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Christianity was introduced to North America as it was colonized by Europeans beginning in the 16th and 17th centuries. Colonists from Northern Europe, primarily from Great Britain, introduced Protestantism to Massachusetts Bay Colony, New Netherland, Virginia colony, Carolina Colony, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Lower Canada. Among Protestants, adherents to Anglicanism, the Baptist Church, Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, Lutheranism, Quakerism, Mennonite and Moravian Church were the first to settle to the US, spreading their faith in the new country. Today most Christians in the United States are Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, or Roman Catholic. ==Early Colonial era== In 1565, a group of French Huguenots, Protestants, established a small colony on the St. Johns River, not far from the future location of the Spanish military fortress, which was named St. Augustine. The Spanish king responded to this trespass by the 'infidel Lutherans,' as he named them, sent Commander Pedro Menendez at the head of 1000 troops and 11 ships to slaughtered the colony. The Huguenots were overwhelmed, and on September 25, 1565, all but a few who recanted Protestantism and declared themselves to Roman Catholics, were killed. The area, called Mantanzas Inlet, means Slaughter in Spanish. Because the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish settlements on the mainland of North America, such as St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, the earliest Christians in the territory which would eventually become the United States were Roman Catholics. However, the territory that would become the Thirteen Colonies in 1776 was largely populated by Protestants due to Protestant settlers seeking religious freedom from the Church of England (est. 1534). These settlers were primarily Puritans from East Anglia, especially just before the English Civil War (1641–1651); there were also some Anglicans and Catholics but these were far fewer in number. Because of the predominance of Protestants among those coming from England, the English colonies became almost entirely Protestant by the time of the American Revolution. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Protestantism in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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