Religion in America
In a Christian world, many countries in the West have experienced declines in religious observance and increases in secularization in the twentieth century. This is often attributed to the influences of industrialization, consumerism, materialism, hedonism, mass culture, and universal education. The United States, however, seems to be an exception. Despite its materialistic image and intense worship of “mighty dollars”, the U. S. still remains the most religious country in the Western countries. In comparison with European countries, America not only has a greater number of religious believers, but also enjoys a much higher church survey, The Economist reported that about 95 percent of Americans believed in God; four out of five believed in miracles, life after death and the Virgin Mary birth; 6.5 percent believed in the devil; 75 percent believed in angels; and nine out of ten owned a bible. Similarly, surveys by the Gallup Organization in the early 1990s indicated that among Americans under 30 years old, about 36 percent attended church on regular basis, while close to 47 percent of the people at or over 50 went to church once in a week.
Is America a religious culture, shaped by men who sought freedom of worship, with God constantly present in their minds even when the Church has become formalized? Or is it a secular culture with religion playing only a marginal role in men’s daily lives since the Untied States long time ago separated Church and
State? To answer these two questions is no less than looking into the dynamics of American culture and the complexity of American society. The fact of the matter is that each of these questions can be answered affirmatively. America is as secular as a culture can be where religion has played an important role in its origins and early growth, and has been interwoven with the founding and meaning of the society. America is also as religious as a culture can be whose life goals are worldly and whose daily strivings revolve not around God but around Man.
God and Man
The mixture of theocracy and secularism is actually one of the American religious heritages. One can find the strong religious base of American life and thought in the older Puritan communities of New England and in the new frontier states. The Calvinist doctrine of predestination, for example, played a dominant role in the early colonists. People moving to the frontiers in the West were mostly inspired by the vast stretch of land available for attainment. They dreamed of getting rich quick, and at the same time tried to comfort their souls by waging religious revivals there. At the time Americans embraced Enlightenment ideas and applied them in their political, social and economic life, they still constantly referred to the Holy Scripture for conviction and reassurance. Even in the contemporary Atomic Age where science and technology has developed to an unprecedented level, there has been an active
revival of religious feeling among the American people, old and young, in modern cities. To a certain degree, this mixture of 17th-century rationalism (Science and Technology), and mid-20th-century revival may help explain some of the contradictions in the relations between God and Man in America. America is regarded as a “Christian country”. The influence of Judaic-Christian doctrines upon American culture has been profound. For example, the religious doctrine of the soul is so crucial and pervasive in Western (including American) conceptions of man that no one would deny that Judaic-Christian doctrine is a major element in shaping American national character and culture. In the minds of American Christian believers, the idea that man has a soul and that all souls are “equal before God”has been basic to the ethical evaluation of individual personality. The idea of the worth, dignity, and inviolability of the individual unquestionably owes much to this belief, as do humanitarian ideas and various philosophies of human equality.
Historically speaking, the whole idea of God and individual soul goes back to the sixteenth century. As the child of the Reformation, Americans took over not only its dominantly Protestant heritage, but also its deep individualistic strain. Every European sect that had found itself constricted or in trouble emigrated to the New World, which thus became a repository of all the distillations of Reformation thought and feeling. Since the Reformation had broken with the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and left to the individual meaning of the Scripture, America became a congeries of judging individuals, each of them
weighing the meaning and application of the Word. A Bible-reading people emerged, drenched in the tradition of the Old and New Testaments. This may help explain the stress on the idea of “covenant with God” in Ameri can thought. It also suggests why a people so concerned with the meaning of the Holy Writ have been the first to give a sacred character to a written Constitution but at the same time remain a nation of amateur interpreters of the Constitution.
Two basic concepts of the Christian—the soul and sin—took on a new emphasis in individualist America. Each man was the judge of his own religious convictions, since his possession of an immortal soul gave such an inner worth regardless of color, rank, or station, political belief, wealth or poverty. Thus, the foundation was laid for religious freedom early on in the Untied States. On the other hand, if each man had an immortal soul to save, it was because it had been steeped in sin. As a Bible-reading people, Americans took over many of the preconceptions of the Hebraic society in which Judaism and early Christianity were rooted. Among them was the sense of individual sin—aside from original, or inevitable sin—without which there could be no individual salvation.
There is a resulting ambiguity between the sin-and-salvation strain in Christian doctrine and the organic optimism of American economic and social attitudes. The Hebrew prophets, as they lamented the disintegration of Biblical society, called on each Jew to war d off God’s wrath from his people by cleansing himself of his own inner guilt; the Christian allegory added to the somberness
of this conception. But there have been few occasions on which Americans could believe with any conviction in an impending collapse of their social structure and their world. The sense of sin and the sense of doom were therefore importations from the Old and New Testaments that somehow flowered in the American soil in spite of worship of money and success, or, perhaps, exactly because of this worship, for in this case, it required a compensating doctrine to ease the conscience.
The result has been an American religious tradition which is on the one hand deeply individualistic, anti-authoritarian, and concerned with sin and salvation, and yet, on the other hand, secular and rationalist in its life goals, and concerned with happiness in this world. Americans, growing up in this religious tradition, have been salvation-minded, each believer engrossed in his relation not to the church but to God, in Whom he was to find salvation. At the same time, they have also formed a secular rather than a sacred society, in which everybody pursued his earthly comforts according to his own conscience。Since they were believing and judging individuals, they did not lean on a priesthood: even their churches were based less on the authority of a hierarchy on lay presbyters or the congregation itself.
The conflict between secular social goals and the religious conscience has colored both the religious and the democratic experience of America. It underlay the agonized conscience of early New England and the preoccupation with God’s way with man in good and evil which characterized the Second
Great Awakening Movement in the early nineteenth century. It also supplied the fire for the fear-drenched frontier religion in the West, the Social Gospel movement in the cities, and the Christian fundamentalism against the teaching of biology at public schools in the early twentieth century. With the arrival of Atomic and Information Age, the latter-day movement of different types of religious thought tend to cast a darker picture for the fate of mankind. In short, for all its optimism and its cult of action and success, American culture has been overlaid with a sense of both agony and evil—all, in the final analysis, have something to do with human nature.
