Faith in the New World: Christianity Comes to the Americas | The Church Through the Ages (Ep. 12)

In the autumn of 1620, a small ship carried barely a hundred people across a brutal Atlantic for a single reason: the freedom to worship God as their conscience demanded. This is the story of how the Americas became the most religiously diverse place on earth. In Episode 12 we follow the two great streams of faith that reached the New World: the Catholic south, carried by Spain and Portugal and embraced by indigenous peoples through moments like Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Protestant north, where Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, Baptists, and many others each planted their own churches. Out of that mix came a revolutionary idea that would reshape the world, religious liberty, the conviction that faith should be chosen, not coerced. We tell it honestly, facing the painful contradictions of slavery and the displacement of native peoples, and we watch the ground grow ready for the wildfire of revival about to sweep the colonies. This is Episode 12 of The Church Through the Ages, an original series telling the 2,000-year story of the Christian Church with honesty and balance, drawn from the historical record. Chapters: 0:00 A ship bound for freedom 0:40 Two streams of faith reach the Americas 0:50 The Catholic south: Spain and Portugal 1:10 Our Lady of Guadalupe 1:30 The Protestant north: many churches, not one 2:10 Roger Williams, William Penn, and religious liberty 2:40 A revolutionary idea, and its contradictions 3:10 A faith remade by Africans and native peoples 3:40 A faith grown cold on the frontier 4:00 The fire about to break loose 4:30 Next time: Fire in the Soul Watch Season 2 in order: [paste your Season 2 playlist link] Start from the beginning with Season 1: [paste your Season 1 playlist link] Subscribe for a new episode in the series: https://www.youtube.com/@TheChurchThroughtheAges Follow along: Facebook and Instagram: @TheChurchThroughtheAges #ChurchHistory #ChristianHistory #ReligiousFreedom