TAKE-HOME MID-TERM I
You gave of us a selection of four questions to choose from and answer
persuasively and fully. The first of my three questions is going to be using the Pew
Research Center’s findings to explain how and why (historically and presently) they
differ in religious breakdown and intensity. The states that I chose were Tennessee
(because I live there), New Hampshire, and Maine (because of their historical
significance to the Settlers that came to New England and started the Colonies).
Major Religious Traditions in the United States (Among all adults)
According to extensive surveys done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public
Life in 2008 details statistics on religion in America and explores its religious
landscape. This is the overall findings, from those 35,000 Americans interviewed in
the surveys they show: there is a total of 78.4% of Christians; a total of 51.3% of all
Protestants combined; which breakdown into 26.3% of Evangelical Protestant;
18.1% is Mainline Protestant; 6.9% is historically Black Protestant; 23.9% is Catholic;
1.7% is Mormon and Jewish; and 16.1% is unaffiliated.
The Pew Forum survey finds that constant movement characterizes the
religious marketplace, as each religious group is gaining or losing adherents
simultaneously. Those that are growing are simply gaining new members at a faster
rate than they are losing them. Conversely, those declining are simply not
attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents lost. The U.S.
Religious Landscape survey does conclude that religion in the U.S. is extremely fluid
and very diverse.
Now we are going to look at a breakdown of each of the States that I chose
discuss the statistics of Tennessee, New Hampshire and Maine presently and
compare them to the historical New World also known as Colonies and discuss how
they differ in religious breakdown and intensity.
Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in Tennessee
With regard to the findings in Tennessee it shows that twenty-six percent
(26%) or one-in-four is Evangelical Protestant; eighteen percent (18%) is Mainline
Protestant; seven percent (7%) is historically Black Protestant; twenty-four percent
(24%) is Catholic; two percent (2%) is Mormon and Jewish; and sixteen percent
(16%) is unaffiliated.
Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in New Hampshire and Maine, respectively
With regard to the findings in New Hampshire and Maine, respectively shows
that 11% and 15% are Evangelical Protestant; 23% and 26% are Mainline
Protestant; 0.5% this number is so low because New Hampshire has a low
population of African Americans; and 7% are historically Black Protestant; both
states are 29% Catholic; 26% and 25% are unaffiliated.
Key Differences in Statistics on Religion in Tennessee vs. New Hampshire & Maine
When you look at the difference between Tennessee, New Hampshire and
Maine with regard to the religion landscape you can clearly see that Tennessee has
a higher percentage of Evangelical Protestant and historically Black Protestants;
however, New Hampshire has a higher religiosity of Mainline Protestants and
Catholics than we do in Tennessee. With us being in the area known as the “Bible
belt” it does not surprise me that Tennessee’s unaffiliated would be less and that
Overall Differences
Overall, American Christianity went from being dominated by a few
established Protestant denominations in the founding era to today’s highly diverse
mix, with innumerable Protestant groups, a large Catholic population and significant
numbers of Orthodox and other Christians. In 1776, the vast majority of Americans
active in a religious body belonged to only a handful of Protestant denominations:
Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist and Quaker. By the mid-19th
century, however, the picture had changed. The Methodist Church had become by
far the largest Protestant denomination by 1850. And before the end of the 19th
century, Roman Catholics — who represented a small portion of the population in
1776 and only 5% in 1850 — became America’s largest single Christian group,
although Protestants collectively still greatly outnumbered Catholics. By 1906, the
U.S. was home to 14 million Catholics, who represented 17% of the population.
Today, fortified by a steady flow of immigrants from mostly Catholic Latin America,
Catholics in the U.S. number more than 74 million, about 24% of the U.S.
population. The Southern Baptist Convention is now the largest U.S. Protestant
denomination.
Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in America
The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with
any particular faith today (18-19%) is more than double the number who say they
were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans 18-29
one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.
Catholics have experienced the greatest net loss as a result of changes in
Protestants, the number of Catholics nearly rivals the number of Evangelical
Protestant churches and far exceeds the number of members of both Mainline
Protestant churches and historically Black Protestant churches. The U.S. also
includes a significant number of members of the third major branch of global
Christianity – Orthodoxy – whose adherents now account for 0.8% of the U.S. adult
population.
The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of
becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that
they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%.
Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity
and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely
grouped around three (3) fairly distinct religious traditions – Evangelical Protestant
churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), Mainline Protestant churches
(18.1%) and historically Black Protestant churches (6.9%).
Finally, the findings from the Landscape Survey provide important clues
about the future direction of religious affiliation in the U.S. We have now an even
more diverse American religious quilt.
The second of my three questions is going to be explaining what separates
Native American views of the world and practices we call “religious” from the
religious beliefs and practices of European settlers. Early Settlers religion was part
of their everyday fabric and the same can be said for the Native American’s except
that they don’t have a “word” for religion it is referred to as spirituality.