Likewise, with regards to democracy, America owes much of its effectiveness and dynamism to this strain in its religious experience. This is not to say that the fiber necessary for democracy is the direct product of any particular religious doctrine. Rather, what is suggested here is that the lonely debate with the free conscience of the individual, as is required by Protestantism, provides and generates the genes for the growth of democracy.
Distinctive Features of American Religious Institutions
Religious differences within Western cultures overlay a massive structure of common values and beliefs. Protestants, Catholics, and Jews can communicate within a shared cultural universe. It is only in a detailed and relative sense that American religious institutions differ from their European counterparts. Still,
however, it is impossible to outline certain characteristics that are strikingly typical in the United States.
Lack of an Established Church
Government and religion are more thoroughly separated in the United States than in any other major country in the world. With a clear understanding of theocracy in Europe in mind, the Founding Fathers wrote in the first clause of the Bill of Rights that there should be no established state church in the Untied States. Such prohibition, while intending not to repeat European tragedy in religious battles, can also be viewed as an act of simply legalizing the social condition already existing in America. For the fact of matter is from the colonial beginning, the immigrating population had a variegated religious composition—a sizable Catholic minority, a few Jewish people, and enormously varied aggregate of dissenting Protestant sects. Perhaps, much more significantly, no single one, nor any practical combination of these groups, was powerful enough to dominate the national government or to wield completely authoritative power in any one of the newly formed states. It was accordingly impossible to secure political consensus as to which church should enjoy state establishment, and the strongly sectarian groups were certainly unwilling to see any rival accorded such privileges.
Out of this heterogeneity there emerged the separation of church and state, which tended to produce further religious diversity. Thus, tax-gatherer was
separated from the tithe-collector, and religious aspects of the total social structure barred both unitary church organization and any major state support of a particular religious body. The culture remained dominantly Protestant and overwhelmingly Christian, but politically supported religious monopoly was gone—a decisive departure from the European tradition. The single fact of the absence of religious institutions in America. It was both the product and cause of denominationalism, which, by nature, imposed on the churches the necessity of competitive financing through voluntary contributions. It also encouraged lay representation and control in church organization, as opposed to control by an ecclesiastical hierarchy, and facilitated local independence and secession tendencies in the individual denominations. Above all, it tended to reduce the symbolic reinforcement of mutually supportive political and religious authority by largely insulting religious from political organization.
Under such an arrangement, no one church in American communities can speak for the entire people. As private associations, all religious bodies are legally equal to each other. Although religious groups throughout the society are stamped by recognizably “American” qualities, they are diverse, pluralistic, and incessantly changing. The principle of non-establishment in religion operates somewhat like laissez faire in the economy. Indeed, the United States as a total culture does not understand the idea of a universal church; it comprehends only the environing facts of numerous types of churches, cults, sects, and denominations. Whatever unity there is, American religion is cultural
rather than organizational, diffuse convergence rather than an authoritative and centrally controlled system of beliefs and symbols.
Religious Freedom and Toleration
As we all know, each dissenting group that came to colonial America wanted religious freedom for itself. However, few were prepared to grant religious liberty, or even toleration (a different thing), to all other sectarian movements. Freedom and toleration were only very gradually established in the face of the rival imperialism of sectarian groups, each holding staunchly to its own cherished version of the true faith, and in most cases, utterly impatient of dissent. Indeed, intolerance pervaded the early period of intense religious interest and internecine religious competition. Aside from the early efforts of Roger Williams and other dissidents to establish toleration, there was no initial commitment to a religious freedom.
Gradually, however, religious freedom and toleration were brought about. Major factors in the rise of religious freedom and toleration include the following: (1) There was no cleavage between two or a few opposing religious groupings, but rather a fragmented diversity of numerous small sects. So, in-group solidarity was diffused and conflict could not be massive; (2) No one religious grouping had the opportunity to seize a dominant political position; (3) Due to the circumstances of settlement, there was no prior established church common to all the colonies, and, therefore, no vested ex-ecclesiastical interests
in property, office, and institutional prestige; (4) Outside the solid centers of intense religious orthodoxy, there was much indifference to organized religion in the late nineteenth century. Besides, expanding economic and social opportunities tended to distract men from religion; (5) The dissenting varieties of Protestantism had the incipient principle of toleration: since the individual believer had direct access to Divine truth through the Bible, valid religious experience could be approached by divergent paths; (6) Settlers were needed to provide labor, to aid in military security, and to increase capital gains, and the colonies accepting immigrants of various faiths could foresee tangible economic advantages. These factors are sufficient to indicate how power considerations, economic interests, religious organization, and creeds converged to produce religious freedom in the United States.
At any rate, religious liberty, once established as an official national doctrine, reinforced the continuing forces of a pluralistic society until the broad principle had worked deeply into the whole cultural fabric. Intolerance and conflict still occur in very substantial proportions, but they are opposed to, and not supported by, the dominant institutions.
Diversity of Religious Groupings
Religion in America, as mentioned before, is characterized by diversity, or pluralism. Denominations and cults are said to amount to about 200 in the Untied States. This great diversity has been encouraged by a cultural setting
that has given free play to the dispersive tendencies of Protestantism and to leaders with new revelations—for example, Joseph Smith (Mormonism) and Mary Eddy (Christian Science). Oftentimes, the appearance of a new grouping, whether by schism or by separate genesis, has had only a secondary relation to strictly religious differences, and has reflected instead secular differences such as national, racial or class distinctions. One finds, for example, Swedish Lutherans and Norwegian Lutherans, southern and northern branches of several denominations—residues of the Civil War, separate black denominations, and class-typed fundamentalist denominations.
