Rel igion 337

considered part of this mainstream Protestant grouping. The largest, mainly white,
denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention (1 7 . 1 million), while the largest
African-American denomination is the National Baptist Convention (5 million) .
Protestantism is divided between mainstream churches and fundamentalist
or evangelical churches with conservative beliefs. Mainstream churches also have
different emphases. The more traditional ones tend to have somewhat liberal
theological and social attitudes, are composed largely of middle- or upper-class
people and have formal worship and service patterns. Other churches, such as the
Southern Baptists, may consist of lower-income groups and encourage emotional
responses to religion, such as 'born-again' conversions.
While traditional mainstream churches have lost members since the 1 970s,
evangelical or fundamentalist Protestant churches, such as the Seventh-Day
Adventists, the Church of the Nazarene and the Assemblies of God, have
increased their membership. They offer absolutist moral instruction and
traditional values and appeal to those who want moral direction and certainty.
The mainstream churches have responded by retreating somewhat from their
earlier 'liberalism' in order to attract members, although the American Episcopal
Church is currently in conflict with some members of the worldwide Anglican
Communion because of its consecration of an openly gay bishop and its supposed
liberal stance.

Roman Catholics
Although there was large Catholic immigration into the USA in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, the country was still mainly Protestant in religion and
national attitudes.
The Roman Catholic Church today is the second-largest religion after
Protestantism, but the biggest in terms of a single denomination. It had about
1 9,000 churches and 69. 1 million members in 2007 and has a predominantly
white membership . Its membership, whether practicing or not, has increased in
recent years because of Latino population growth and immigration and south-east
Asian immigration.
Catholicism was historically confined to ethnic groups such as the Irish,
Polish, Italians and Germans in the big cities and was initially largely working
class. This urban concentration enabled Catholics to achieve considerable poli­
tical power at the local, if not the national, level. After the Second World War,
Catholics greatly improved their educational standards, income and class status,
an d many affluent Catholics moved to the suburbs. The church built more
churches and schools for its growing population, although parochial scho?ls have
now declined in number and influence.
The movement of Catholics from. tightly kp.it urban communities to the
. suburbs has arguably meant a loss of Catholic identity. Catholics are now
more eager and willing, after years of discrimination against them, to mix with
338 Religi6n

P LATE 1 3 . 3 Service at St. Gertrude's Roman Catholic Church, Chicago, Illinois. Roman Catholic
congregations are widespread throughout the USA.
(Steve Lissifime Pix/Rex Features)

non-Catholics socially. Hostility towards Catholics has largely disappeared, as

was illustrated by the election of Catholic John F. Kennedy as President in 1 960.
American Catholics are also influential in international campaigns and domestic
social projects and tend to be more ecumenically minded today than they have
been in the past.
Religious and social change has caused internal tensions within the
community. Members are not as active in church activities as they were, and
attendance at weekly mass has declined. The church is divided between liberals
and conservatives with opposed opinions on birth control, abortion, the celibacy
of priests, gay and lesbian relationships and the question of women priests.
These concerns have provoked clashes with conservative Vatican views. A serious
development in recent years has been evidence of Catholic priests sexually
abusing young people and the alleged cover-up of such behavior by the Catholic
leadership . This has provoked horrified criticism within the church and by
outsiders and a resulting lack of trust. Court cases and large compensation claims
have sometimes resulted.

The Jewish community

Jews historically have settled mainly on the east coast in the big cities. After
immigration, their religious practices changed somewhat and now range from
 R e l ig i o n 339

traditional Orthodox to moderate Conservative and liberal Reform groups. Most

groups have been concerned to preserve their Jewish heritage and traditions.
As the Jewish population grew, they established Hebrew schools and
contributed to Jewish charities. The creation of the state of Israel in 1 948 was an
additional focus for Jewish identity. Although anti-Semitism increased in the
early twentieth century, this has now been reduced because of changing social
attitudes, ecumenism and sympathy for Jewish suffering in the Second World
. War. Jews have assimilated into American society and are more accepted than
they once were. They have also become more liberal and secularized with
increased intermarriage (nearly a third) between Jews and non-Jews, leading to
fears about the collapse of the religious community. There were an estimated
4 . 1 million religious Jews in 2007, divided into the main Reform, Conservative
and Orthodox traditions. But a significant number of ethnic or cultural Jews
(1 . 1 million) are secular or non-religious or have become members of a faith other
than Judaism.

Other religious groups

There are other significant US religious groups in addition to the three main faiths,
such as Buddhism (estimated 2-3 million in 2007), Hinduism ( 1 .3 million), Islam
(5-6 million) and Sikhism (268,000) . It is argued that Islam today is a fourth
major faith in the USA which, combined with other Asian religions, has a growing
representative importance.

Ch urch, state and politics

Church and state in the USA are supposedly separate. The First Amendment of
the Bill of Rights ( 1 79 1 ) states that ' Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' . This forbids
the creation of a national church, state-supported religion and the promoting of
religion. It also protects individuals' right to practice their own faiths. The First
Amendment applies only to the federal government, not to the states. However,
the Fourteenth Amendment ( 1 868) has been interpreted to mean that the states
must also protect and guarantee the rights of religion.
Religion, or the lack of it, is a private matter. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll
in 2003 found that 54 percent of respondents thought that the promoting of a
religion by the government or in schools always harms the rights of those people
who do not belong to that religion. However, a Newsweek poll in 2q02 had
reported that 54 percent of respondents felt that, in terms of the separation of
church and state, the government should not avoid promoting religion in any
. way. An Anti-Defamation League (ADL) poll in 2005 found that many
Americans now supported a more direct role for religion in public life, such as