22. Religious pluralism in America and its influence on social life.

The United States has a strong tradition respecting the rights of diverse religious communities. But American culture is also a product of its distinctive Christian heritage. This heritage exists in tension with the nation’s religious and cultural diversity. At the end of the 19^th century and during the 20^th the United States has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the diversity of major religious traditions represented amongst its population. More Americans belong to religions outside of the Christian tradition than ever before. The new immigrants include large numbers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhism, and followers of other traditions and spiritual practices. Their presence greatly increases the likelihood of personal interaction across these religious lines.

Recent immigrants and their descendants generally do not live isolated from other Americans in homogenous enclaves. They frequently work in middle-class occupations and live in the same neighbourhood as other Americans do. Their mosques, temples and meditation centres are often located in close proximity to churches or synagogues. The typical American, therefore, can more readily encounter people of other religion as neighbours, co-workers or friends.

Religious pluralism can indicate vitality and toleration of different religions, but it may also be divisive as denominations quarrel with each other. There are areas of tension that are reflected in opposed views of social action and spiritual renewal. Some churches campaign for social change, provide welfare services and debate social problems and moral concerns such as starvation, racial inequality, poverty, abortion, same –sex relationships and the educational issues. This may lead to many conflicts and arguments between ordinary people, and more worryingly to division of the society. In the US there is a clear separation between the Church and the state – written in the First Amendment of the Bill of the Rights. However, in real this rule seems not always to work.

The contemporary diversity of US religious life derives from:

• Native-American religions;

• colonial history;

• the waves of later immigrants into the country

• Christian Protestants were among the most early colonists; but later on the 2 groups of Calvinist settlers arrived to New England; the 1st group, Pilgrims, came to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 from England and Holland to found their own church; the 2^nd larger group arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1630 and were Puritans, who were the orthodox Protestants and who wanted to purify the Church of England; Puritans believed that God had chosen or predestinated specific individuals to achieve salvation. Hard work was a means of pleasing God and any resulting prosperity was a sign that He regarded them favourably. It is argued that this Puritan (Protestant) work ethic is a conditioning factor in a general American ambition to succeed materially in life

• according to various statistics 90% of Americans are religious, whereas 6% of them are irreligious

• major religions in the USA:

• Protestants (50%) (e.g. the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, Reformed churches, Baptists, Methodists) – diminishing number

• Roman Catholics (23%) – increasing number because of the growth of the Latino community

• Jewish (2%)

• Islam (about 3%; together with Hinduism and Buddhism)

the history of Islam in the US started in the early 16^th century. In the past Muslim population in the US was quite small, however, due to immigration and widespread conversion, it has increased substantially in the last 100 years. Different sources demonstrate various statistics, however, it is widely recognised that the number of Muslims in the US ranges from 5 to 8 million people. Thus, nowadays, Muslims constitute a quite huge religious minority in the US. The followers of Islam have always been quite characteristic minority, which had its own tradition, habits, etc, which contributed to various attitudes towards them. However, their situation had radically worsened after the terrorist attack from 11th September 2001 because since then the Americans’ anxiety concerning Muslims started to increase in a rapid fashion. Soon it even resulted in introducing a new word which would best describe the growing fear of Muslims, not only in the USA but in the whole world as well, namely Islamophobia. It is considered to be one of the forms of intolerance similar in ideas to those of Xenophobia and Antisemitism and it is a neologism that refers to prejudice or discrimination against Islam or Muslims. Consequently, the most important problems which American Muslims face today are:

• discrimination, which includes excluding them from the economic, social and public

• life of the nation

• being viewed as a terrorist

• public ignorance about Islam

• stereotyping

• being arrested and detained without any reason, only because of alleged suspicious appearance

• being harassed

Unfortunately, according to numerous sources such discriminatory practices are constantly rising; lately, it has been even proved that they are contributing to worsening levels of mental health among Muslims

• the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights (1791) guarantees freedom of worship, however, it applies only to the federal government, not to the states;

• the 14th Amendment (1868) has, therefore, been interpreted to mean that the states must also protect rights of religion guaranteed by law;

• nevertheless, there is an absolute separation of church and institutions

Useful terms:

• secularization the removal of control and influence of religious groups from a society or an institution

• religious pluralism the existence of many different faiths

• ecumenism cooperation between different faiths

• denomination a religious group that has slightly different beliefs from other groups within the same religion (e.g. Christianity: Roman Catholics, Anglican Church etc)

• Congregationalists the later name for Calvinists (Puritans and Pilgrims);

• The Great Awakenings (periodic religious movements) the first Great Awakening affected the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s; it was an emotional reaction to the formalistic and unappealing nature of most religious practices. It was the forerunner of modern evangelical activities. Revivalist (or evangelical) preachers tried to convert people to their religions by stressing the need for repentance and rebirth and a personal experience of salvation. The second Great Awakening came at the beginning of the 19th century. It led to superficial emotionalism and divisions within the churches but it also increased the number of evangelical groups, such as the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists

• Episcopal Church after the War for Independence, the Anglican Church lost much prestige due to its ties with England. Attempts to retrieve its position failed. Thus, Episcopal Church was created in its place

• sectarianism the support of a particular religious group and its beliefs

• creationism the literal Bible story about the Creation of the world

• fundamentalism can be applied to religious groups with absolutist beliefs. It is the believe that everything in the Bible in completely and actually true. It rejects evolutionary theories (Darwinism)

• evangelicalism can be applied to many Christian denominations. It is based on the doctrine of salvation and converting people to their beliefs in a “born-again” experience. The Bible is the authoritative word of God. It also believes in a personal relationship with Christ. Its anti-modern, anti-secular conservative message is based on moral values, the role of the family and education. It provides simple certainties for many Americans and stresses individual responsibility a commitment and it also rejects evolutionary theories

• ‘civil religion’ focused on US political traditions. It’s a mixture of religion, morality and nationalism which emphasizes symbols, emblems and traditions, such as the national motto (“In God We Trust”) and the pledge of allegiance to the flag (“One Nation Under God”) It’s argued that these are the emergence of so many religious and pseudo-religious groups which resulted in the creation of civil religion