World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 72 стр.

     1) Religion in America today is built primarily on the structure of Protes-             8) Along with the Congregationalist Church, which is the denomination es-
tantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. Within each of these groups there is great           tablished by the early Puritans, the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Re-
diversity. Among Protestants alone, there are 186 different organizations. Be-          formed churches constitute what is referred to as “mainstream Protestantism” in
sides the three major groupings of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, there are          America. Baptists and Methodists, once peripheral sects, are now usually con-
about 1 500 major and minor sectarian churches. Among these sects are estab-            sidered part of mainstream Protestantism as well.
lished groups such as the Quakers and Mormons. There are also bizarre groups                 9) Other Protestant denominations, such as Mennonites, Pentecostals, and
such as the Holiness Church, which is a snake-handling cult.                            Southern Baptists, are sometimes referred to as “radical” Protestants. Worship
     2) The degree of religious diversity in America becomes evident when one           services of radical churches are less formal and liturgical than services of main-
compares the religious composition of American society with that of its neigh-          stream Protestants. Many radical churches encourage “speaking in tongues”,
bors. Mexico’s population is 96 percent Catholic. Canada’s three largest de-            faith healing, and “born-again” conversion experiences. Mainstream churches
nominations, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and the United Church of Canada, ac-             tend to be middle or upper class, while radical churches usually consist of
count for 86 percent of total membership. To account for 86 percent of Amer-            lower-income groups.
ica’s total church membership, it is necessary to add together 19 separate de-               10) In 1985, 57 percent of the population named Protestantism as their re-
nominations. The First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits an established           ligious preference.
national religion and protects the individual’s right to practice the religion of his        11) Catholics constitute the second largest religious group. In 1985, 28 per-
or her choice.                                                                          cent of Americans surveyed identified themselves as Catholic.
     3) The immigrants who first came to America from countries all over the                 12) The first Catholics in America were missionaries from Spain, Portugal,
world brought a variety of religions. Many came with the express purpose of es-         and France. In the sixteenth century they set up churches in what is now Texas,
tablishing communities where they could practice their own form of worship              New Mexico, California, and Florida. In the seventeenth century Catholics from
without interference or fear of persecution.                                            England settled the colony of Maryland. But the greatest influx of Catholics to
     4) Although the official separation of Church and State provided a climate         America occurred in the nineteenth century. Catholics emigrated to the United
for these diverse religious practices to flourish, Protestantism, because of num-       States from Ireland, Germany, and France between 1830 and 1880 and from
bers and influence, has until recent decades occupied a dominant position in            eastern and southern Europe during the 1880s. During the nineteenth and into
American society.                                                                       the twentieth century, American society, however, was predominantly white
     5) First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-               Protestant. White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) set the basic character of
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the        national life and were often intolerant of Catholics.
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to as-              13) Jews constitute 2 percent of the population. Many Jews came to Amer-
semble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.                    ica during the nineteenth century to escape persecution in Europe. Like the
     6) The first settlers of Massachusetts were members of a radical Protestant        Catholics, Jews frequently encountered hostility and resentment.
group called Puritans. Puritans thought of themselves as God’s chosen people.                14) Since the 1960s, America’s religious landscape has undergone major
They believed that God had elected, or “predestined”, only certain persons to be        transformations, the most significant being the declining influence of the
saved. Devoting themselves to work as a way of pleasing God, they viewed                mainline Protestant churches. They have suffered sizable membership losses,
their prosperity as an outward sign that God counted them among the saved.              such that the Protestant majority in America decreased from 67 percent of the
Many people trace the American drive for success through hard work to this              population to 57 percent in 1985.
Puritan, or Protestant, work ethic.                                                          15) Many observers link the decline of the major Protestant churches in
     7) Among the immigrants to America were Protestants of many denomina-              America to the permissiveness of the 1960s. Mainline churches have tended to
tions from all over Europe, including Presbyterians from Northern Ireland, Lu-          be liberal in social outlook and theology. In contrast to more radical churches,
therans from Scandinavia and Germany, Episcopals from England, and mem-                 mainstream Protestant churches have not insisted on strict obedience to a par-
bers of various European Reformed Churches.

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