Religion in the United States.ppt

1、Unit 6 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES,American mainstream culture was developed from what is known as “WASP” (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) culture and that people who settled in the 13 North American colonies that would become the United States were mostly Protestant believers.,Religious Liberty By

2、the middle of the 18th century, many different kinds of Protestants lived in America. Lutherans(路德派教徒，信义会教友) had come to America from Germany. The Dutch Reformed Church flourished in New York and New Jersey. Presbyterians(长老会教友),came from Scotland and Huguenots(胡格诺派教徒) from France. Congregationalist

3、s(公理会教友),as the Puritans came to be called, still dominated in Massachusetts and the eighboring colonies, an area which came to be known as New England.,Although the Church of England was an established church in several colonies, Protestants lived side by side in relative harmony. Already they had

4、begun to influence each other. The Great Awakening of the 1740s,a “revival” movement which sought to breathe new feeling and strength into religion, cut across the lines of Protestant religious groups, or denominations.,(18世纪40年代的宗教大觉醒运动力图把新感觉和新力量注入到北美各殖民地人民的宗教信仰中去。这次“觉醒”运动打破了新教各派之间的界限。随着欧洲移民不断地到来，北

5、美定居者不断向西部荒野推进，许多人宗教观念开始淡薄起来。这种情况引起宗教界的恐慌，一些宗教狂热分子不断向西部兴起大规模布道运动，即宗教复兴运动。) At the same time the works of John Locke were becoming known in American. John Locke reasoned that the right to govern,comes from an agreement or “social contract” voluntarily entered into by free people. The Puritan experienc

6、e in forming congregations(教堂众会)made this idea seem natural to many Americans. Taking it out of the realm of social theory, they made it a reality and formed a nation. It was politics and not religion that most occupied Americans minds during the War of Independence and for years afterward. A few Am

7、ericans were so influenced by the new,science and new ideas of the Enlightenment(启蒙运动)in Europe that they became deists(自然神论者)，believing that reason teaches that God exists but leaves man free to settle his own affairs. Many traditional Protestants and deists could agree, however, that,as the Declar

8、ation of Independence states, ”all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” and that “the laws of Nature and Natures God ”entitled them to form a new,nation. Among the rights that the new nation guaranteed, as a political necessity in a religiou

9、sly diverse society, was freedom of religion. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbade the new federal government to give special favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice, or exercise, of religion. The United States would have no state-supported religion. In

10、this way, those men who formulated the principal tenets(原则) of the newly established political,system hoped to insure that diversity of religious belief would never become the source of social or political injustice or disaffection. But Protestant churches kept a privileged position in a few of the

11、states. Not until 1833 did Massachusetts cut the last ties between church and state. The First Amendment insured that American government would not meddle in religious affairs or require any religious,beliefs of its citizens. But did it mean that the American government would have nothing at all to

12、do with religion? Or did it mean that government would be religiously neutral, treating all religions alike? In some ways, the government supports all religions. Religious groups do not pay taxes in the United States. The armed forces pay chaplains(牧师) of all faiths. Presidents and other political l

13、eaders often call on God to bless the American nation and,people. Those whose religion forbids them to fight can perform other services instead of becoming soldiers. But government does not pay ministers salaries or require any belief-not even a belief in God-as a condition of holding public office.

14、 Oaths are administered, but those who, like Quakers object to them, can make a solemn affirmation, or declaration, instead. The truth is that for some purposed government ignores religion and for other purposes it treats all religions alike-at,least as far as is practical. When disputes about the r

15、elationship between government and religion arise, American courts must settle them. American courts have become more sensitive in recent years to the rights of people who do not believe in any God or religion. But in many ways what Supreme Court Justice (最高法院) William O.Douglas wrote in 1952 is sti

16、ll true. ”We are a religious people, ”he declared, ”whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” In the early years of the American nation, Americans were confident that God supported their experiment in republican,government. They had just defeated Great Britain-probably the most powerful nation

17、 in the world at that time. Protestant religion and republican forms of government, they felt, went hand in hand. Protestants in the United States Today, the majority of Americans belong to the Protestant church.Over60% of Americans are said to be Protestant believers. THE Baptists(浸礼会教徒)are the lar

18、gest Protestant group. They,believe in adult baptism by immersion, symbolizing a mature and responsible conversion experience. From a beginning in 17th century England, the Baptists have continued on a small,scale in England where they are about 1% of the population. But in the Unites States, they h

