Religion in US

Religion in the United States: Overview

Most founders of the United States were religious people who felt God guided them in their attempt to create a new form of government, more equal to the ones before.

There is a clause in the Constitution that states that church and state must be separate. This was, however, not an attempt to eliminate religion’s importance. What the US founders wanted to avoid was the establishment of a state religion, like the Anglican Church in the UK. They wanted the American people to be free to pray to God in their own ways.

Religion is and has always been a significant part of US culture. The Declaration of Independence, which states ‘all men are created equal’, proves that the founders did believe God created humans and are still guiding them.

American religious life is very complex in the 21st century. The past few decades witnessed great changes in trends within religious belief and activity. We will look at phenomena such as the emergence of the megachurch, secularization, and social change driven by religion.

Religion in the US: Percentages

Around two-thirds of the American population belong to a religious organization, though they attend a church, a mosque, or a synagogue more or less regularly.

We can determine certain patterns of religiosity based on people’s social class and ethnicity.

Religion and Social Class in the US

Sociologists have found that lower classes are more drawn to smaller cults and sects, while the upper classes tend to participate in the activities of churchlike groups.

Fig. 1 - Upper-class people in America tend to attend churchlike groups rather than sects and cults.

Statistics show that most of Judaism and Episcopalianism followers come from upper-class backgrounds. On the other hand, poorer people join communities such as the Southern Baptists, Assembly of God, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The level of educational achievement also influences one’s involvement with religious activity and vice versa, it seems. Jewish people are usually well-educated, have high incomes, and have prestigious occupations (doctors, for example). Jehovah’s Witnesses tend to be uneducated and have a low-rank occupation with low income (Pew Research Center).

Scholars found that people in the US tend to change their religious affiliations as they change social class. This is because becoming a member of a new social class makes one acquire new life experiences and ideas about society and the world. Similar to how one can change their taste in music, art, and even their speech style, religion is just another part of the lifestyle one adapts to their new social, cultural, and physical surroundings.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Roman Catholics, for example, rarely change religion, even if they move up or down in society. They usually change the geographical unit they belong to as they move into new neighborhoods, matching their new socio-economic status.

Types of Religion in the US

Different religions worldwide are often associated with nations, races, and ethnicities.

In most cases, these associations are no more than stereotypes about cultures and societies; in other cases, they are closer to reality. Hinduism, for example, really is the most widespread religion in India and most European countries have a form of Christianity as their official religion.

In the US, there are also certain patterns around ethnicity and religion.

• Americans of Irish background tend to be Roman Catholics, while Americans of Greek descent belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.

• African Americans are often Protestants. Within Protestantism, they often follow Baptism and are sometimes members of fundamentalist religious groups.

Sunday morning between 10 and 11 has notoriously been called ‘the most segregated hour in America’. Why?

This is because, despite many churches being integrated into the US, most religious institutions are still divided and attended by either African Americans or White Americans. This segregation is not based on law anymore but on custom.

Breakdown of Religion in the US

Certain aspects of religious life are especially characteristic of the US. Most Americans are proud of these characteristics regarding religion, especially those of pluralism, freedom, and tolerance. The rise of fundamentalism and the electronic church is more concerning for some citizens.

Diversity

The US does not have a dominant religion. There are at least 300,000 congregations in America and hundreds of denominations. This shows the extreme diversity of religions and religious institutions that characterize the US.

Pluralism and Freedom

The US government is not allowed to interfere with any religion. Religious freedom is one of the elements of American politics and society that Americans are most proud of.

This freedom is so extensive that anyone is allowed to start a church and ‘become’ a minister or another religious leader of their invention. The government cannot do anything about it.

In theory, religious freedom has no limits in the US. However, there have been occasions when the government did not keep to the law. For example, many mosques in the US have been infiltrated by government agents to monitor Arab immigrants (Elinson, 2004).

Competition and Recruitment

Extreme religious diversity also means that all those different religious groups and institutions must compete for followers. One can find adverts for religious organizations in the telephone book, the religious section of local newspapers, and on Internet sites with appealing messages to citizens, trying to get them to attend their religious activities.

Commitment

Stanley Presser and Linda Stinson found that around 30% of Americans attend church regularly. Many citizens of the US support religious institutions and charities with donations. According to statistics from 2011, Americans donate around 100 billion dollars to religious causes annually.

