values and God from public life.

At the same time, while I am hardly an expert on American history, I don´t feel this element disproves what I believe Coulombe is saying – that in the Northeast particularly, Puritanism established ground where a deeply de-Catholicised form of Christianity led to any further innovations.

I think he would say then that the congregationalism that you mention for example, grew up in a Puritan context and then morphed into Unitarianism in many instances …

Once one has eliminated the Catholic dogmas, one is free to move further and further away, including towards a Unitarian conception of God which approaches Masonry significantly enough to be embraced by it. A la Jefferson …

And I believe he would also draw an important distinction between the religious impulses of the Revolutionaries who won and established the American matrix versus the differing impulses of the Loyalists, which I believe he is saying would be more High Church, if not Catholic.

I have purposefully couched this response in phrases like “I think” because I do not want to claim authority I do not have. I lack time to say more, but perhaps this from his book is not without value here:

“In New England, due to Puritanism, Loyalist strength was tenuous … Unhampered by Puritanism New York was the bastion of the Loyalist cause in the North, particularly among the Scots Catholics [and] among the less assimilated Dutch speakers of the Hudson Valley.”

Finally although I am sometimes a little slow in responding to comments, I would like to say Kim and I appreciate these very much and if you care to, would appreciate hearing from more of you who are following this site.

One can even comment anonymously if wished, simply by putting anonymous in the box.

The world of today would be as alien and alienating to my Loyalist ancestors (Mother’s side) who were Protestants of various stripes, as it would the Catholic. The superficiality and impiety of this culture would be deeply offensive to them.

The Loyalists and the Revolutionaries were more than Anglo leading to an Anglo-American matrix but were a mix of English, German and Dutch settlers at that time. Many were Protestant non-conformists of various stripes…not only Calvinist-type Puritans. You had Quakers, Behmenists, Anabaptists, Congregationalists, Anglicans and many others.

Conservative, Evangelical Protestant Christians in today’s U.S. feel their culture is betraying the Christianity that undergirds America. The Deist and Masonic influences are notwithstanding in how they feel America is deeply and profoundly Christian.

My point is: No Christianity of any stripe would share a bed with this culture.