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Most of the American religions are Christian primarily Protestant. America was founded by Christians and the ethos of the country is strongly Protestant Christianity. For years the Roman Catholic in Europe preserved the unity of the Church with the primary exception of the Great schism with Eastern Orthodoxy. Heretics were burned and Crusades were waged against groups like the Cathars. Priests explained theology to the faithful who not encouraged to read the Bible or ask questions. The Bible was kept in Latin which prevented most people from reading the Bible if they wanted to do so. This all chaznged with the Reformation. Luthur asked a lot of questions, although he did not like others questioning his answers. He did, however, strongly encourage the individual to read the Bible and translated the Boble into German. Other translations followed in vernacular languages. And with Bible reading, many different denominations appeared. Protestants were not at first much more tolerant than Catholics, only so many Protestant dernominations were founded that there proved to be no option to toleration. The American churches developed around the Protestant Puritantism of the Massachuseets Bay Colony and the Anglicancism of the Virginia. Over time other denominations were established in Anmerica brought by subsequent English settlers and continental immigrants, especially from Germany. And Catholcism became important beginning with the Potato Famine and large-scale Irish immigrartion. Immigration from southhern Europe added more Catholics as well as other Eastern European dominations. Jews entered America in large numbers for the first time. Evangelicas significantly increased the number of denomimations, founding often quite small churches. Immigration reform opened American to expanded immigration from Mexico and the rest of Latin America who were mostly Catholic.
Catholics today are the largest single Christian denomination in America, although collectively there are more Protestants. The Catholic role in building America is not always promanately featured, in part because America until the late-19th century was so overwealmingly Protestant. There were Catholics in colonial America, most prominately in Maryland. Ironically, Catholics because they were a minority were a force for toleration in America, in contrat to their general role in Europe. Catholic missions played a role in developing California during the Spanish colonia period. The first major group of Catholic immigrants were the Irish, as a result of the Potato Famine (1840s). In the same decade the Mexican-American War (1844-46) resulting in the acquisition of the Southwest brought Mexicans into the United States. After the Civil War (1861-65), large scale immogration from Europe began. This included many Catholics from Italy and the great European empires, especially the Austro-Hungarian (Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia)) and Russian (Lithuania and Poland) Empires. We are not sure about the religion of the immigrants from the German Empire, but most German-Americans seem to be Protestant. Most immigrants before the Civil War sought lands for farming. Many Catholic immigrants after the Civil War sought work in the rising industrial cities of the mid-West from Chicao east to western Pennsylvania. They thus served as the backbone of the industrial work force and the American labor movement. As the public schools were stringly influened by Protestants, Catholics beginning with the arival of he Irish began bulduing a separate prochial school system. Many Catholics entered the American middle-class after World War II, assisted by the GI Bill. Protestants continued to look with suspicion on Catholics in the early- and mid-20th century. Catholic Al Smith was decisively defeated in the 1928 election in part because he was Catholic. Catholics came to play an importan political role in America. Acceptance to Catholic voters largely determined whether a Democrat or Republican was elected folloing the New Deal. The major turning point for Catholics in America was the election of President Kennedy (1960). The increase in the Hispanic population since the 1960s has substantially increased the Catholic population in America. Immigration reform opened American to expanded immigration from Mexico and the rest of Latin America who were mostly Catholic.
The Orthodox churches have a rich liturgical life and believes that it has remained faithful to the Christianity's apostolic tradition. It is believed by Orthodox Christians that their Church has preserved the tradition and continuity of the ancient Church to a greater degree than the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox churches have developed after the division of the Roman Empire (4th century). Unlike Rome, the resulting Byzantine Empire did not fall to invading Germanic tribes. There was a unity preserved in the Church for several centuries, but the Western and Eastern Church finally broke, in large part over the authority of the papacy. The Eastern and Western Churches for centuries had been moving apart, but it was in the 11th century that the Great Schism occurred (1054-56). Orthodox clerics maintain that they remain faithful to the first seven ecumenical councils. Orthodoxy became widely adopted Russia and Eastern Europe. Orthodox churches today have about 300 million adherents around the world. The term word orthodox means "right belief and right glory") has traditionally been used in the Greek-speaking Christian world to describe communities or individuals who have preserved the true faith defined by the early councils. The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church", here catholic is used in the sense of universal. The Orthodox Church describes itself is a family of "autocephalous" (self governing) churches. The Ecumenical ( universal) Patriarch of Constantinople holding titular or honorary primacy as primus inter pares (the first among equals) in contrast to more authoitative pope in the Western chutch. There are also "autonomous" churches within the Orthodox communuity. These churches maintain a token canonical dependence from the mother see. Orthodoxy is a relative small part of American Christianity. This is because so few Orthodox Xhristians emigrated to America. There were Eastern Ruropean emigrants, especially from the Russia Empire before World war I, but they were mostly Jews are largely Catholic minorities from Poland or the Baltics.