Most of the denominations are quite small. Religious bodies having 50, 000 or more members account for more than 90 percent of church memberships, whereas the remaining less than 10 per cent is scattered through more than 200 groupings. The largest single organized church in the United States, the Roman Catholic, is reported to have about 60 million members in the 1994 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Protestants, while constituting the largest population in the United States, and yet, being broken up into numerous denominations, do not have a single grouping comparable to the Roman Catholic in memberships. The Jewish people, being more united, are largely concentrated in three big synagogues, each claiming over 1 million memberships. It needs to be pointed out, however, that the social importance of the smaller bodies is not adequately represented by their numerical standing, since the presence of so much diversity unquestionably strongly influences the
total religious scene.
The formation of cults and sects constitutes a fascinating and important social and cultural problem. Cults and sects, like other new religious movements, are more likely to arise out of rapid social change, the disturbance of value-system, and conditions of religious liberty produced by religious heterogeneity. The genesis and continued survival of small schismatic sects is facilitated by the separation of church and state and the fact that congregational forms of church are well adapted to schism. The tightly-knit sect is most likely to survive where there is a sharp cultural isolation, frequently the result of a rural mode of life but also of systematic cultural barriers. Cults and sects are developed by strata and groups that are culturally marginal by reason of poverty, low social status, political domination by an alien culture, or, in some instances, ethnic and racial discrimination. Where there is marked social cleavage between classes, nationalities, or races, sects expressing the separate aspirations of contending groups or strata tend to solidify the existing cleavages, although they may not enhance the power of the weaker groups.
For over a century, the main denominational cleavages in the United States have not been based primarily upon doctrinal religious nationalism appears to be the outcome of (1) major changes in religious value-belief systems (for example, a shift from theological to ethical interests increased secularization);
(2) the gradual blurring of ethnic and sectional divisions that have contributed so much to denominationalism; (3) the convergence of common interests
among Protestant bodies—in reaction to growing Catholic strength, to the felt dangers of secularization and certain political movements, and to certain trends in ecclesiastical thought. Whatever reasons that man have brought about denominations, what is certain is that one of the dominant aspects of American religious history is th e “religious proliferativeness”of American society. The resulting mosaic of diverse religious bodies is an important and integral part of loose, experimental, pluralistic motif running through the total pattern of American culture.
Organizational Forms
The variety of systems and values in American religious cultures is paralleled by diversity in organizational forms. Three main ideal-types of church organization can be distinguished: the episcopal (of or relating to a bishop), the presbyterian(Of or relating to ecclesiastical government by presbyters), and the congregational (Of or relating to a congregation). The essential differences can be suggested in an oversimplified way by saying that the center of gravity of the Episcopal type is the ecclesiastical hierarchy; of the Presbyterian, the constituent church bodies; and of the congregational, the individual believer. The Episcopal pattern is characterized by a definite ecclesiastical hierarchy, with centralized control of appointments as its key organizational practice, church authority flows from the highest office down to members. The prime example is the Roman Catholic Church. In a Presbyterian structure, the church
hierarchy is modified by lay representation in governing bodies. Priestly rank is not strictly graded, and the individual churches are units making up synods and the denomination as a whole. The congregational denominations are rather loosely organized and go much further toward local authority and lay control. In the most extreme cases, they have no formal priesthood or ministry and permit all members to act in this capacity—for example, the Society of Friends (公谊会).
Falling somewhat off these ideal types are such religious bodies as the Salvation Army with its quasi-military structure and many other religious groups that are simply amorphous and shifting clusters of adherents who follow some charismatic leader like Father Divine. Scattered through certain urban areas like Los Angeles or culturally marginal rural localities in the southwest, one can find a variety of small “congregations” led by lay preachers who claim authority by revelation rather than investment from an established denomination or sect.
Indifference and Opposition toward Organized Religion
In America, there is no sharp division between those within the religious fold and those outside it. It is extremely difficult, therefore, to determine just how many members the churches have, since no clear boundary marks off members from those who participate without formal membership. However, militant secular opposition rarely occurs in America. Anticlericalism is typically mild or
individualized, and many persons not adhering to churches take an active and positive interest in religious ideas. Indeed, the fringe of sympathetic bystanders in the United States is very large.
Disaffection with religion in the U.S. generally takes the form of indifference rather than open opposition. Churches die of gradual social anemia rather than of violent illness. Perhaps, the nearest approach to an anticlerical movement consists of nativist movement directed against Catholicism, but even here no recent movement has acquired a definite focus or established a real united front. The numerous cross-cleavages in American religion tend to diffuse conflict at the same time that they partially prevent the churches from having a concentrated social or political impact.
Secularization
While it is true that the United States in the most religious nation in the world, it is also true that much of religion in American has become a matter of private ethical convictions. Indeed, it is variously noted that American are active in secular affairs, that religious observations have been losing their supernatural or otherworldly character, that religion in America tends to be religion at a very low temperature, and that younger generations, as a rule, have less and less training in, or attachment to, religious doctrine. But on the other hand, militant anticlericalism, as noted previously, is lacking in the United States, and church membership, on the whole, is quite large. Furthermore, religion in modern
America is given continued public and political approval, and even the nonrecent domestic debates over such issues as family values, abortion, juvenile delinquency, divorce, and same-sex marriage have in many ways provided fertile soil for the revitalization of religious force in the United States. The enormous influence the Religious Right has enjoyed over the past three decades if a case in point.
So, the question that needs to be raised and confronted with is how to understand the secularization of religion in American culture. While definitive answers are not as yet available, several propositions can be made as follows: (1) Interest in religion in the United States is a drastically changing variable, linked with such factors as social stresses, attacks upon religion, degree of mass involvement in other types of values: (2) No permanent trend in secularization has been conclusively established; (3) Present tendencies include: continued vitality of sect-making elements, slow erosion of religious beliefs in sophisticated strata, and pressures towards revived concern among the bulk of the population.
