Unit 6 Religion in the U.S.

1. Unit 6 Religion in the U.S.

2. Overview of American religion From Chapter 1 we came to know that American main-stream culture was developed from what is known as "WASP" culture and that people who settled in the 13 North American colonies that would become the United States were mostly Protestant believers. WASP stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant", is believed to be the basis of the American religion Religious Liberty in the U.S. The Declaration of Independence guaranteed the basic right of religions freedom and this right was a political necessity. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicifiy forbade the federal government to give special

3. favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice, or exercise, of religion.When disputes about the relation-ship between government and religion arise, American courts must settle them. But American institutions pre-suppose a Supreme Being, therefore Christianity is of-ten, in practice, more favored that other religions. the Baptists in the U.S. The Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in America. They believe in adult baptism by immersion, symbolizing a mature and responsible conversion experience. They are concentrated particularly in the Southern Bible Belt. White Baptists and black Baptists go separately to their own churches.

4. the Methodists in America The Methodists are the second largest Protestant group in the United States. The Methodist Church has a form of service based on that of the Church of England. the Catholics in the U,S. The Catholic Church is the largest single religious group in the U.S. More than one-quarter of all Americans are now of the Roman Catholic faith. The majority of the Catholics are descendants of immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Poland. They have the main strength in the east coast. In American history, the Catholics were discrimi-nated against. By 1960, J.F. Kennedy's presidential elec-tion victory put to rest the Catholic religion as an issue in

5. national politics. Today, the Catholics are active in running their own institutions, and have risen to positions of leader-ship in business, politics and labor. Three Faiths in the U.S. By the 1950s, the three faiths model of American reli-gion had developed. Americans were considered to come in three basic varieties: Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, the order reflecting the strength in numbers of each group. Religious diversity Frontier America has made the United States a fertile ground for the growth of new religious movements. Many religious communities and secular utopias, experiments in new forms of social living, were founded in 18th and 19th

6. America. Many small sects and cults appear in American society all the time. They have certain tendencies in com-mon. They regard the larger society as hopelessly corrupt. Some of them never win a large following, but some others prosper and graduate into the rank of the respectable deno-minations. Some non-Western religions such as Buddhism, Hindus and Islam are also beginning to grow. American characteristics of religion The Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution provides that there is no state religion and that church and state must be separated. American religious beliefs continue to be strong with social progress. In the United States, every church is a completely independent organization and concerned with its

7. Own finance and its own building .Thee has been little concentration on doctrine or religious argument such as in European history Question for thought What are some of the feature in region that are particularly American? What are some of the major differences between American religion and religion in Europe?