Since the Reformation, Christianity has had a tremendous impact on society’s character. Christianity has helped to maintain the status quo in state and territory churches, with Anglican and Protestant churches in England and Russia advocating for a monarchy-based social order. During the Industrial Revolution, free churches, such as the Lutheran clergy in Germany, spearheaded Christian social movements, bringing Christian influence to everyday life and labor in industry. Johann Hinrich Wichern established the “Inner Mission” to address spiritual and bodily distress, jail reform, and mental health care.

The Anglo-Saxon Free Churches attempted to connect their social environment and living conditions with a Christian concept of human life. Methodists and Baptists targeted neglected parts of society, recognizing that typical philanthropic methods could not alleviate the working class’s pain. However, the revival movement in Germany, driven by spiritual leaders such as Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher, disputed workers’ right to self-organization and sought restitution in heaven for earthly social inequities. This prompted Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to distance themselves from the church and its philanthropic efforts to resolve social issues, describing religion as the “opiate of the people.”
This rejection was at odds with the social-ethical actions of the Inner Mission, Methodists, and Baptists, as well as the Quakers, who opposed social demoralization, prison conditions, war, and slavery.