This article talks about the history of religion in the United States. It talks about how different religions have flourished in America and what made it grow. The first event that made religion flourish was the first Great Awakening. It brought sensationalism to the picture. While this started the growth of religion, the second Great Awakening brought it even further. It rejuvenated Protestants, especially in New York. Another religion that flourished around the same time was Mormonism. It was based off of Protestantism. It gained many followers quickly, but was controversial and forced out of many states, forcing it to move to Utah.
The main reason for most religions becoming more popular in the United States was immigration. This is especially true for Catholicism. The main factor contributing to that was the potato famine in Ireland bringing many Irish-Catholics (including my great grandparents) to America. Catholics from Europe and Latin America also flocked to the U.S. All this immigration caused Catholicism to become the largest religion in the United States. This was usually Protestants, and they were threatened by the growth of Catholics.
Later, Jews were becoming more prominent in America because they were fleeing persecution in Russia and other countries. They also faced discrimination, just like the Catholics, from the Protestants.
The Catholics response to this discrimination was the Second Vatican Council, which was designed to make the Catholic Church more modernized. The changes including using the local language in masses and building bridges with the Protestants to cut down on the tension between the two religions.
This article gave me a lot of information about all religions in America. I never knew how much tension there used to be, and occasionally still is, between religions. It was really interesting to hear about that, and also to learn how different religions became what they are today. This article really teaches anyone who reads it a lot about United States and its ties with religion. I enjoyed learning more about my faith, but also learning about other faiths, and learning how a lot of religions are based off another.
"religion in the United States." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Religion in the United States
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2 comments:
Jimmy you have a lot of information here but you need to make more personal connections and conclusions. You do not state any of your thoughts about religon in your entry. You could talk about your grandparents experiance with thier faith as they immigrated. Just make sure you post about what you think and dont just summarize.
I have been researching about immigration and I have not been looking far into religion relating to immigration. I thought it was interesting how you showed how each individual religion came into America and how they were treated when they came. I agree with Noah that your thoughts could have been added into the summary as you were writing instead of just adding them in at the end. I thought it was good that you added in that your family came to America and they were Irish-Catholics because it shows that you were able to connect to your topic well.
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