University of Rijeka

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of English Studies

Religion in the United States of America

Lara Božić
Dr. sc. Lovorka Gruić Grmuša
American Culture and Civilization
Introduction
The United States of America is known as a country that shares many different views and
cultures. Today we can find many different religions which co-exist together. But it was not
always like this. America had to pass various tests, awakenings and wars to become what it is
today. Therefore, it is extremely important that we learn about it so that we can appreciate and
understand religious groups that exist today. The roots where all American religious groups
started forming are in the colonial times and the waves of immigration that were coming to
America in the following years.

Native Americans
Before any Europeans set their foot on the American ground there were Indian tribes such as,
the Algonquians, the Iroquois or Sioux. They worshiped the Great Spirit who could be found in
animals and even in inanimate objects. “Elaborate rituals and such dances as the Sundance,
Round, Snake, Crow, Ghost and others were developed and led by such native leaders as
Wodiziwob, Wovoka, Black Elk, Big Foot, Sitting Bull, and others.”1 When white colonist arrived
in America and started putting Indians into reservations their religiosity increased but the
number of Native Americans fast dropped.

The colonial period

The first European settlers on the American ground were the Protestants. They were influenced
by the European reformation. Mostly, they were Calvinist settlers who arrived in New England.
The first group were the Pilgrims who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 from England
and Holland to start their own church. Pilgrims left their countries because they wanted to
practice their religion without restrictions or persecution. The second group were the Puritans
and they settled in Massachusetts Bay in 1630. They wanted to purify the Church of England.
This two groups were not religiously tolerant and they believed in predestination and hard
work. Also, there was a small group of Jewish immigrants that settled in New Amsterdam and
Newport in Rhode Island. The Roman Catholic Church came to America also with the Mayflower
but faced harassment by Protestant churches. There were a lot of missionaries from Spain,
Portugal and France. They settled the south and the west of the country. Middle Colonies were
settled by Protestant groups such as Welsh and Dutch Calvinist, Scottish Presbyterians, Swedish

1
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3787.html

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and German Lutherans, Baptists and English Quakers. At the end of the colonial period the
majority of the original thirteen colonies had an established church.
For example, the Anglican Church served Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia and
parts of New York; and the Congregational Church was established in New England. But
other religious groups, such as the Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians, did not
become the established church in any colony. (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.344)

The eighteenth century

The eighteenth century brought a big change in the terms of immigration. People were not
coming to America only because of religious beliefs but because of the material advancement,
free land or even adventure. Because of that “in 1750 only 6 percent of the population formally
belonged to a religious group.” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.345) Even though, there are still
immigrants with distinct religious identification arriving, like Scotch-Irish Presbyterians form
Northern Ireland. “Some of these settled in New England, where they shifted the theological
bases of Congregational (or Puritan) church towards Presbyterianism, and to New York. Others
went to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and western Virginia.“ (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.345)
There were also German Lutherans and Jews arriving from Germany and Poland. Two major
events that affected the colonies and their religious commitment was the Great Awakening and
the American Revolution.
The Great Awakening was a somewhat emotional reaction against the increasingly
formalistic and dry nature of religious practice. It began in Massachusetts among the
Congregationalists and spread along the East Coast from Maine to Georgia, and the
western frontier, to include Presbyterians, Methodist and Baptists. (Mauk and Oakland,
2009, p.345)
This is the reason why many churches were divided and new frictions were made. But what is
important about it is that connected colonies and influenced the coming Revolution. The
American Revolution caused a major division between churches.
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists and Congregationalist were mainly on the
American side of the struggle, while the Methodist remained neutral. Some Anglicans
supported the British and others the American cause, as did the Catholics of
Pennsylvania and Maryland. But pacifist religious bodies, like the Moravians, Quakers
and Mennonites were often prosecuted during the war because of their beliefs. (Mauk
and Oakland, 2009, p.346)
The Great Awakening and the American revolution in the end did not have a big impact on
religiosity and Americans still were not active church members.

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The nineteenth century
In the nineteenth century the population of America started expanding to the western border.
Also, the immigration increased and the missionary activities grew. There was a Second
Awakening at the beginning of the century. It started on the East Coast and spread on the west.
Its results were visible in a significant increase of religious groups like Baptists, Presbyterians
and Methodists. Also, this century brought up certain conflicts between different churches. One
of them is known as the ‘Protestant sectionalism’ from 1830 to 1860, where many new frictions
and sects were created.
For example, attempts to unite the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians resulted in
division and conflicts between radicals and liberals. There was a similar friction between
the High and Low Church wings of the Episcopal Church. The East Coast High Church
remained dominant, but the Low Church wing increased its standing and membership
on the western frontier. (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.347)
There were also formed new religious movements or sects, such as Spiritualism, Millerism,
Mormonism, Perfectionism and Shakerism. They were very different from the traditional
churches that very dominating at that time. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church
welcomed Irish, French and German immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. In the
nineteenth century there was also a big increment of the Jewish population. They were coming
to America because of the tyranny they were facing in Germany. Most of them assimilated
quickly into the American life by adapting their traditional beliefs to the new modern life. Even
though they left the repressive German life they still experienced anti-Semitism and
discrimination in their daily life. An important change that started happening in the nineteenth
century is surely the change churches started to have considering education and schools. New
colleges were created and inner-mission societies were formed on the East Coast. Another big
event that changed the religious groups and their followers was the Civil war, especially the
question about slavery. The religious group divided to two main views of this issue. This period
brought uncertainty and inaction about religious churches. Also, after the 1880 the
industrialization and booming economy affected the American everyday life. The differences
between poor and rich became visible as well the response of the churches. Some of them
supported and help the poor while others did not want to interfere with situations like this one.

