There were many roles assigned to religion by the faithful during the long sweep of American history. During the Civil War, the God of the Old Testament seemed at times to be a war with the God of the New! The God-fearing and the god-less seemed to be recruiting battalions for a culture war. The similarities between the situation in Antebellum America and the United States today are striking for any honest observer. Many of the contentious cultural issues faced in the 21st century have roots in the Civil War Era — race relations, ethnic diversity, immigration, education, civil governance, women's rights, and the nature of marriage and childrearing among others. In almost every case a widespread and unremitting contempt for established authority coupled with a libertarian leave-me-alone mind-set seems best to unify many of the cross-generational attitudes toward government and religion passed down throughout our histories. This book has been written for those persons interested in not only the Civil War but also in the religious culture of the Antebellum Era that affected it