19、ave their main strength, with over 32 million members, divide among more than 20 branches and concentrated particularly in the Southern Bible Belt. Some white Baptists have liberal attitudes toward the blacks and stand up courageously in difficult circumstances for their belief in the equality of al

20、l human beings before God, whatever their colour. But the great majority seem to have no difficulty in reconciling their Christian belief and practice with their racial prejudice. Meanwhile, most of the blacks are Baptists too, but they go to,different churches from the white. In southern communitie

21、s the blacks find their main social center in their Baptist churches and sometimes a base from which to organize group action. Next to the Baptists, the most numerous Protestants are the Methodists(卫理公会教徒),adherents of the group which grew up in 18th century England following the lead of John Wesley

22、. Most Methodists are united in the Methodist Church, which has a form of service based on that of the Church of England. Thus the main Protestant groups with the origins in Britain are flourishing, and seem to have taken on a distinctively American character, including a tendency to form subgroups.

23、 But,this is not the whole story of Protestantism. Smaller sects(宗派) from Europe have taken root, and new sects have formed within America, some of them around individual leaders. There are more than 100 other Protestant sects, many of them hardly known to anyone except their own members, but with a

24、 combined membership of more than 20 million. They express variety, rather than doctrinal(教旨性的) schism（分,派）.Some of them are of recent foundation, and the dominant trend is fundamentalist.(原教旨主义者)Four of the smaller sects are really quite large, with 2 million or more members. These are the Latter D

25、ay Saints, the Churches of Christ, the United Church of Christ and the International Convention of Disciples of Christ.(这些教派是现代基督教圣徒派，耶稣教，联合耶稣教及国际耶稣信徒会等。)Some of the small sects are extremely intolerant, and depend on a highly emotional and even hysterical(歇斯底里的),approach. Some have shown themselves

26、 particularly ready to be pragmatic in adapting themselves to what they imagine to be the ideas of modern society. And new prophets and movements of religion are appearing all the time. Catholics Although the largest church is of the Protestant faith, the largest single religious group is that of Ro

27、man,Catholics. About one-quarter of the all Americans are now of the Roman Catholic faith, numbering about 6.8 million according to The 2010 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (the 4 large Protestant groups, the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians(新教公会教徒)represent 31.9% of the

28、 population). The majority of the Catholics are descendants of immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Poland. Most of the early Catholics stayed near the east coast. They were concentrated,especially in New York and Massachusetts, and are still a very important element of the population in those two sta

29、tes. By the Civil War, over a million Irish Catholics, many driven by hunger, had come to the United States. Most were working people. Anti-Catholic prejudice was so strong that, on a few occasions, it broke out in mob violence. In 1844,two Catholic churches were burnt and 13 people died in rioting

30、that swept,through the city of Philadephia, Pennsylvania. More often prejudice took the form of discrimination, particularly at the polls(政治选举).By 1960,however,John F.Kennedys presidential election victory put to rest the catholic religion as an issue in national politics.(更经常的是，偏见心歧视的形式出现，特别是在选举中。然

31、而，到1960年，肯尼迪总统选举的胜利使天主教在国家政治中不再成为一个问题。)Kennedy was Roman Catholics. Catholics were not shut out of public schools and hospitals but they wanted,their own schools, colleges and hospitals. Catholics believed that these institutions were needed to preserve their faith. Many Catholics now attend public

32、schools and secular colleges. But Catholic institutions, especially in large cities, still serve large number of Catholics and a growing number of non-Catholics, who are attracted by the discipline and education offered in these schools. By the 1950s,many Catholics had risen to positions of leadersh

33、ip, not only in labour unions, but in business and politics as well. As Catholics grew more confident about their place in,American life, they began to challenge, not the basic idea of separation of Church and State, but the way American courts interpreted if. The costs of modern education had made

34、their schools very expensive to maintain. Catholics began to seek some way in which they could obtain public funds to help meet these expenses. Other private schools, not necessarily religious in origin or concern, also sought this help.,The lawmaking bodies of many states were sympathetics to these

35、 demands.But most attempts to provide help for religious schools were ruled unconstitutional(declared to violate the Constitution)by the Supreme Court of the United States.Giving public money to a religious school was held to violate the clause,or part,of the First Amendment which prohibits the esta

36、blishment of religion.If Catholics feel that government should support the non-religious aspects of private,education, other American groups call for even less government connection to religion. Sunday closing laws were a real hardship to Jews. In effect, they were forced to observe two Sabbaths,(安息