Religion was not diverse. The religion compositions at the time were Quaker,
Angelicans and eventually the Methodist Church. The Settlers left England because
of religious persecution and fled to Holland but they found themselves in a very
similar situation. Therefore, they fled Holland and came to the New World and
called it the New England. There is where they formed the Colonies, built their
homes, barns, fences and churches. If you knew the Church someone went to then
you knew where they lived. The same can be said today for Catholicism and the
Parish that they attend. They came to the New World to form one religion but no
one could decide which religion to select to be the Nation’s religion and no one
wanted the responsibility of choosing. This is a perfect example of the first religious
freedom that they had experienced here in the New World.
The Church did have a law that you and your family had to adhere to
religiously. They refer to it as it being one law but it has five requirements that you
must abide by or risk your stature in the community. The law required everyone to:
1. Attend church; 2. Pay taxes to Church to support the Church; 3.Be a “visible
saint”; 4.Be a member of the Church; and 5. Take the sacraments. The church
membership was smaller than the total number of attendees because women were
not allowed to be members of the Church. The sermons in Colonial times were from
forty-five (45) minutes to fifty-five (55) minutes long and the Preacher just simply
read from the Bible and preached. No wonder there was some known as “horse
shed Christian’s” because they would congregate out by the horse barn and visit
while Church was taking place.
Religion was such a part of their everyday fabric of life back then that it even
had the power to decide your position in the community. If you adhered to the law
that the Church had instructed then you could get a coveted position with the State;
The Church received taxes from everyone that was part of the Church because it
was a law.
With the arrival of Settlers and their religions, Native American cultures have
undergone severe stress. In what is now the United States, there were many wars
as European settlers moved east from the Atlantic coast and north from Mexico.
The last of these, and one of the most tragic, was the consequence of white
Americans’ fear of the Ghost Dance religion. By 1890, when the movement began,
almost all of the Native American peoples had been forced onto reservations. The
buffalo on which they had formerly depended had nearly vanished. Many faced
starvation because the United States government had failed to deliver the supplies
it had promised. The Ghost Dance movement began among the Paiute of Nevada
and rapidly spread across the Great Plains. The Ghost Dance religion combines
elements of Native American spirituality including visions, song and dance, and
Christianity. Wovoka, the founder of the movement, believed that he had been
visited by Christ, who had taught him songs and dances and foretold the destruction
of the white people and the return of the ancestors and the buffalo.
In what is now South Dakota, many of the Lakota people believed that the
“ghost shirts” worn by the dancers would protect them from army bullets. On
December 29, 1890, units of the U.S. Army 7th Calvary attempted to disarm a band of Lakota at Wounded Knee. A single shot rang out, after which the soldiers used
machine guns in a massacre of men, women, and children. As many as 350 Native
Americans died. The Massacre at Wounded Knee marked the end of Native
American resistance to the United States government. To this day, Lakota and other
The Native American “religion” has no word for religion so most commonly it
is stated as Native American spirituality; they have no sacred text but they do use
pictograms, in many tribes featuring the Thunderbird and serpents; No
supernatural – everything sacred and revelatory including everyday practices,
virtually all of which are ritualized; No separation of “religion” from the following: a.
nature and natural events; b. tribal and individual life; c. ancestral history (stories
or myths about hunts, wars, losses, times of bounty); d. futures; e. respect (awe) for
life and natural surroundings and event; f. ceremonies (feasts, dances, music); g.
hallucinogens; h. magic and shamans who, in altered, ecstatic states, heal and
practice divination (advise courses of action by casing lots, telling future and
fortunes through visions and interpretations of nature, and by invoking good and
bad spirits/powers). Locally symbolism especially related to animals, notably those
judged categorically superior, principally: Birds, natively free and able to soar
above the clouds, serve as messengers between humans and the spirit world, in
some tribes like the Iroquois, the Creator, in other creative forces “driven off” after
creations or catastrophes to the stars, the distant forests, etc.; Clan totem animals
that provide emblems (imposing reminders and warnings) of group or tribal
ancestry and capabilities as well as guidance in life (each animal depicted with
special connections to certain moods, conditions, traits, skills, prospects);
Instruction in localized accumulated knowledge and morals related to individual and
family life, one’s clan and tribe, and other-than=human relatives, in many tribes
centered on generosity occasioned by life transitions = births, marriages, deaths,
coming-of-age initiations, welcoming strangers, great achievements, migrations,
clowning entertainment (to bring happiness and relief); and Replaced/modified by
American (Indigenous Peoples of the Americas) “Religious” received on September
2, 2014 in class.
According to Dr. Gary Laderman, with Emory University an expert on Native
American spirituality, they have an alliance with mythology and the cosmos that
comes out in their stories. As you, Dr. Catanzaro, stated it is like our stories mixed
with our religion like in Genesis. Native Americans are spiritual because of their
alliance with myths, the cosmos, Nature and the act of storytelling is revitalizing in
some ways. Dr. Laderman further states that although “religion” may not be a word
found in the Native American vocabulary that spirituality is part of everyday life and
that it is more important to them descriptively.
