General information about religion in the U.S

In the following post I'm going to give general information about religion in the United States and my personal experience on that matter.

There are two major religions in the U.S: protestant and catholic. During the 19th century liberal American Protestanism occured in the U.S..(about the same time as in Europe)
The movement started to interpret the Bible in a completely new way and questioned the validity of biblical miracles and traditional beliefs about authorship of biblical books. On the other hand the conservatives believed that there was no reason to question the literal truth of the Bible. They argue that it is not necessary to teach evolution at school, because it elevates human reason above revealed truth and is therefore antireligious. Because of that many parents send their children to religious schools or teach them be themselves at home.

In a majority protestant country the Irish Catholics, who had come to the USA during the Civil War, were subjected to prejudice. Even though they were allowed to attend public school and universities, they soon build institutions of their own to match their standards. But since the Catholic church does not require its members to attend one of their church-run institutions, most catholics today attend public institutions.

America has always been a fertile ground for new religions which is due to the lack of religious prejudice in most parts of the USA.

Today religion plays a huge role in politics. There is a powerful political movement which is called the Christian Right. Their aim is to overturn decisions allowing abortion and banning prayer in public schools.

For most Americans religion is a personal matter which is not talked about in everyday life. However Americans are, compared to other nations, spiritual people. Over 70% consider themselves as being religious.

As far as my own experience is concerned I can only say that I have observed the same things while being in America. Most people I have met were very religious and most of them wen to religious schools or were homeschooled. Most people at my high school were catholics which was due to the huge number of immigrants, because all the people I have met who were Americans were protestant and not catholics.

If you are interested in looking up further information about religion in the U.S. see:

http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/factover/ch8.htm

On this webside you can also find more chapters concerning general information about the USA and its history and everyday life.