on all coins and paper bills was declared the national motto by Congress in 1956. Also religion was one of the biggest reasons to start the American Revolution. Wikipedia said Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British—an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God. As a recent scholar has observed, "by turning colonial resistance into a righteous cause and by crying the message to all ranks in all parts of the colonies, ministers did the work of secular radicalism and did it better.” However not all Americans believe in God. There are strong regional; differences in the USA:
- In West 51% of the people believe in God
- In South 86% of the people believe in God
Nowadays the number of people who are leaving their religion is increasing rapidly. The reason is that terrorist attacks and religious conflicts are becoming more common in these days. I think especially September 11st attack influenced American people deeply and hurt them severely.
Recent studies show that the following is the order of religious preferences in the USA:
- Christianity 78.4%
- No religion 16.1%
- Judaism 1.7%
- Buddhism 0.7%
- Islam 0.6%
- Hinduism 0.4%
- Other 1.2%
(from Religion in the USA, Wikipedia the free encyclopedia)
Christianity is the largest religion in the USA. It was introduced during the period of European colonization. Christianity is divided into several groups: roughly 51.3% of Americans are Protestants, 23.9% are Catholics, and 1.7% are Mormons, and 1.6% to others. These branches of Christianity spread beyond the boundaries and now include multi-ethnic membership and parishes. No Religion category includes atheists, agnostics, humanists and others. Atheists are people who don`t believe in god and say there is no god. Agnostics are those who don`t know whether God is truly existing or not. And Humanists just believe in good life. Immigrants from Asia tend to say that they do not have religion. I guess they just don`t want to be in trouble because of religious things. Many Jews came from Eastern Europe during 19th century because Europeans didn’t accept their own religion, Judaism. Recently 25% of Jews are living in NYC. Buddhism was introduced to the USA by East Asians. First Buddhist temple was built in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Americas. 14th Dalai Lama made a big contribution to develop Buddhism in the USA by organizing missionary activities and establishing Buddhist institutions. Islam was introduced to the USA in the early 16th century. During last few years many African Americans are converting to Islam. American Muslims are more assimilated than Muslims in Europe. It is not clear exactly when Hinduism entered to the USA. “According to recent surveys, estimates for Hindus in the US suggest they number nearly 800 thousand people or about 0.4% of the total population. Hindu religion is growing in the US, not only thanks to immigration but also due many Western converts. Hinduism is expanding in popularity and influence on the public life. In 2004 the Hindu American Foundation - a national institution protecting rights the Hindu community of US – was founded.” (Hinduism, in the United States, Wikipedia the free encyclopedia)
Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed in the USA.
In the First Amendment to the United States constitution there is a clause in which says: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Also Declaration of Independence can be an evidence of religious liberty. It says “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;” (Freedom of religion in the United States, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I think religious freedom is well-developed in the USA because there are many kinds of religions and almost all Americans can have their own religion based on their interest. To my mind, having religious freedom is very important thing and those who have religious freedom are very lucky people, of course, including Americans. Everybody has his or her own opinion on religion, so there is always raw between people and sometimes it causes big problems such as tension, conflict and even war. Only religious freedom can solve this dangerous and harmful problems because religious freedom helps people to understand other religions and respect other people`s view. In my opinion religious freedom is one of the important factors of
“peace”.
In the United States of America, recently the fastest growing groups are Evangelical Christians or Fundamentalists, Non-denominational Christians and no religion people. In my view, the “no religion” group will grow rapidly in the near future. The reason is that people are afraid of attacks and bombings and they are disgusted with religion. Not only Americans but also other nations avoid having one particular centered religion. I think that in the future people will be more neutral in terms of religion and there will be less conflicts and bad things caused by religious issue.