Roots of Religions

Europeans coming to the New World brought their own religions with them. Indeed, it was for the freedom to practice these beliefs that many people came to the New World. These communities flourished, and the resulting religious variety helped give rise to a highly unique and important contribution to world religions—the most fundamental commitment to religious pluralism and freedom.

Religious differences still existed, however, and they were often reflected by region. As different as these groups were, though, they all derived from a Judeo-Christian cultural and historical background.

American territorial gains in the nineteenth century added Spanish and French lands and peoples. Between the Napoleonic wars and World War I, waves of immigration brought English, Scots and Irish, Italians and Greeks, Germans and Poles, Swedes and Russians. Immigration to the U.S. changed the mix of religious groups, but America's overall heritage remained primarily European, and primarily Judeo-Christian.

New groups of immigrants from Asia and Latin America brought their cultural and religious values to the U.S., significantly fueling the growth of Islam and having an important impact on American Catholicism.

Present Day Religious Affiliation

After more than 200 years as a nation, religion in America is a complex picture, here are some basic facts and numbers:

- 163 million Americans (sixty-three percent) identify themselves as affiliated with a specific religious denomination.

- Roman Catholics are the single largest denomination with some sixty million adherents.

- Members of American Protestant churches total some ninety-four million persons.

- There are more than 300,000 local congregations.

- There are more than 530,000 total clergy.

- The U.S. has some 3.8 million religiously identified or affiliated Jews (an additional two million define themselves as primarily culturally or ethnically Jewish). Judaism continues to be a religion of substantial importance in the U.S., with persons of Jewish faith and culture making extensive and wide ranging contributions in all walks of American life. More Jews live in the United States than in any other country, including Israel. There are three major branches of Judaism in this country: Orthodox, Reform and Conservative.

- There are an estimated 3.5 to 3.8 million Muslims. Islam is the most rapidly growing religion in the U.S.

- In any given week, more Americans will attend religious events than professional sporting events.

- In terms of personal religious identification, the most rapidly growing group is atheists/ agnostics (currently about eight million).

In fact, radio and television broadcasting have become a major element of contemporary American religion. Major network broadcasters are increasingly likely to have programs with a visible religious content. The explosion of cable and direct broadcast television outlets —many Americans can select from more than one hundred television channels—means that even "minor" or non-traditional denominations or faiths have been able to establish their electronic presence.

Vocabulary notes

Survey - опрос

Adult - взрослый

Denomination – религиозная конфессия, секта

Agnostic - агностический

flourish - процветание

contribution - вклад

derive - извлекать

heritage - наследство

primarily – главным образом

value - ценность

significantly - существенно