B. H. Manners

I think that the reason Europeans tend to be less religious are manifold. For one, the history of religious wars is a factor already explained in previous posts. Two, there are more extensive social programs and welfare aids provided by the governments of Europe which are unavailable or much more limited here in the states. The churches will often time be the only place to go to get the kind of help you really need here in the U.S. The poor and people who know they may need the church will go to the services to stay in good graces with the pastor and leaders. A third reason (and I hate to say it) is the class consciousness (spelling?) that is prevalent in Europe. In European history the pope,bishop, or you name it is always in cahoots with the rich to screw people. The people over there are therefore more cynical and less respectful of religious leaders. This is true as well in the U.S. to some degree but it just is not regarded as "polite" to bring it up. If you do you are denounced as a Communist, a hater of law & order or a troublemaker. Last, and similar to two, Europeans are more group conscious and community focused while Americans are so rabidly individualistic. This is why they have all their programs mentioned above. Americans are left on their own to be made or broken, and this is very stressful and fearful. Since Americans have no one to fall back in time of need and live in a society that blames the individual when one loses a job,is not successful, ect. they will turn to God to satisfy their emotional need for care and pity.

Doug

This is an interesting question that doesn't have easy answers. First, I'd like to point out a few misconceptions mentioned here:

David Gould said:

A little US history lesson for David and others that keep mentioning the US was founded by Puritans and such:

First off, the early settlers of the colonies that would eventually form the US were mostly from England, which of course by the early 1600's when these colonies were founded was at best a country where Catholicism and Protestantism were at war with each other. It was hardly under the control of the Catholic Church. Most of the early settlers that weren't from England came from other Protestant countries like The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Their was a heavy Scottish influx in the late 1600's as well. Most of the colonies were vehemenantly anti-Catholic (Maryland excepted).

While the Puritans did establish the first permanent settlement in the eastern US in Massachusetts in the 1620's, the colonies were a mixed bag as to their founding. Some were certainly religious like Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island. Massachusetts's history is more well known. Maryland was a Catholic colony founded by Lord Baltimore and Catholics fleeing persecution in England. Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams, a Baptist fleeing religious persecution in Massachusetts, who was ironically very influential in his ideas on church/state separation.

Other colonies were royal, such as Virginia and North Carolina, while others were proprietary, such as New York and Georgia. The founding of these colonies had little to do with religion and indeed were all about business.

Also by David:

I'm not sure that the public school spending in Europe is higher per person than it is here in the US. Anyhow, public education was invented in the US and became a critical part of society. Some areas in the US are less prone to private education than others. Texas, California and Florida are examples of states where public education is more prevalent. New Jersey, southern Louisiana and Massachusetts (ironically the birthplace of public education in the early 1800's) are areas where private education has a stronger hold, though public education is still important even there.

While it could be argued that public education in Europe has produced better results the past 30 years or so, this wasn't always the case and may not be true anyway. Public education in the US is a mixed bag, ranging from horrible to excellent. Certainly there are some poor schools, especially in poor inner city areas and rural backwaters, but the wealthier suburbs and medium sized cities typically have very good public school systems. It's all completely dependent on the school district. Besides, the reasons for America's religiosity go back a lot further than the last 30 or 40 years.

moon said:

The US used to be more isolationist, but not since the early 20th century and definitely not since World War II. I would agree that Americans typically know little of the rest of the world when compared to Europeans though.

That said, I think that in most areas in the US, the opposite is true from your quote. Yes, the cultures or countries in Europe do exist side by side, but people there haven't truly lived side by side with other cultures except in the past 40 years or so. Germany had it's own unique culture, as did Britain or France. The US has been a country of immigrants from all over. Germans lived side by side with Italians and Irish. Black people were forced to come to the US and brought African culture. In the late 1800's, places like California and Texas were heavily influenced by Mexican culture while being settled by people of Anglo-American heritage. No, I would argue that the US has historically been much more culturally heterogenous than Europe.

moon also said:

This quote is just plain wrong. This statement fails because America has historically been much more culturally heterogenous than Europe.

The American "love affair with guns" stems from the frontier mentality prevalent west of the Alleghenies in the late 1700's and 1800's.

I'm also not so sure about unions in the US being weaker than in Europe. In the southern US, this may be true, but unions are very powerful in the northern states. They may not be as overtly powerful as in Europe, but they wield power behind the scenes in the Northern states that compares with anything in Europe.

Pandora said:

This may be true as a rule, especially in Europe, but not in this country. While there are some exceptions like Manhattan and the west coast, there are large numbers of highly educated, economically successful people in the US that maintain a high level of religious participation.

Pandora also said:

There are certainly clergymen in US fundamentalist churches with little training and education, but this is the exception and not the rule. Most of the people that attend church in this country are led by clergy that have college degrees and a large portion of them also have seminary educations as well. Stryder's reference to the study regarding the percentage of pastors with no seminary training is meaningless unless combined with a study of the number of people in their congregations.

Deadend said:

I think you are confusing causality here. I think fundamentalists believe in America's "special status" because of their fundamentalism.

Howard said:

While certainly true, this doesn't really demonstrate causality.

Howard also said:

This could explain the early history of fundamentalism in the US, but America is mostly an urban society and has been for a long time.

-------------

Other posters here have the right idea I think. First off, the religious Enlightenment that happened on about three different occasions in the US probably has as much to do with it than anything. It was different than anything that ever happened in Europe and was very much a revival movement each time. All three occurances were very influential on US history.

The fact that there is no state church and historical religious tolerance has allowed hundreds of different denominations to flourish, many of which are fundamentalist and evangelical in nature.

Lately there has been a backlash against the changes spawned by the "radical" 60's movements. Many people have retreated into fundamentalist Christianity as a result of the the perceived promiscuousness that happened as a result.

[ March 10, 2002: Message edited by: Doug ]</p>

sullster

I disagree with Egoinos about America not experiencing the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was very much a part of the thinking of all the political thinkers and founders of the American political system. Thomas Jefferson loved the French Philosophes and considered himself one of them. The Enlightenment idea that institutions should be run by reason and not superstition was well advanced.

What you Europeans do not understand about America is that, unlike Europe, religion was not rejected by the intelligentsia. It lived on side by side with reason. This fact puzzles Europeans to this day. Is it not strange that the US put a man on the moon and still has people who believe in creation? It is strange to me as well, but shows you what goes on, here on this side of the pond.