American Religion

Religion force be considered as a heart and soul or method of expressing wholenesss belief in and devotion to a universe or entity that transcends the human individual. The idea of an the Statesn holiness is sustainable to a certain degree, as historically the nation has been subject to the developing charm of certain traditional phantasmal groups.However, because of the splintering of theology as healthy as the desire to keep the nation free from religious tyranny, it has excessively been apparent that the unify States exists without both(prenominal) governing or unifying religious requirement. Furthermore, if adept considers devotion to be expressed through belief in and devotion to a particular universe, entity, or idea, then the join States might be seen to be populated by a group of persons who send themselves to several different ideologies, so that no single the Statesn religion exists.Yet despite these dissenting views, when one judges by the underlying sen datents of the mass of the nation toward non-Protestant religions, as well as the human beings of elected or appointed officials of the Protestant arm of Christianity in governmental positions, it might be said that the overarching religion of the join States is in fact Protestant Christianity. The United States was first populated in the seventeenth century by Pilgrims and Puritans who want liberation from tyrannical oppression specifically through the freedom to concord their non-conformist Protestant religion (Seelye, 58).These persons sought to build a community establish on the religious practices they desired the freedom to perform. The fact that these advocates of the Christian religion were founders of the American nation gives credence to the idea that the American religion is steeped in Christianity. Certainly, the laws that govern the society are based on galore(postnominal) laws advocated by the religion. The actions of the American settlers during and subsequent to the time of the Pilgrims also point toward Protestant and Non-Conformist Christianity macrocosm the religion of the United States.Expansion was often effected through the missionary efforts of Americans, who acted in the name of Christianity as well as of the United States. Other factors that feed to the idea of Protestantism as being the religion of America are the frequent fear and distrust of Catholicism that has existed within the country throughout its days (Carty, 11). This fear has been seen in several areas, but is markedly represented in the sentiments surrounding the election to the U. S. presidency of John F. Kennedy (11).This president was cognise to be a Catholic, and during his candidacy, his affiliation with that religion was widely considered a significant breastwork to his election. Father Thurston Davis, editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine America, made a telling gab concerning JFK and the religious sentiments of the general American population. He sai d Kennedy had been found to abide himself more or less as almost any Catholic President might have been expected to conduct himself in a land largely dominated by a difficult ease Protestant tradition (Catholic view, 1962).Other politicians and leaders, much(prenominal) as Eleanor Roosevelt, have been known to respond American governmental support of Catholic schools (Carty, 69), and this too gives the consequence that Protestantism might be considered Americas religion. It is also possible to oppose the idea of Christianity or any other religion as being the religion of the American state. It has been argued that the United States constitution forbids the imposition of religion of any sort upon an individual residing in the country (Young).Therefore, no form of religion should, according to the American constitution, be required in schools, courts, or any other governmentally run or chartered institution. This gives the impression that the United States has no particular reli gion, as this separation of church and state was mandated in an effort to preserve the practice of all varieties of religion within the country. However, one may still counteract this idea of Americas non entertaining Christianity as its state religion when one considers the continued existence of chaplains in telling and in the military.This points to the existence of a double standard, and hints that although America pretends to be welcoming of all religions and partial to none, a strong undercurrent of devotion to the peculiarly Protestant brand of Christianity still exists within the country. tally to John Young in his essay entitled Why Does Congress Still get hold of a Chaplain, James Madison had warned way substantiate when that Catholics and other non-Protestants had virtually no chance of serving in such a capacity. Since then, only two Catholics have been House chaplain. No Jews. No Hindus. No Muslims. No Buddhists. No surprise. Young expresses the idea that since so many Americans are at least nominally or traditionally consort to Protestant organizations, the existence of any chaplain in the U. S. Congress would lead to the employment of mainly the religious representatives of Protestant Christianity to fill that position. Since this has proven to be the case, one might argue that despite opinions to the contrary, the official American religion is in fact Protestant Christianity. The separation of church and state, which is considered to be advocated by the United States Constitution, points toward Americas having no official religion.The fact that prayer and record book reading is now restricted within schools and other governmental institutions would give the impression that Christianity is certainly not the religion of choice for most Americans. Yet, America was founded by a group of people whose main reason for overlap the Atlantic was to garner the freedom to practice their Protestant religion. Furthermore, the existence of strong ant i-Catholic sentiments throughout the country and the continued existence chaplain positions in governmental bodies defies this idea. This points kinda to the presence of a deeply Protestant tradition to which most Americans adhere.References Carty, T. A Catholic in the White House? Religion, politics, and John. F. Kennedys presidential campaign. parvenu York Palgrave-MacMillan, 2004. Catholic view of JFK. Time (in partnership with CNN). 19 January 1962. 29 April 2007. http//www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895853,00. html Seelye, John. Memorys Nation The family of Plymouth Rock. Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Young, John. Why Does Congress Still Have a Chaplain. Sun Networks. December 1999. 29 April 2007. http//www. sunnetworks. net/ggarman/young. htm