Whatever the reasons may be, modern American experience seems to suggest that there has appeared growing secularization of both religious beliefs and religious practices over the pas century. While complete secularism dose not seem to be a permanent historical possibility, intense mass religiosity is not likely to be a fixture in American society either to be sure, America is by no means irreligious; but a whole configuration of forces has pressed in the
direction of a slow but pervasive withdrawal of attention and affection from the organized traditional religions. Indeed, in contemporary America, much of the personality identification and involvement once centered in the churches appears now to flow into various types of private/personal relations, or into nationalistic or other secular religions. “More importantly,” as one Ameri can scholar pointed out, “the main result of modern secularization of organized religion itself is the destruction of the belief in a transcendental being, which removes both the supernatural sanctions for ethical system and a central value focus for the e stablished beliefs.” Whether religion can be revitalized by modern-day fundamentalists or evangelical to the same degree of intensity as it was in the eighteenth century remains more as an academic question than as a real possibility.
《美国历史与文化》 结课论文 专业：化学工程与工艺 学号：041114116 姓名：杨乐
Columbo's influence on the American continent Columbo is a famous Spanish navigator, is a pioneer of the great geographical discovery. Columbus young is garden said believers, he so haunting had in Genoa made prison of Marco Polo, determined to be a navigator.1502 he crossed the Atlantic four times in 1492, discovered the American continent, he also became a famous navigator. On August 3, 1492, Columbus by the king of Spain dispatch, with credentials of Indian monarchs and emperors of China, led the three tons of Baishi of sailing, from Spain Palos Yang Fan of the Atlantic, straight towards to the West. After seventy days and nights of hard sailing, in the early morning of October 12, 1492 finally found the land. Columbo thought he had arrived in India. Later know that Columbus landed on a piece of land belonging to the now Balak America than the sea in the Bahamas, he was it named San Salvador. Columbo's discovery has changed the course of world history. It opens up a new era of development and colonization in the new world. At that time, the European population was expanding, with this discovery, the Europeans have settled in two new continents, there will be able to make a difference in the European economy and the resources of the mineral resources and raw materials. This discovery led to the destruction of the American Indian civilization. From a long-term point of view, there have been a number of new countries in the Western
美国人的宗教情结 姜守明 提要: 在美国这个由移民及移民后代组成的社会里,以信仰上帝为核心的各派基督教,形成为一种不能忽视的重要社会力量。虽然政教分离是美国的一项基本国策,但是,美国人的宗教情结非常浓厚,基督教意识根深蒂固,基督教的影响已经渗入到社会生活的每一个角落。教会对教育的介入是以传播宗教思想、宗教信仰为目的的,许多宗教信念,如基督教的仁爱与平等的主张,与人类的企求相吻合,与社会文明的前进方向相吻合。教会对美国国家事务和社会生活的介入,既有积极意义又有消极作用。 关键词: 宗教情结 政教分离 信仰自由 美国人 作者姜守明,男,1959年生,南京师范大学历史系教授。(南京 210097) 基督教产生于古代东方,可是自从西方人接受以后,他们对基督教的信仰始终忠贞不二。作为欧洲人后代的美国人,他们对基督教的信念也坚定不移。在这个由移民及移民后代组成的国度里,宗教情结非常浓厚,基督教意识根深蒂固,基督教的影响已经渗入到社会生活的每一个角落。可以毫不夸张地说,今天的美国人是一个信奉基督教的宗教民族,今天的美国是一个无国教的宗教国家。 一、美国人的基督教情结 2002年6月26日,加州旧金山第九巡回上诉法院作出裁决,要求美国公立中小学生面对国旗唱诵“忠诚宣言”———向一个“在上帝治理下的”国家宣誓效忠的做法违反了美国宪法(修正案)所确定的信仰自由精神和政教分离原则。“9?11”事件之后,纽约市教委也曾下令,要求纽约学生必须每天朗读一次“忠诚宣言”,以示对美国的效忠,但这一形式主义的教条立即遭到抵制。纽约市第三学区的学校委员会认为,根据联邦最高法院1943年在西弗吉尼亚州教委对伯纳特一案中作出的判决,宣布学生有权拒绝在课堂上起立作效忠宣誓,告诫人们不应把爱国主义和对美国的忠诚与信仰变成一种宗教信条。1962年联邦高等法院曾经裁定,教会在公立学校举行祈祷的做法是违宪行为。现在,旧金山第九巡回上诉法院的裁决,又推翻了1954年经艾森豪威尔总统提议、由美国国会批准的一项法案,该法案决定在“忠诚宣言”誓词中添加了“在上帝治理下的”几个字。 既然政教分离是美国的一项基本国策,信仰自由是美国人拥有的一项基本人权,为什么关于中小学生的“忠诚宣言”誓词问题会引起轩然大波?为什么美国人偏爱上帝、具有浓厚的基督教情结呢?透过美国人与宗教的关系,或许可以寻找到问题的答案: 第一,对国家表示效忠的“忠诚宣言”誓词涉及到政教分离的基本立国原则。美利坚合众国的缔造者乔治?华盛顿、托马斯?杰佛逊、本杰明?富兰克林都不是基督教徒,他们不仅与教会不睦,藐视《圣经》和基督教权威,而且为新生的合众国确定了三权分立、联邦—
