How did the USA became so religious?

[Alex bAlex]

Hello fellows.

I'm trying to get a picture of how religion spread across the world and so far I have only the European map with a couple of reference points in my mind.

 

I always thought that USA population is mostly atheists ( which might be true as I don't have the numbers), but I was surprised to find out that a large number of states are very Christian religious ( mostly the south).

 

I can understand how South America got very Christian dogmatic due to colonisation from Spain and Portugal which were very Catholic, but I don't understand how or who spread the religion in the north America. Did it came from Mexico which was influenced by Spain or from Britain? 

 

Is the northern part of USA more atheistic or I have the wrong picture here? 

 

What about the Canada? Could anyone explain their position on religion? 

 

Peace ✌?

[Eternity]

I'm not a religion expert but I do live in the U.S. in a State that is about half religious and half not.  So I'll take a crack at your question.  My husband was raised Catholic but does not practice it anymore, so I was at Catholic church before, but most of the religious right wing politics  are associated with Protestant religions: Methodist, Pentecostal, Community Christian churches, Mormon Church, Church of Christ, Baptist churches (north and south), Episcopalian, and others. Each of those religions has their own version of Christianity.  There are also many many television channels and many pastors.  These other religions also came to the U.S. and brought their own religions.  The extreme churches where people try to test Christ by actually handling poisonous snakes and falling down rolling on the floor because they think this is the way people should act as Christians, are very dramatic a and they also do prophecies.  In the Pentecostal church, it has grown in size because the drama is fascinating for so many and they see it on television.  They have traditionally leaned toward the right wing (this time Trump) party.  There are more churches following the same path.  The drama and spectacle of their church members falling on the floor and shouting amen and the pastors shouting in "tongues" which I thought meant languages, but the pastors make up their own, mostly sounds and meaningless made-up language, and people think the drama is real and that the prophecies are real.  And these pastors have made prophecies that Trump came to save the Christianity of the churches as it predicts in the last chapter of the bible.  They have made fearful statements on t.v. that the more left party, they say, is all Communists and these extremist pastors feed their members these false statements.  The southern Baptists are similar to this, but not as extreme.  But they too have followed the style of the Pentecostals and they are an even bigger religion, so many more members.   These two churches and smaller similar religions have become radical right wing and they are always asking for members to bring friends and family so that they can become even larger.  Mormons who began with Brigham Young who made his own prophecies are about 80% right wing and 20% left wing and they are a huuuuge church.  They own super markets,  shopping malls and stores, and invest in big businesses and property and they have billions of dollars to give to any political party they like.  They also have many children. As part of the religion, they believe when they die that they will become gods of their own worlds and that their children and grandchildren etc.  will become a part of their world and a part of their kingdoms.  Having many children is important to them, but it also makes the size of the Mormon Church grow and grow and grow.
You can see that the right wing "charismatic" churches are growing ever larger.  Atheists don't have churches so it is obvious that they are outnumbered since they do not have an organized sort of united belief system except they do not believe in God or the Bible etc.  The Catholic Church is still very much a part of the Christian Churches and so their member numbers are also big, but they can choose individually  which political party to support or not and I don't know for sure but I don't think many of the Catholics are supportive of Trump and his party, the right wing, because of Trump's poor character.  They are however, a big, possibly the biggest religion in North America and still growing.

I hope this helps you understand, but maybe some other answers will also give you the basic picture better than I can.

 

AA
 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Eternity

[King Merk]

Rural parts of America and most of the south tends to be more religious and lean stage blue.

Cities and the west/east coast tend to lean atheistic or spiritual and be more stage orange and green respectively.

Why America is so religious, I’m not sure. Probably has something to do with colonialism 

[Eternity]

@King Merk @Alex bAlex Yeah, I forgot your question about Catholics .  The Catholics were pretty early immigrants and the North American States had many Catholic missionary immigrants from France often Catholic priests and some of their parishioners, and many of those set up churches in the northeast part of the U.S. and Canada.  Today part of eastern Canada is French Canadian and also almost totally Catholic.  Our north eastern states also had many Catholic immigrants during battles with the French who were Catholic.  And then Catholic immigrants came from Ireland during the Irish famine in the 1800s and early 1900s.  They also believed in large families so the Catholic church became larger and larger in those areas.  When the Irish couldn't find work in the north east they came further and further into the west with their families and it was common for their families to  have 10- 15 kids, but times were hard and they usually lost a child or two.  Anyway from the middle states many went further west but some stayed in the middle northern states. Then during the gold rush days (people found gold in California) in the mid to late 1800s many immigrants went clear to the west coast to mine for gold.  That eventually led to Catholic missionaries following the immigrants to convert these wild miners to their religion.  Religion grew in different states like mid and northern California in those areas pretty fast.  Later immigrants from Mexico and Central America came to Texas and Southern California mostly Catholic, so religion was strong in those areas.  Like King said, in the cities people were busy building businesses and industries and many had no time for religion and it is the same today.  Mostly they weren't as interested in religion unless it gave them status.  Atheism has become more popular lately with the younger generations going to university since they believe they are smarter and religion is just old fashioned story telling, just mythology and made up stuff.  So that's about it when it comes to the Catholic church and atheists here.

 

 

[Matt23]

Wasn't the "North" in the civil war also more progressive?  I wonder why this has seemed to be a theme spanning a century or more.  It's like the more North you go, the more progressive you get.  Obviously there's nuance, but it seems like a general trend.  

[mandyjw]

People risked everything to come here and colonize the US out of faith and desire for religious freedom. Religion and faith is one of the only belief systems humans have to transcend survival, to somewhat begin to transcend life and death and explain it. Sometimes this is translated by the mind in very stupid ways. The desire for freedom is deeply spiritual. Sometimes THIS is translated by the mind in very stupid ways. 

[RMQualtrough]

The founding fathers were mostly Gnostic weren't they?

[Matt23]

I think it's also interesting to consider the "Red vs. Blue" split and battle is still happening today (i.e., Dems vs. Conservatives).  It's as if a huge part of the fabric that created the USA, part of the USA identity is connected to the conflict between Red vs. Blue.  Like, you become a US citizen, and then have to pick between the two.  I'm sure also that this goes beyond just the US and touches on the spiral stages of development.  Since probably in every country which is populated by a wide range within the spiral comes upon these battles between conservative and progressive mindsets and ideologies.  Maybe it's like, the fundamental battle between Spiral stages (conservative vs. progressive, to put it very simply) is universal.  But what's unique to each battle or country is the narratives and histories and specifics of that battle and those identities.  Like Conservatives will be battling progressives in the U.S., Britain, and elsewhere.  But the conservatives in the U.S. might tell a different story based on the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War, etc., whereas the conservatives in another country will identify with different narratives. etc..  Likewise with progressives as well.  What's progressive in one area/country might be different in the specifics than what it means to be progressive in a different country.  Yet both share a similar attitude towards life and value systems that overarch the specific battles and ideas they attach too.  Like one country might be more involved with battling systemic racism, whereas another might be focusing on Apartheid or something.  

 

[Alex bAlex]

Awesome, thank you for shedding some light here. 

 

I also started a course from The Great Courses company on The History of Christianity (part I and II) and how it spreads around the world. It's a lengthy course but I think it's worth going through. 

 

Cheers ?