America and Religion

America is a religious country without being a religiously-controlled country. The Constitution protects religion from government interference and also from having the government select any one religion as a preferred religion. Christianity in its many denominations is the major religion in the United States, but there are many minority religions that thrive and that serve communities ranging from the relatively large to the very small. Some of these religions have been imported from other parts of the world, and some have developed here as individuals and groups seek a way to express their spirituality when they are disappointed in the existing religions. Some groups brought their religion with them and have made it part of the ethnic community they have built here. Some of these groups have also encountered discrimination and intolerance at various times in their American lives, but all in all, America is very tolerant of different religious beliefs and expressions.

Vincent N. Parrillo notes how successive waves of immigration to the United States changed the country from what had been an almost exclusively Protestant country to one with three major faiths: Catholic, Jewish, Protestant. The Catholic population has been increased by subsequent immigration from Latin America and the Philippines. African immigrants have added to the Muslim population. The Jewish population is actually declining, while there are increases among Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs (Parrillo

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estimated as well that the number could reach more than one million by the year 2000. This is a considerable increase from figures of 9,000 in 1970 and 60,000 in 1980 (Pearlstone 88). Worship for the community centers around places like the Dharma Sah Zen Center (Korean Zen Buddhism). Religious practice there closely follows the tradition of Korean monasteries. This extremely regimented routine attracts more American practitioners than Koreans, however, since Koreans find it too demanding and since Korean Americans are more likely to be Christian than Buddhist (Pearlstone 90). This represents a change in the immigrant group from the situation in their homeland. It has been found that only about 25 percent of South Koreans in the old country are Christian, but once they arrive in the U.S., more than 70 percent of the immigrants begin attending various Protestant churches, mostly Presbyterian (Schifrin, 1988, 94). People from India have brought their religion with them as well, and there are Hindu populations spread across the country. There are over 150 Hindu temples in the United States, many of them quite small, but in other cases standing as major complexes in large cities. There are five types of Hinduism in the Unit

Category: History - A