They have always been religious. The
Spanish colonists of the Southwest, as elsewhere, were
zealously Catholic, and their descendants have generally
remained Catholic. The first English-speaking settlers of the
region--the colonists led by Stephen F. Austin to Texas--were
overwhelmingly Protestant, though in order to establish
Mexican citizenship and get titles to homestead land they had,
technically, to declare themselves Catholics. One of the
causes of the Texas Revolution as set forth by the Texans in
their Declaration of Independence was the Mexican govern-
ment's denial of "the right of worshipping the Almighty
according to the dictates of our own conscience." A history of
southwestern society that left out the Bible would be as badly
gapped as one leaving out the horse or the six-shooter.
See chapter entitled "On the Lord's Side" in Dobie's _The
Flavor of Texas_. Most of the books listed under "How the
Early Settlers Lived" contain information on religion and
preachers. Church histories are about as numerous as state
histories. Virtually all county histories take into account
church development. The books listed below are strong on
personal experiences.
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