37、日)or days of rest-their own and the majority Christian one as well.(星期日关门不营业法给犹太教徒造成了很大困难。他们被迫遵守两个安息日，也就是说要休息两天，他们自己怕以及多数基督教徒的休息日。)Nonbelievers, and some religious people as,well, objected to prayer and Bible reading in public schools. They thought that a modern government in a free society should b

38、e basically secular. Three Faiths Like Catholics, Jews were a small minority in the first years of the American republic. Until the late 19th century, most Jews in America were of German origin. Many of them belonged to the,Reform movement, a liberal branch of Judaism(犹太教),which had made many adjust

39、ments to modern life. Anti-Semitism,( 反犹太教)or anti Jewish prejudice, was not a big problem before the Civil War. But when Jews began coming to America in great numbers, anti-Semitism appeared. Usually, Jewish children attended public schools. The children,of the immigrants moved rapidly into the pro

40、fessions and into American universities, where many became intellectual leaders. Many remained religiously observant. Others, while they continued to think of themselves as ethnically Jewish, adopted a secular, nonreligious outlook.（许多我仍遵守自己宗教的教规。其他的人虽然还继续认为自己是犹太民族，但采取了世俗的、非宗教的观念。）,When faced with p

41、rejudice and discrimination, Jews responded by forming organizations to combat prejudice. The Anti-Defamation League(反诽谤联盟)played a major role in educating Americans about the injustice of prejudice and making them aware of the rights, not only of Jews, but of all minorities. By the 1950s,a kind of

42、“three faiths” model of the United States had developed. Americans were considered to come in,three basic varieties:Protestant,Catholic and Jewish,the order reflecting the strength in numbers of each group.But an increasing number of Americans did not fit into any of these categories.And some who co

43、uld be considered Protestant had styles of life and beliefs that did not fit into “Mainstream”America.,Religious Diversity The United States has always been a fertile ground for the growth of new religious movements.Frontier America provided plenty of room to set up a new church or found a new commu

44、nity.For example,the ancestors of the Amish,(阿门教徒)very strict Protestants who live in rural areas and scorn modern life,came from Germany in the 18th century to escape persecution.,Many religious communities and secular utopias,or experiments in new forms of social living,were founded in 18th and 19

45、th century America.Most did not last long.But some prospered for a while and a few are still in existence.20th-century Americans who followed the impulse to withdraw from society and “join a commune” were following in an old American tradition.(20世纪要求“离开社会”加入公社的那些美,国人的冲动继承了美国这种历史传统。例子之一是60年代美国的反主流文化

46、中的嬉皮士。当今许多美国的渴望回归自然的思想也反映了这一美国传统。),Small sects and “cults” do have certain tendencies in common.Often they regard the larger society as hopelessl corrupt.Prohibition of alcohol,tobacco and caffeine are common.Sometimes dramatic ecpectations about the future-predictions of the end of the,world or the

47、 dawning of a new age-form the main tenets,or doctrines,of the group.Often the founder is a charismatic(具有超凡魅力的) person,dynamic,personality who claims some special revelation(启示)or relationship with God.Some groups never win a large following.Others grow smaller or disappear when the founder dies or

48、 his prophecies fail to come true.Still others prosper,win large following and “graduate”into the ranks of the”respectable” denominations.,Some groups,like the Amish of Pennsylvania,simply want to be left alone in their rural communities.They wish to keep their children out of high school so they wi

49、ll not be affected by modern society. A few prefer faith healing to modern medicine or object to certain medical practices.Waht should society do when a Jehovahs Whitness refused a blood transfusion for himself or his child?Questions like these often come before the courts in,the United States.They

50、are generally settled according to a principle the Supreme Court established when it ruled that the Mormons,a large and prosperous Christian sect which settled the state of Utah,could not marry more than one wife.Indviduals may believe anything they please in America,but they may not do anything the

51、y want,even if the action is based on a religious belief.Such questions do not usually cause great,controversy,because they do not reflect basic divisions in Americasn society.The Mormons,for example,continue to flourish,and are one of the fastest growing hcurch groups in the United States. But othe

52、r questions reflect continuing conflicts in American life.When a 1973 Supreme Court decision made abortion legal in America,many Catholics were shocked.Many evangelical(新教福音,派的)Protestants and Orthodox(正统派犹太教徒) Jews also objected.Yet more liberal Protestant and Jewish clergymen joined non-believers in maintaining that abortion is a basic right in a pluralistic(多元的)，or religiously varied,society. Other world reli