Ellen's Religious Environment Finding any period in U.S. history that comes close to the religious commotion of the mid-19th century would be very difficult. According to one scholar, “Revivalists and millennialists, communitarians and utopians, spiritualists and prophesiers, celibates and polygamists, perfectionists and transcendentalists” were all adding spice to the religious scene previously dominated by the conventional denominations. Established churches were torn by controversy, and new religious groups were springing up with astonishing success, especially in upstate New York. Organized camp meetings were spiritual hothouses where various stages of exuberance merged with the excitement of “new” biblical revelations. In many of these camp meetings, the shouts of the distressed mingled with the shouts of praise and glory. The falling, the jerking, the barking, even the crawling on the ground, the rolling, the heavenly dancing, the laughing and the shouting of thousands at once became remarkable characteristics of those “slain by the Spirit.” The camp meeting “spirit” carried over into the weekly church services. Professional evangelists carried on the camp meeting legacy with high-voltage preaching; respect for the “old-time religion” was reflected in camp meeting songs that are still effective today. “Shouting,” for a short while, was probably the most characteristic mode of public expression. The rise of Mormonism, Christian Science, and modern Spiritualism also played heavily in the American religious landscape. Indeed, Ellen White was born into an intensely “spiritual” era in American history wherein she would help steer her church from the prevailing excesses and distinguishing herself as a powerful voice in a soon-to-be world organization. Back to Religious Experience, Part 1.