Inspiration and Innovation

Todd M. Kerstetter is Associate Professor of History at Texas Christian University. He teaches courses on the American West, American Indian history, and US environmental history. He is the author of God’s Country, Uncle Sam’s Land: Faith and Conflict in the American West (2006), which examines religious freedom in the American West by discussing relationships between the US government and Mormons, Lakota Ghost Dancers, and Branch Davidians. He has also published in scholarly journals on water issues and images of the American West in rock music.

What counts is that Kerstetter makes comprehensible the dizzying array of religion in the West and illuminates how belief systems often penetrated secular affairs to shape the contours of history. He is right to proclaim, “This is important stuff” (Western Historical Review, 2016)

• List of Illustrations viiiAcknowledgements xIntroduction 11 Indigenous Religions in the West 8Arctic 12Sub-Arctic 13Northwest Coast 16Plains 18Plateau 20Great Basin 22California 23Southwest 24Common Themes 27Conclusion 29Suggested Reading 302 Missions to New Worlds 32Spain 34France 50Russia 60Conclusion 66Suggested Reading 673 Migrations, Manifest Destiny, and Mormons, 1803-1860 69Transplanting Religions in the US Imperial Period 71Protestantism 71Roman Catholicism 80Judaism 83Asian religions 85Religion and Manifest Destiny 86Mormons and the Quest for Zion 91The Mormon Question, 1852-1860 103Conclusion 107Suggested Reading 1084 The West and Religion in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1890 109Protestantism in the West 112Catholicism in the West 119Judaism in the West 124Asian Religions in the West 127The Mormon Question and the Mormon Answer, 1862–1890 127American Indian Religious Experiences 135Conclusion 150Suggested Reading 1505 Religion in the Modern West, 1890-1945 152Mormonism 155Catholicism 157American Indians and Religion 162Asian Religions and Influence 169Modernism, Fundamentalism, and the Spirit of the West 172World War I and Religion in the West 177The Sunbelt and the Bible Belt 178World War II and Religion in the West 188Conclusion 189Suggested Reading 1906 Religion in the Cold War West, 1945-1965 192Religious Innovation 197Buddhism and the Beats 197Scientology 198Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and religion 199The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 201The Native American Church 206Hispanics and Religion in the West 207Evangelicals and the Sunbelt West 210Conclusion 216Suggested Reading 2167 Creativity and Controversy after 1965 218Immigration Reform and Asian Religions in the West 220Religion in the Hispanic West 224New Religious Movements 227Religion and the Internet in the West 240The Megachurch Boom 242Religion in the Native West 251Paths to the Present in Mormon Wests 254Conclusion 258Suggested Reading 258Conclusion: The Frontier that Wouldn't Close 260Index 266