Much is made of the contrast between the Native American attitude toward
nature and that of the Settlers who came to America. Generally, it is said that
Native Americans have a reverent attitude toward the land, trees, rivers, and
mountains. On the other hand, the Settlers tended to look upon nature as
something to be exploited. Thus, they were willing to sacrifice the beauty and even
the life of the land to build a technology that would make life more comfortable and
pleasant. Animism has been applied to Native American religions, in the strictest
sense of the word; an animist is one who believes that the trees, rocks, rivers,
plants, and animals are spiritually alive. The animism believes that the spirit that
exists in nature have the power to help or harm; therefore, they offer some form of
worship to these spirits.
The Settlers religions were typically the same and not very diverse; however,
Native American religions are very diverse. The Settlers and Native American
emphasize geographic space and the natural environment. During the Colonial
times, the women took care of the dead before morticians or funeral directors;
however, in Native American religion there are many taboos concerning the dead.
Along with the observance of taboos, Native Americans often seek to control the
forces of the spirit world with ceremonies. For example, performing a ceremony for
a tree or rock would be an example of the animism. Though I can see the
importance the Settlers did not a Native American stated that “…How can the spirit
of the earth like the White man (referring to Settlers)?. . .Everywhere the White man
has touch it, it is sore…”. The Native Americans suffered greatly at the hands of
the white settlers. They lost land, life and even their spouse. Native American
“churches” use hallucinogenic like the peyocte cactus in ceremonial ways.
Personally, I think that it is sad that we came over to “their” country and then we
took it like it belonged to us instead. I guess they paid us back in a way over the
last few decades with their vast wealth and political clout that they received from
having their casinos. I am part Cherokee Indian and very proud of that but do not
own a casino that I’m aware of anyway.
We have always had religion in the fabric of everyday life but we have a vast
diverse number of different religions now compared to Colonial times. We were
aware of our religiosity in the 18th century. Even though the Native American language may not have a word for religion they are a very spiritual and ritualized
culture. It is too bad that White man did not try being friends with the Native
American (Indian) we could have learned a lot from them about the land and
Nature.
The third and final of my questions is going to be discussing Professor Brekus
pietists could come together to support the framing of the First Amendment. I will
attempt to describe that moment and identify the forces that brought about this
landmark event in America history. As I have learned the intellectual men of that
time period were deists Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Madison, and Adams.
Pietsts were the Baptists and they made an alliance with the deists because it
benefited the Baptists and other evangelicals to unite even though deists saw God
as a clockmaker, not a personal savior. In colonies with strong state churches the
disestablishment that the First Amendment caused helped to open up workforce
needs for non-Protestant immigration. Also, America was founded with too many
varieties of religion for agreement on a state religion.
If Thomas Jefferson had drafted the First Amendment later than when he did;
specifically, after the religious revivals like those held in Cane Ridge that made
Christianity so important then wording would have been completely different. More
than likely, because of the importance of Christianity after the religious revivals
there would have been “God” or “creator” in the Amendment instead of dividing the
two it would have more than likely kept them as one and we would not have a chose
as to our religious freedom.
Catherine Brekus, Ph.D., University of Chicago, quotes from her in God in
America, PBS, “…The First Amendment is just a remarkable moment. I think it only
could have happened in the context of the late 18th century. It could not have happened earlier, and I don’t think it could have happened later, after the religious
revivals made Christianity so important.
It emerges at a particular moment as a kind of alliance between pietists like
many of whom were deists. They believe in a kind of vague Protestant theology,
but they imagine God more as a clockmaker rather than as an intimately involved
creator. So the First Amendment is this remarkable watershed that really does free
people to imagine other religious possibilities.
Now, it is important to remember that the First Amendment in the beginning
really only applies to the federal government, so individual states often still did
continue with church establishments. So Connecticut, for example, had the
Congregational Church established until 1818, and Massachusetts did not
disestablish the Congregational Church until 1833….”.
Brekus feels as do most historians that the First Amendment could have only
been worded the way it was with it being written when it was and no later. I
believe this was definitely the window of opportunity for Jefferson to write it and
nothing change; however, if he had written it after the religious revivals then I feel
even with his deism it would have affected his writing. I also find it ironic that it was
Baptists (pietists) that he formed an alliance with regarding the First Amendment
because years later on January 1, 1802, he wrote to the Danbury, Connecticut
Baptist Association with his famous “thus building a wall of separation between
Church and State” line.’
In conclusion, I completely agree with Dr. Brekus as stated about the alliance
with the pietists or Baptists and that it was the remarkable moment in History for
the writing of the First Amendment at that time. If it had been written later after the
religious revivals like those in Cane River then I feel the Amendment would be
completely different because of the important influence of Christianity after the