The Episopalian or Anglican Church is an offshot of the Church of England which King Henry VIII broke off from Rome during the Reformation (16th century). It was founded in America at the Jamedstown Colony in Virginia (1609). It became the established church in the souther colonies. The idea of establisjing a church became controversial, largely because there were so many Protestant churches in America. It was prohibited by tge FirstvAmendment of the Constitution. As a result, the American Episcopalian Church had to compete on an equal footing with the other denominations. The Episcopalian Church, also called Anglicans, is often considered to be a Protestant Church and has at time had a basically Protestant liturgy. At one time the American branch of the Anglican Church was officially called "The Protestant Episcopal Church" but the word Protestant has since been dropped, and the current Episcopal Church usually thinks of itself as a branch of Catholicism but without the doctrine of papal infallibility which was officially adopted in Rome only in the 19th century. Cardinal Newman, who had formerly been an Anglican priest, voted against it. In many respects Anglicans are like the Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, Coptic, etc.), retaining the apostolic succession, the threefold orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, and the seven sacraments (two major and five minor). The major ones are Baptism and Holy Communion; the lesser ones are Confirmation, Ordination, Auricular Confession, Unction, and Marriage. American Episcopal dioceses in the upper mid-west (Wisconsin, Illinois, Northern Indiana, for example) also are Catholic in their orientation. Often Episcopal cathedrals and major churches in big cities such as Boston, New York, Washington, and San Francisco lean in the Catholic direction. But there is also an Evangelcial wing of both churches which is much more Protestant in attitude and less traditional and ritualistic in worship.
The Mormons is the coloquial name for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Like other Christian drenominations, they believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World. Mormons attest to the validity of the traditiinal Christian Bible (the King James vedrsion is often preferred), but add the modern-day revelation of Joseph Smith. He claimed that Jesus appeared to him with the purpose of restoring His Church and gospel to its originsl purity. Dome of the theological differences between Mormons and the traditional churches date back to issues debsted by the early Church berfore the Council of Nicacea (325 AD) and the closdung of the Canon. Mormons were once primasrily found in Utah, but are now more widely spread and the fourth largest religious denomination in the United States. A reader writes, "I think it is a mistake to include Mormons among the list of Christian denominations. Mormons do not make the divinity of Christ a part of their worship or belief, and I know of no Christian theologian whether Protestant, Anglican, or Roman Catholic, who would regard
Mormans as Christian. They are a sect that has been influenced by Christianity, of course, but, strictly speaking, aren't Christians.
Mormans might dispute this statement, but they would be part of a small minority on this point." HBC thinks there is more diversity on this issue than our readeer suggests. A Google search will bringh up a lively debate. We think that our reader is probably correct among Christian theologians, but I also think that theologians generally come from the more traditional sector of the Christian community.
There are many Christians today who generally reject or dismiss the metaphysical aspect of Christianity. And this feeling is wide spread in liberal churches. It certainly is in Europe. Would we not call those people Christian? The Mormons while they have significant theological differences with traditional Christianity do believe in a creator God as a real supernatural being which is more than many Christians today believe. Also some of their theology is similar to ideas widespread in the early Church before the Council of Nicaea.
While we don't have any strong feelings on this issue, our general inclination for HBC is to include as Christian, all those denominations which identify themselves as Christian.
Most of the American religions are Christian primarily Protestant. America was founded by Christians and the ethos of the country is strongly Protestant Christianity. For years the Roman Catholic in Europe prrserved tge unity of the Church with the primary exception of the Great schism with Eastern Orthodoxy. Heretics were burned and Crusades were waged against groups like the Cathars. Priests explained theology to the faithful who not encouraged to read the Bible or ask questions. The Bible was kept in Latin which prevented most people from reading the Bible if they wanted to do so. This all chaznged with the Reformation. Luthur asked a lot of questions, although he did not like others questioning his answers. He did, however, strongly encourage the individual to read the Bible and translated the Bible into German. Other translations followed in vernacular languages. And with Bible reading, many different denominations appeared. Protestants were not at first much more tolerant than Catholics, only so many Protestant dernominations were founded that there proved to be no option to toleration. The American churches developed around the Protestant Puritantism of the Massachuseets Bay Colony and the Anglicancism of the Virginia. Over time other denominations were established in America brought by subsequent English settlers and continental immigrants, especially from Germany. And Catholcism became important beginning with the Potato Famine and large-scale Irish immigrartion. Immigration from southhern Europe added more Catholics as well as other Eastern European dominations. Jews entered America in large numbers for the first time. Evangelicas significantly increased the number of denomimations, founding often quite small churches.
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