Editing Noah Webster (section)

===Religion===
[[File:Noah Webster letter to Eliza Webster on abolitionism 1837.jpg|thumb|Letter from Webster to daughter Eliza, 1837, warning of perils of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movement]]
In his early years, Webster was a freethinker, but in 1808 he became a convert to Calvinistic orthodoxy, and thereafter became a devout [[Congregationalist]] who preached the need to Christianize the nation.<ref>Snyder (1990).</ref>  Webster viewed language as a means to control disruptive thoughts. His ''American Dictionary'' emphasized the virtues of social control over human passions and individualism, submission to authority, and fear of God; they were necessary for the maintenance of the American social order. As he grew older, Webster's attitudes changed from those of an optimistic revolutionary in the 1780s to those of a pessimistic critic of man and society by the 1820s.<ref>Rollins (1980).</ref>

His 1828 ''American Dictionary'' contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster said of education,

{{blockquote|Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Babson Fuhrer|title=A Crisis of Community: The Trials and Transformation of a New England Town, 1815–1848|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMIBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA294|year=2014|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|page=294|isbn=9781469612874}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Noah |title=Notable Quotes |url=http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Quotes |website=Webster's 1828 Dictionary - Online Edition |access-date=10 April 2019}}</ref>}}

Webster released his own edition of the Bible in 1833, called the [[Common Version]]. He used the [[King James Version]] (KJV) as a base and consulted the Hebrew and Greek along with various other versions and commentaries. Webster molded the KJV to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and removed words and phrases that could be seen as offensive.

In 1834, he published ''Value of the Bible and Excellence of the Christian Religion'', an [[apologetic]] book in defense of the Bible and Christianity itself.