THE RELIGIONS OF USA

How does understanding religions help us understand the culture?

Religions refers to the belief in the existence of a god or gods and the activities that relate to the worship of them. Or refers to one of the systems of faith that are based on the belief. There do exist some guidelines in some religions that affect people’s behavior, and the people are the citizens of a country. Religions can also determine what people should eat or shouldn’t eat, determine the holidays, and can even determine what kinds of music can they listen to. All these are elements of a culture. The consequences are made because of different types of beliefs, cultures must be different. So, we can learn their culture by discovering how they behave according to their belief.

Religions in USA

The United States is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. Residents mainly believe in Christianity and Catholicism, Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, and other religions also have a certain number of followers, religious citizens in the total population accounted for about 83.9%. The most popular religions in the United States are Christianity and Catholicism. Christianity is the largest religion in the United States, with the various Protestant Churches having the most adherents. The United States has been called a Protestant nation by a variety of sources.

Christianity, the major religion that originated in the life, teaching, and death of Jesus (Christ, or God's Anointed) of Nazareth in the 1st century AD. Its largest groups are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches.

Protestantism is the general term for a series of new denominations formed by churches and believers who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation in the 16th century. The etymology comes from the German “Protestanten”.

Protestantism had a great influence on American politics. There have been four great awakenings in the history of Protestantism in the United States, each associated with a major effort at political reform, followed by one. The Great Awakening of the 1830 s and 1840 s mobilized thousands of Americans to find a new life in the Christian faith. This religious revival laid the foundation for the political rise that followed, the beginning of American national identity, and the beginning of the American Revolution. The second Great Awakening occurred in the 1820 s and 1830 s. The most important product of the Great Awakening was the abolitionist movement. The Third Great Awakening took place in the 1890 s and was directly linked to the populist and progressive movements for social and political reform. The Fourth Great Awakening began in the 1950 s and 1960 s. It began in the 1950 s by opposing legal and institutional discrimination and segregation against black Americans, which led to a comprehensive challenge to the established power system of the United States. In the 1980 s and 1990 s, it led to a movement to reduce the power of government and social welfare programs, as well as to reduce taxes, while also trying to expand government restrictions on abortion.

America's Protestant culture has made Americans the most individualistic people in the world. Americans believe that individuals are responsible for themselves. This belief has led to the principle of self-made personal success.

How does understanding the dominant religion help us understand USA?

From the diagram we can see that in the United States, the dominant religion is Christianity. As the dominant religion, Christianity has an immense impact on America. We can simply understand its influence from three aspects:

Firstly, America has a quite short history, however, it turns itself from a British colony to a superpower now. How does America do that? Christianity plays a significant part in American history. Most of the early settlers in North America were Protestants, who were unlike traditional Christians in Europe. They insisted freedom, human rights, human dignity and their religious spirit were against slavery, which had a profound effect on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, national construction and so on.

Secondly, the culture of Christianity affects US politics. The morality, belief and value standard of Christian culture have an important influence on both candidates and voters in the American election. The personal beliefs of American presidential candidates and their positions and views on political and social issues, which are influenced by their beliefs, have a great impact on voters' voting, and ultimately affect the outcome of the presidential election.

Thirdly, Christian culture also influence American society. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Wherever a person’s ancestors come from, all of them can be called ‘American’. This is a unique feature of the United States. How does it work? It’s because of Christianity and its ethics, which are the spiritual pillars of most of American and make them mentally competitive.