浅谈美国历史 ——见证从蚂蚁到大象历程 引导语：中华文化源远流长，五千年的华夏文明留给我们太多的回忆。分久必合、合久必分；从繁荣昌盛到民族衰落；从压迫受辱到当家作主、从璀璨奇葩到复兴中华……可是，跨过大洋的彼岸，初出茅庐的美国却在近两百多年的历史跨度下完成了从蚂蚁到大象的历程，创造出美国独特的发展文化。今天的世界，“汤姆大叔”在全球“维护着世界和平”；好莱坞大片充斥着各大荧屏；NBA回荡在茶前饭后的娱乐中……两百多年来，美国历史一直都是民主制度的试验。早年被提出的问题如今持续被提出并获得解决；强大政府对抗弱小政府、个人权利对抗群体权利、自有资本主义对抗受到管理的商业与劳工以及参与世界对抗孤独主义。美国对于民主制度有很高的期待，而现实又是不如人意。然而国家经过妥协，已见成长与繁荣。在今天的发展过程中笔者认为有必要借鉴美国蚂蚁变大象的历程。 自从哥伦布发现新大陆之后，这片土地上开始了她不平凡的发展。十七世纪初，英国开始向北美殖民。最初的北美移民主要是一些失去土地的农民，生活艰难的工人以及受宗教迫害的清教徒。在殖民地时代，伴随着与北美洲原住民印第安人的长期战争，对当地印第安人的肆意屠杀，严重的劳力缺乏产生了像奴隶和契约奴隶这类的非自由劳力。万恶的黑奴贸易盛行起来。从1607年到1733年，英国殖民者先后在北美洲东岸建立了十三个殖民地。由于英国移民北美是为了追求自由和财富，如被迫害的清教徒和贫农。地方政府享受自治权。殖民地居民有比英人更广泛参与政治的机会和权利，培养了自治的意识和能力，所以他们相信社会契约中，政府是人民需要保护而得人民支持才组成的。在十八世纪中期,殖民地的经济，文化，政治相对成熟，殖民地议会仍信奉英王乔治三世，不过他们追求与英国国会同等的地位，并不想成为英国的次等公民，但是此时英法的七年战争结束，急于巩固领土，使向北美殖民地人民征租重税及英王乔治三世一改放任政策，主张高压手段。因此引发殖民地人民反抗，如“没有代表就不纳税”宣言、“波士顿惨案”、“不可容忍的法案”等。1775年4月在来克星顿和康科特打响“来克星顿的枪声”揭开美国独立战争的前奏。后来，这些殖民地便成为美国北美独立十三州最初的十三个州。 1774年, 来自12州的代表，聚集在费城, 召开所谓第一次大陆会议，希望能寻出一条合理的途径, 与英国和平解决问题，然而英王却坚持殖民地必须无条件臣服于英国国王, 并接受处分。 1775年，在麻州点燃战火, 5月，召开第二次大陆会议, 坚定了战争与独立的决心，并起草有名的独立宣言, 提出充分的理由来打这场仗，这也是最后致胜的要素. 1776年7月4日，宣告了美国的独立，1776年7月4日大陆会议在费城乔治·华盛顿发表了《独立宣言》。《独立宣言》开宗明义地阐明，一切人生而平等，具有追求幸福与自由的天赋权利；淋漓尽致地历数了英国殖民主义者在美洲大陆犯下的罪行；最后庄严宣告美利坚合众国脱离英国而独立。《独立宣言》是具有世界历史意义的伟大文献。完全脱离英国，目的是为‘图生存、求自由、谋幸福’，实现启蒙运动的理想。 1781年, 美军赢得了决定性的胜利， 1783年, 美英签订巴黎条约，结束了独立战争。这也充分展现出
宗教对美国社会的影响 梁子毓英语学院英语137班 摘要：美国是当今世界上最发达的资本主义国家，同时又是发达国家中最具宗教色彩的国家，可以说美国的发展与宗教有着密不可分的关系。宗教从美国建国伊始至今对人们思想的影响是根本性的，这种影响绝不仅仅只是停留在道德方面，在政体的确立、民主制度的促进等方面都有着同样深远的作用。如今，宗教在美国的影响力有增无减，信仰上帝的人越来越多了，宗教在美国国家社会生活中的作用也越来越大。因此，研究宗教对美国发展的影响更有助于我们了解美国的社会现实和文化特征，可以使我们对宗教在美国社会的影响有更深刻的认识。 关键词：宗教美国社会影响 引言 美国文化的一大特征就是其宗教性。来自世界各地不同国家不同种族的移民带来了他们自己的宗教，使美国成为多宗教的国家。各种不同的宗教必然会对美国的社会产生影响，同样也融入了美国的文化。在众多宗教中，影响最大的是新教众多教派中的清教，清教在发展过程中，其影响超越了宗教领域，渐渐渗透到了美国宗教以外的政治、经济、文化领域，使美国政治、经济、文化都带有明显的清教主义特征。清教主义因而成为美国文化和社会形成过程中的重要因素。美国的文明都刻有明显的清教主义印记，清教主义文化也造就了独特的美利坚精神与文化。 一、基督教新教对美国历史的影响 美国虽然只有四百多年的历史，但却从一个英属殖民地逐渐成为世界上的头号强国。在这片土地上诞生了世界上第一部成文宪法，产生了世界上第一个民选总统，建立了三权分立的民主政体，这些都对世界历史产生了深远的影响。然而这些都与基督新教及其伦理道德有着密不可分的关系，这种关系甚至是决定性的。 早期殖民北美的新教1徒的新教信仰，构成了北美早期社会思想风潮的主调，也构成了以后美利坚的民族精神以及国家意识形态的基础。美国独立战争的发生，是因为早期移民北美的多数人都是新教教徒的缘故。由逃亡的清教徒们建立的美洲殖民地，在宗教上，一直与英国本土的宗教处于对立状态。美洲大陆的宗教主流为清教徒，英国的国教则为天主教与新教的混合体圣公会安力甘宗，安力甘宗作为英国国教一直是清教徒改革的对象。在美国独立战争及18世纪二十年代，英国本土和美洲殖民地发生了一场轰轰烈烈的宗教“伟大复兴”运动，这场运动在美国是新教教义的普及和强化运动，是一场彻头彻尾的新教教义在新大陆被强化的运动，这场运动最后导致了新教的进一步振兴，从而在思想上与英国国教彻底脱离了关系。宗教运动进一步促进了北美殖民地人群的主体意识，进一步加强了殖民地与英国本土的在宗教上和政治上的离心力，为独立战争做了思想和意识形态的准备。北美殖民地与英国本土上的宗教对立，对美国独立战争的爆发有着深远的影响。 对美国近代发展奠定基础的南北战争，实际上也有着深刻的宗教原因——美国清教对南方奴隶制的憎恶而引起的南北方对立。废奴主义一直是基督教教义的传统。在新教中这被理解为上帝爱世上的每一个人。这种思想成为西方人权思想的源头。既然上帝爱每一个人，个 1新教：新教（Protestantism）是由16世纪宗教改革运动中脱离罗马天主教的一系列新教派的统称，主流教派有路德宗、加尔文宗和圣公会。
Puritans and Harvard 清教徒和哈佛 Puritans played a very important role in Harvard history as well as in American history. 清教徒不仅在美国历史中扮演过重要角色，同样在哈佛大学的历史中也起到了重要作用。 In the 16th and 17th century, a series of religious reforms took place in England Finally, the Church of England was established as the Established Church. People did not have religious freedom. Those people who did not agree with the Church of England were regarded as Separatists and were persecuted. To escape religious persecution, many people fled from England to other countries. Many Puritans chose to go to the New World. 在16和17世纪的英国发生了一系列宗教改革，最终圣公会被定为英国国教。人们没有宗教自由。那些不同意英国国教观点的人被视为宗教分裂者，并遭到迫害。为了逃脱宗教迫害，许多人逃离英国，前往其他国家。很多清教徒选择移民到新大陆。 In 1620, a ship named Mayflower left England. It transported the English Separatists, better known as Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts, the United States. There were 102 passengers, more than one third of whom were Puritans. During the following decade, the number of Puritans grew. Then in 1628 these Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1620年，一艘名为“五月花号”的船离开了英国，它载着英国宗教分离派——更熟悉的称号是“清教徒前辈移民”，离开了英国的普利茅斯前往美国马萨诸塞州的普利茅斯。