Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. President Michael Dimock explains why. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.
Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Share this link:. This cultural and legal history has many different religions to flourish as citizens freely practice their chosen faith. According to the Pew Research Center , Within that group, the largest segment is composed of Evangelical Christians, comprising After that, the next largest Christian tradition is Catholicism, which represents The tenets of Christianity have been explored through a variety of denominations in the US.
From events such as the First and Second Great Awakening, to Prohibition, to the impact of the Moral Crusades of the late s, Christianity has played a strong role in the development of politics and culture of the United States. Judaism is responsible for helping to instill principles of Freedom of Religion in the United States.
Since then, Judaism has remained at the forefront of American Society with influential figures in science, politics, and entertainment such as Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, and Hailee Steinfeld. In political terms, secularism is a movement towards the separation of church and state. This can refer to reducing ties between a government and a state religion, replacing laws based on scripture with civil laws, and eliminating discrimination on the basis of religion.
This is said to add to democracy by protecting the rights of religious minorities. Due in part to the belief in the separation of church and state, secularists tend to prefer that politicians make decisions for secular rather than religious reasons. In this respect, policy decisions pertaining to topics like abortion, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, same- sex marriage, and sex education are the prominent issues many secularist organizations focus on.
When discussing social structures, secularization can refer to differentiation. Differentiation refers to the increasing division of labor and occupational specialization in society. When discussing institutions, secularization can refer to the transformation of an institution that had once been considered religious in character into something not thought of as religious.
When discussing activities, secularization refers to the transfer of activities from institutions of a religious nature to others without that character. Finally, when discussing religion, secularization can only be used unambiguously to refer to religion in a generic sense. For example, a reference to Christianity is not clear unless one specifies exactly which denominations of Christianity are being discussed.
Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse, many religious practitioners have aimed to band together in interfaith dialogue, cooperation, and religious peace-building. When characterized as the rejection of religious belief, it includes atheism and secular humanism. When characterized as hostility towards religion, it includes antitheism, anticlericalism and antireligion.
Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. The Structure of Religion in the U. Religion in the U. Learning Objectives Discuss the relationship between religion and government in the United States. Key Takeaways Key Points The First Amendment specifically denies the Federal Government the power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, thus protecting any religious organization, institution, or denomination from government interference.
European Rationalist and Protestant ideals influenced the development of separation between state and religious affairs. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
Religious Organization : Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. For this reason, there generally exist religion-supporting organizations, which are some form of organization that manage the upkeep of places of worship, e. In addition, such organizations usually have other responsibilities, such as the formation, nomination, or appointment of religious leaders; the establishment of a corpus of doctrine; the disciplining of priests or other people with respect to religious law; and the determination of qualification for membership.
Religious Diversity Religion in the United States is characterized by both a wide diversity in religious beliefs and practices and by a high adherence level.
Learning Objectives Discuss the scope of religious diversity in the United States. Census, the most common religions in the United States are Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and unaffiliated religions, including atheists or agnostics. Interfaith dialogue refers to dialogue between members of different religions for the goal of reducing conflicts between their religions and to achieve agreed-upon, mutually desirable goals.
Freedom of religion encompasses all religions acts within the law in a particular region. Key Terms interfaith dialogue : The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions i. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative religion; this dialogue often promotes understanding between different religions to increase acceptance of others, rather than attempting to synthesize new beliefs.
Learning Objectives Identify the most common and popular religions in the United States. The mainline Protestant Christian denominations were brought to the U. Islam, for example, dominates the Middle East. Ecumenism Ecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at creating greater Christian unity or cooperation. Learning Objectives Define ecumenism and its central features.
Key Takeaways Key Points Ecumenism contrasts with interfaith dialogue, which aims at unity, respect, and cooperation among diverse religions, under the auspices of a shared sense of spirituality. Despite many disagreements over ecumenism and how to approach interfaith dialogue, there exists a sizable group of Orthodox Christians who are vehemently opposed to any kind of interfaith dialogue.
Learning Objectives Identify the characteristics and defining features of members belonging to different religions in the United States. Key Terms American Islam : From the s to , several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably mostly assimilated into the wider society.
Protestantism : Protestantism is one of the major groupings within Christianity. Secularism and the Future of Religion Most modern Western societies are recognized as secular because they enjoy near-complete freedom of religion.
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