The US appears to be rather religious when compared to other democratic and industrialized countries. Gallup found that in 2009, 65% of Americans claimed religion was an important part of their lives. In Spain, 49%, in Canada, 42%, in France, 30%, in the UK, 27%, and in Sweden, only 17% claimed the same (Crabtree and Pelham, 2009).

Tolerance

There are three aspects to religious tolerance.

• First of all, all religions may exist as long as there is no attempt from them to brainwash and exploit their followers.

• Secondly, one cannot possibly decide which religion, out of so many, is the ‘true’ faith, so one needs to be tolerant towards all.

• Finally, one has the right to believe in whatever they want to as long as they are not obnoxious ad limit others’ rights to believe in something else.

Features and Statistics of Religion in the US

Let's look at some recent movements within religion and their surrounding statistics.

Fundamentalist Revival

The US is witnessing a revival of fundamentalist Christian churches. These fundamentalist organizations believe in the literal truth of the Bible, and they preach the necessity of a personal relationship with Christ as the only way to salvation.

Fundamentalists tend to hold conservative beliefs about other aspects of life, not just religion. They often believe in the division of traditional male and female gender roles, they are likely to be against abortion, and they have a conservative approach to education.

The Electronic Church

The electronic church is a relatively new phenomenon, appearing as a result of technological developments. The preachers of the electronic church, called televangelists, hold masses for millions of viewers at the same time through online screenings. They tend to be very effective in raising a lot of money as well, thus posing an existential threat to local churches and ministers.

There are a few famous ministers of American electronic churches, such as Pat Robertson, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyers, and Kenneth Copeland, to mention a few.

Religion and Social Change

Religion is viewed by many sociologists as a generator of social change. Others disagree and claim that religion usually holds up the status quo.

In the US, religion has historically been viewed as an agent of social change. Many European settlers, who arrived in the new world, left their homelands for religious reasons. They often left religious persecution and settled in America, where they tried to base society on religious freedom and tolerance, as discussed before.

Liberation Theology

It was a social justice movement with a religious motivation, similar to those led by Francis of Assisi, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu.

The liberation theology movement started to improve living conditions and reduce inequality in Latin America. By now, it has become an international movement.

Liberal theologists focus on religion from the perspective of the oppressed and the poor. They often claim that the Bible itself was a call to help the poor and reduce poverty and oppression.

This interpretation of the scripture has evolved among feminists as well. Europe and North America saw the emergence of feminist theology, born out of liberation theology, which was concerned with the social injustice experienced by women.

Megachurches

Megachurches exist all over the world. South Korea, Brazil, and many African countries have had large megachurches.

They rose in numbers only recently in the US. In the 1970s, there were only around 50 megachurches in the US. Today this number exceeds thousands. Most megachurches in America are Southern Baptists, and the biggest ones are in the states of Florida, Georgia, California, and Texas. Bogan found that in 2009 the largest megachurch in America was in Houston, Texas. It had an average attendance of at least 43,000 each week.

Masses are held in buildings resembling sports arenas rather than churches. The worship is accompanied by contemporary music, and apart from praying, one can attend the food courts, bookstores, and sports facilities of the buildings. Even child services and counseling is often offered at these venues.

The leaders of megachurches are charismatic ministers with a great television presence. Most of them are men. Characteristics of megachurches are conservatism, social networking, and a predominantly White membership base.

However, many criticize megachurches and claim that they are too big for one to create a close relationship with God and to other members. There is no real and close community spirit.

Secularization in the US

While some scholars argue that there is a sudden rise in fundamentalism in America, others point to a widespread secularization process.

Sociologists Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud anticipated secularization as the result of Enlightenment and modernization.

Max Weber argued that people would replace religious communities and sects with scientific and social clubs.

In the US, secularization appears in three forms:

• Decline in church attendance: People attend church much less regularly; it is not part of their usual Sunday activity as it used to be.

• Secularization from within: In the attempt to adjust to modern times, churches and denominations have also adopted more secular perspectives and activities. Instead of following the fundamental dogmas of religions, people now look at their faith as a way for self-discovery, personal improvement, and healing for mental health issues. Churches transformed to fulfill these new expectations of the 'religious' public.

• Religious diversity: It is not expected of people anymore to be religious, particularly Christian. Tolerance towards religious diversity in the US resulted in more people openly being atheists or agnostics.

There are some scholars and regular people who blame the process of secularization for emerging social problems, such as rising divorce rates, drug use, and lower educational achievement among the youth. In 2011, even Hurricane Irene and the following earthquake were said to be God’s punishment for the politicians who turned away from him (Ward, 2011).