船上有102名乘客，其中1/3多的人是清教徒。在接下来的10年中，清教徒队伍逐渐壮大起来，并于1628年建立了马萨诸塞湾殖民地。 Many Puritans had received classic style of higher education in Oxford University and Cambridge University in England. They wanted to pass on to their descendants this kind of education. Besides, these colonists saw colleges as an effective way to disperse religious belief. Therefore, in 1636 the first and oldest institution of higher learning in the United States was established by vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, 140 years earlier than the foundation of the United States. 许多清教徒都曾在英国的牛津和剑桥大学接受过古典式的高等教育，他们想把这种教育传给子孙后代。此外，这些殖民者把大学看做是传播宗教信仰的有效途径。所以，1636年马萨诸塞湾殖民地法院投票通过并建立了美国第一所也是最古老的一所高等教育机构，比美国建国早了140年。 The institution was initially named “New College” or “the College at New Towne"（or “Cambridge College”). The town where the college located was named Cambridge, becau se many Puritans had studied in Cambridge University. The name of the town demonstrated that many people still cherished their memory of life in England. Although they had been persecuted in England, many people still saw England as their motherland. The college followed the style of English universities as well. Then in 1639 the college was renamed Harvard College after a benefactor called John Harvard who was a clergyman. Therefore, in a sense, Harvard University was the product of religious activities.
The Differences of Education between China and U.S Based on checking the extensive literature and summing up the evidence, it is clear that study about differences of higher education between China and US has carried out a lot which mainly explaines the differences from different aspects of higher edcation between China and the United States. Such aspects mainly includes the social environment and cultural tradition, higher education system and reform measures. In the Integration of these differences, advantages and evils of both educational systems have been evaluated respectively, and corresponding improvement measures were also put forwords. By summary, the detailed conclusions are listed as follows: US is a open society. The society's openness urges the American college to abandon old educational thoughts which European traditional universities stick to, adopt the open policy to absorb all advatanges from other countries and establishe a diverse and open education control system which emphasizes on the actual effect. US is the biggest imigrant country which has very strong containing nature in the culture. American economy ephiseizes on the practical value, matter rewards as well as individual value realization with fast development, rich material life, strong material idea and etc[2]. Us’s higher education was considered as the best education in the world. Comparing the elementary education between American and China, people's universal view will be: China's elementary education aims to build the foundation of education with more study and less thought; while US's education aims to bulid such an education to raise the creativity with less study and more thought. Now Chinese students are generally regarded as intalents with few intelligence and high scores. What causes for such a view? Because the Chinese students study more, actually pay little attention to the practice, and cannot study for the purpose of application. Therefore, it is very important for Chinese higher education to cultivate the idea of unifying the study and prctice. US's education pays more attention to raise student's self-confidence,independence,spirit of supporting oneself, but China's education emphases on training the students to be strict,rigorous spiritual.Obviously, Chinese education may fruitfully develop and ultilize the function of cerebrum, but US’s higher education could expand the function of cerebrum by ultilizing and synthesizing the information outside.