The twentieth century

At the beginning of the twentieth century, new waves of immigration were coming to America.
Most of them came from central, eastern and southern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Therefore, new churches like Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam were established. Many of this
groups tended to concentrate in larger cities where they could maintain their culture. This
groups often faced intolerance and ignorance mostly from Protestant churches. In this century
there is also a big competition between religious pluralism and ecumenism. Religious pluralism
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means that every single person can practice the religion they want, while ecumenism tries to
bring people closer by transforming religions into more tolerant and co-operative with other
ones. “Traditional churches divided by historical disputes, such as Congregationalism,
Lutherans, Evangelicals and Presbyterians have arranged merges. Co-operation occurred at
local and national levels between Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Orthodox groups with the
creation of ecumenical organizations.” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.350) By the 1970s the
ecumenism between churches started declining, but nevertheless Protestants, Jews and
Catholics became more tolerant to each other and anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism were not
as expressive as once were. This caused growing in religions such as Buddhism, Islam and
Hinduism. Tensions in twentieth-century religion are reflected in to opposed views called social
action and spiritual renewal. “Social action concentrates on religion’s public role based on the
earlier tradition of liberal theology and social commitment” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.351)
This means that the churches wanted to intervene in some social problems and try to solve
them. The social action led to new interpretations of religious beliefs and practices. On the
other hand, “some conservative groups within the Protestant churches were dedicated to
spiritual renewal and reflected a desire among many Americans in the twentieth century for
more personal commitment and experiences, simple faith and answers to individual and
universal problems.” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.351) This conservative religious groups were
more traditional and orthodox, and they emphasized the importance of personal salvation.
They did not want to interfere in social problems as it was not part of their beliefs. This led to
rejection of evolutionary theories and brought a whole new level of disagreement between
opposed churches.
Some fundamentalists left their churches to form alternative organizations, where they
could more easily practice their beliefs. Others, in the 1960s, 1970s and later, joined a
number of evangelical churches. These, and fundamentalism, are connected to
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century traditions of revivalism and evangelism with their
espousal of conversion, emotional experiences and personal salvation. (Mauk and
Oakland, 2009, p.351,352)
The main difference between fundamentalist and evangelical term is that the fundamentalism
term can be applied to the right wing of the Protestant churches, while the evangelical term is
applied to churches that are “converting people to their beliefs in a born-again Christian
experience.” The spiritual renewal “also led people to join a wide variety of sects, cults and
churches.” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.352) All the new sects, groups and churches that had
been created led to a diffusion of national identity and embraced Americans to join ‘civil
religion’ which centers on American political traditions. “This is a mixture of religion, morality
and nationalism which emphasizes national symbols, emblems and traditions, such as the
national motto (‘In God we trust’) and a pledge of allegiance to the flag (‘one nation under
God’)” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.353) There had been also a significant increment of
secularism in American everyday life. This means that religion and state are divided and that
religion cannot be pushed in state institutions such as schools etc.
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Church, state and politics
“The first Amendment of the Bill of rights (1971) states that ‘Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’.” (Mauk and
Oakland, 2009, p.354) This separates the church from the state and it means that there are no
state-supported religions. Also, it gives an individual the right to choose his or her own religion
and the right to practice it without restrictions. This is what Americans have fought throughout
their history wanting a complete control over their choices. There had been official established
churches in the past, but eventually all churches had been separated form the state. Therefore,
Americans have a wide range of religious groups, sects and churches. This is also why there are
no church taxes in the US and every citizen can support the church he or she wants by donating
directly to the church. Also, there are no official religious holidays in the US and the political
parties do not have a ‘favorite religion’. Even though religion is officially separated from the
state it still affects the American everyday life. Nearly every religious group is somehow taking
part in the public aspect of the American life. They discuss moral and political problems and
they also take a stand into social and race issues. Moreover, religious signs and symbols can be
also seen in the seal of the US or even in the pledge of allegiance to the American flag.
American president also belongs to a religious church even if it is said before that political
parties do not have an official religious group. “Newly elected American president swear the
inaugural oath of office on the Bible; sessions of Congress commence with prayers; and both
houses of Congress have official chaplains.” (Mauk and Oakland, 2009, p.355,356)

The structure of contemporary American religion

After the Second World War the religious face of America had changed. It led to a decrement in
active religious everyday life. But still, religious groups like the Protestants, Catholics and Jews
remain the most significant one in the US. The research from Paw Research Center from 2014
showed the structure of American religions:
1. Protestants – 45.6%
2. Evangelical Church – 25.4%
3. Catholics – 20.8%
4. Mainline Protestants – 14.7%
5. Atheists – 3.1%
6. Judaism – 1.9%
7. Islam – 0.9%
8. Buddhism – 0.7%

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Sources:
Mauk, D and Oakland, J. (2009). American Civilization: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3787.html
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/