Blog Vb: my thoughts on The Great Awakening: A Brief History with Document: Part 1, introduction

I feel as though the revivalist movement took advantage of group dynamics, the link between emotion and God, and peer pressure to push a religious viewpoint. I am not sure what to think about that. I mean at first glance it is amoral but the leaders of the movement felt that the majority of the population at the time was going to go the hell if the message was not spread and the ideas of the movement may have lead both to the civil rights movement and to the USA being its own country. So do the ends justify the means? After reading about James Davenport I hope to never talk in front of a crowd while having a major infection… I like to keep my pants out of the fire. I think it is somewhat ironic that many hardcore southern republicans who feel as if slavery is justified are also members of church that is the product of the Great Awakening, I wonder if they even realize. I find it worrying that a large number of people listened to and obeyed whoever had the best story about talking to God. I know someone who thinks that God talks to them; I would never want them to lead a mob… ever. I do not really agree with Mr. Kidd’s views on the connection between the American Revolution and the Great Awaking, at least I think that the 2nd full paragraph on page 24 is circumstantial evidence at best and probably does not belong in the book. My overall feel of the passage is that Kidd tried to portray an objective viewpoint and did a really good job for the most part. End personal notes