宗教信仰人口在世界的分布概况 2010-03-25 13:09 韩国：50-60%，在1900年，韩国没有基督新教，而今天韩国人口的50-60%是基督徒，仅在汉城就有7000家教会 菲律宾：基督徒占人口比例93%左右。已被列入天主教國. 日本：基督教1--2% 日本是个多宗教国家，主要有神道教、佛教、基督教三个大的宗教和许多小宗教。据日本内阁下属的文化厅统计，截至2000年12月31日，日本共有神道教信徒10523万人，佛教信徒9419万人，基督教信徒174.5万人，其他宗教的信徒1021万人，合计共有各类宗教信徒209273063人。同年日本的人口总数为118693000人。宗教信徒的总数是人口总数的近2倍。所以会出现这种情况，是因为日本人可以同时信仰两种乃至多种宗教。 中国：2010年7500万接近6% 美国是世界上宗教多元化程度最高的国家之一。确实，美国的宗教少数派非常兴旺，世界上各大宗教在此都不乏信徒。虽然新教仍然在美国基督教中占主要地位，但它包含十几种主要的教派，各自有其独特的信仰、礼拜仪式和历史。另外，近年来，新教在美国的主导地位开始下降。事实上，皮尤宗教与公共生活论坛(Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)最近所作的一项民意调查(图1)发现，有史以来美国清教徒在总人口中的占比首次降低至接近半数。在调查中自称新教教派成员的美国人现在仅为51%，而在1970年代和1980年代均超过60%。 罗马天主教徒在美国成年人口中占大约四分之一，而其他派别的基督徒占3.3%。总体来说，10个人中有8人自认为属于基督教的不同教派。有大约5%的美国成年人口信仰其他世界性宗教──包括犹太教、伊斯兰教、印度教和佛教。近六分之一的成人不属于任何一种宗教，而这一类人口的比例最近几十年来不断增加。全球基督徒人数21亿，其中天主教徒的人数为10亿9千8百万。 天主教占主导的国家：意大利，法国，比利时，卢森堡，奥地利，爱尔兰，波兰，捷克，匈牙利，斯洛伐克，立陶宛，克罗地亚，斯洛文尼亚，西班牙，葡萄牙，列支敦士登，摩纳哥，圣马力诺，马耳他，安道尔。
宗教信仰在美国的重要性 一提起美国，人们都会想到是一个极度发达的国家。在经济、文化、军事、科技等各个方面都很强大。当然也避免不了一些社会问题。但这些都不足以构成一个完整的美国，。要说明美国，还有一个非常重要的方面，那就是宗教。美国人最信仰的教是基督教和天主教。美国是个多民族、多宗教的国家。居民主要信奉基督教和天主教，犹太教、东正教、佛教、伊斯兰教、道教等宗教亦有一定信众，信仰宗教的公民在总人口中约占91%。这就充分说明了，在高度发达的物质文明背后宗教信仰在美国社会所产生的作用。 宗教信仰在美国的各个部分中都产生着重要的影响。首先谈谈对于政治的影响。年改制的在美国，历任总统就职，都把右手放在圣经上宣誓，牧师在一旁作证。政要的演讲往往以上帝保佑美利坚作结语。奥巴马总统在他就任的第一个星期里已采取了不少行动来改变他的前任布什的方针。但是他们两人有一方面却是一致的，那就是宗教信仰在美国生活中的重要性。奥巴马保留了布什发起的以信仰为基础的方案，支持宗教机构开展的社区项目。奥巴马说“美国和世界都需要用宗教信仰的力量来团结民众、为大众谋福利”。据了解, 美国的一些宗教社团经常为代表其利益的候选人助选, 拉拢大量选民。在总统选举和国会选举中 ,保守派总统和议员候选人往往基督教右派结成联盟 ,在共同利益的驱动下 ,以用通讯、电报、电视广播等媒体手段扩大教会的影响; 而且美国各派教会从来不放弃对“政治精英”进行游说的机会。在对外政策上 ,美国常“以宗教不容忍 ,大规模宗教迫害”为由, 攻击别国 ,插手别国内政 ,甚至武装干涉 ,推行宗教霸权主义政策。冷战结束后, 美国常对其他国家进“行道德训诫” ,就宗教自由状况说三道四 ,在双方关系上不断制造麻烦,在多边场合连续发难 ,甚至进行武力干涉 ,从而围绕宗教问题引发了一系列对立和紧张。 其次，宗教信仰也对美国经济产生着影响。在美国，信用制度的建立也有赖于宗教信仰，美元上印有“我们信仰上帝，”不仅表明美国人的信仰，也表明美国人以上帝的名义起誓，证明钞票的信用。早期时，如果一个人宣称他没有宗教信仰，很可能无法从银行得到钱。因为银行认为没有宗教信仰的人是没有信用可讲的。 接着，宗教信仰对美国文化的影响。圣经从来都是最畅销的书，音像制品销量最大的不是流行音乐，而是教堂音乐。一个美国人如果参加某个宗教组织，他便在社会上获得了某种身份和地位，使他意识到自己在社会团体中拥有一席位置而感到心安理得。在许多社会团体中，一个不信教的人可能会受到人们的种种非难，被视为怪癖和不原接近的人。宗教对大多数美国人之所以重要，更主要的原因在于美国的教堂是人们互相交往的重要场所。教堂不仅是举行宗教仪式的地方，还是教育、文化和社交中心。在美国人的一生中，许多重要活动都与宗教有联系。无论是出生结婚还是死亡都要举行宗教仪式。美国人不参加宗教仪式，都必须态度严肃，衣着整齐，不能交头接耳，吃喝东西或随便出入。如果到美国人家中做客，或许会碰见他们在饭前做祷告，如果客人不信仰他们的宗教，可以不参加祷告，主人也不会介意。另外，星期日关门不营业不娱乐法对犹太教徒，周六安息日派和其它宗教信徒造成里极大的困难。 最后谈谈，宗教对美国教育的影响。最初的九所长青藤大学：哈佛、耶鲁、普林斯顿、威廉·马丽学院、宾大、哥伦比亚、布朗、王后学院、达特毛斯都是出于宗教原因建立的。教徒因其信仰和重视教育的传统，纷纷捐资兴办大学。宗教不仅是美国早期高等教育的原动力，而且后世的美国人对教育的慷慨解囊也凸显了宗教的力量。纵观美国近 40 年来的捐赠历史和捐助领域，最突出的就是把教育放在至关重要的地位，宗教信仰是美国教育捐赠的基本动因。此外，在20世纪30年代以后，宗教机构与大学之间出现了微妙的关系。每当高等教育因为落于与时代需要改革时，宗教便作为影响进步的消极因素之一，被激进的自由派拉出来批判；而当高校学生因为酗酒、打架、吸毒、性丑闻和暴力事件等涉及伦理道德问题增多时，宗教传统与道德规范又往往成为学校维护纪律的工具加以倡导。 虽然政教分离是美国的基本国策，但这并不影响宗教对美国的重大影响。政治、经济、文化、教育还
第五讲二战中的美国 一、摆脱孤立主义 孤立主义也有不同的意见：自由主义者强烈反对美国卷入任何欧洲战争，包括亨利福特和飞行英雄查尔斯林白。 罗斯福作为政治家的最艰难的功绩，就是使全国确信必须抱起孤立主义，把国家的力量投入反侵略的斗争。 这些对美国意味着什么？美国人只想躲避风雨，20世纪30年代，美国再次孤立主义盛行。 各个方面都主张，美国参加第一次世界大战时错误的，是英国的宣传和银行家与军火商的阴谋欺骗了我们，我们坚持中立国的权利是有勇有谋的。 1，1935年8月31日，国会在这种普遍的情绪中，通过了《中立法》，禁止在未来的冲突中给与交战双方贷款，禁止出售武器给任何一方。由于对侵略者和被侵略者同等对待，新的中立法鼓励了独裁者，使其相信他们可以继续他们征服而不用担心美国的干涉。 2，1937年10月，罗斯福在芝加哥演讲——“隔离演说”：“当某种传染性疾病开始蔓延的时候，为了保护居民的健康，防止疾病的流行，社会许可并且对患者实行隔离。”“战争都会蔓延。战争可以席卷远离原来战场的国家和人民。我们决心置于战争之外，然而我们并不能保证我们不受战争灾难的影响和避免卷入战争的危机。” 但隔离开演讲遭到了猛烈的抨击，但他向美国公众指出战争恐怖的存在。 3，1939年9月，德波战争爆发，第二次世界大战全面爆发，战争的胜负已直接关系到美国的安危，美国舆论和人民转向同情英法，罗斯福政府抓住时机为废除中立法进行宣传，他对国会说，援助英国就是帮助自己，他强调指出废除武器禁运能更好地保护国家不卷入战争，还可以为成千上万的人提供就业机会，这种就业又会自动地帮助建设美国的国防。罗斯福的宣传获得了成功。1939年11月4日，美国国会通过了对交战国解除军火禁运的新中立法，但仍须"现购自运"。尽管从原则上讲，"'现购自运'原则对欧洲所有交战国，也包括德国在内，都是有效的，但由于只有英国和法国才拥有制海权，因而只要他们有美元现金，就能自由自在地运输。"因此，这无疑是对英法作战的巨大支持。同时，也为美国借助英法军事订货，摆脱1937年以来新的经济萧条，加速扩军备战提供了有利条件。 4，1940年5月，1940年5-6月，德国闪击西北欧和法国，打破了欧洲力量的平衡，法兰西败局已定，不列颠前途难卜，被美国视为根本利益的安全线--莱茵河边界已被德国越过。罗斯福要求国会追加国防拨款加强战备。国会批准了陆海军的扩充计划。 5，1940年9月2日，英美两国达成协议：美国用50艘旧驱逐舰交换英国在加勒比海8个岛屿的军事基地，美国租用99年，这是第二次世界大战爆发以后，美国首次向英国进行租借。这项协定意味着中立的结束，标志着美国有限参战的开始。 6，1940年12月9日，丘吉尔致信罗斯福，声称英国国库已经空虚，而军用物资极为短缺，希望美国能给与帮助。12月16日，罗斯福在记者招待会上说了一条美国历史上那个最不平凡的新闻：假如我的邻居失火，…… "保卫美国的最好的直接办法就是英国能够保卫其本身。""历史上还没有一
