Up
until the late 19th
century, the concept of free seating in church pews was not very
well-known. Church seats, in fact, weren't as essential to a place of
worship as they are nowadays until the Protestant Reformation. The
religious movement gave rise to the centrality of the sermon in
church activities; consequently, it was sitting down for the whole
duration of its delivery that prompted church seats to become a
necessary feature in many Christian places of worship in the United
States.
When
pews were introduced to churches, worshippers were initially asked to
lease them. Fees collected through these rentals were utilized by
many churches, especially those that didn't require tithing, to fund
church building projects. The problem with the practice, however, is
that it encouraged a division among churchgoers coming from different
statuses. By the 1840s, criticism on pew rentals reached a point
where churchgoers become more vocal about their apprehensions
regarding the practice.
As people began
questioning the legality of renting out seats for worship activities,
many church leaders also noticed that the number of regular
churchgoers was going down because the pews were limited in number
and not everyone could afford to rent one. Although some churches
responded to the trend by offering free seating in about 20 percent
of all the pews, further reforms within many Christian faiths led to
the eventual discouragement of renting out pews entirely.
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