The influence of religion on American Value Introduction In most countries, religious people had declined obviously with the society developing and science knowledge enlarging. America is a highly developed country in civilization, culture, science and technology. But the rate of religious people in America is far higher than other western countries. In this article, we try to outline some general American values influenced by religious tradition, religious history and today’s religion. To some extent, it is helpful to know of America and American society better. Relation between the Culture and Religion In any countries, the characteristics and values of people are related with their own society culture and tradition nearly and embody its own culture value concept. America, as a country, which was founded by the protestant immigrants from Europe and their descendants, from the view of culture origin, directly follows modern European civilization, which mainly contains the values of capitalist’s equality, freedom, and democracy from Enlightenment movement. They materialized strong concept of values and principles and moralities that influence not only the foundation of U.S.A and the form of the National Democratic Political System; meanwhile, but also American characteristics and values inevitably. Religion, as the only one among those factors which influence the development of American society that possesses invisible power (the religion value) and the visible power (religious denominations or groups) has its own more special even more everlasting influence. The Important Place of Religion Culture in American Society and American Life. The U.S.A is a highly developed country with modern science, yet it is also a religious country, in which people has strong religion fervency. Religion then, being theology or the everyday practices of a culture, gives us insight into the religious influence in American life. There is a strong religious influence in American life. Among 250 million people, there are over 3000 religious denominations and groups, and sixty out of a hundred have religious beliefs. Every Sunday morning, all over American, people pour into the churches, not only the catholic churches, but also the protestant ones too, are flourishing, and new church buildings, some with interesting architecture, keep pace with the ever-growing suburbs. ⅢSome American Characteristics and Values Affected by Religion 1. American Creativity, Materialism and Hard Working from Its Religion Origin-----Puritanism[?pj??r?t?n?z?m](清教) In the eyes of other countries’ people, American s are often criticized for being so “materialistic” which means placing a high value on material possessions. Americans do not like to be called materialistic because they feel that this unfairly accuses them of loving only material things and of having no religious values. For them, though, this materialism is natural and proper. Material wealth is the most
RELIGION in the UNITED STATES
Religious Liberty ?“Among the rights which the new nation guaranteed, as a political necessity in a religiously diverse society, was freedom of religion” (p. 86) ?The Constitution forbade the government to give special favours to any religion, nor were they allowed to stop or interfere with religion. The USA was determined it would have no state-supported religion. ?When there is a disagreement between the government and any religion, the American courts must settle it. Protestants in the United States ?60% of Americans are Protestant believers. The Baptists are the largest Protestant group.* The largest concentration of Baptists live in the Southern States of America and, although some Southern Baptists have liberal attitudes to black Americans, many believe and practice racial discrimination and prejudice towards them.
美国的宗教信仰！ 本刊专稿作者：王坚中美两国还能互信吗？（一）美国的宗教信仰美国是一个高度宗教性质的国家，大多数人信仰基督教和天主教；同时，美国又是一个多民族的国家，国民大都来自海外移民，各个不同文化背景的移民带有各种不同的宗教信仰汇集到美利坚大地上。 美国国民主要信奉基督教和天主教，犹太教、东正教、佛教、伊斯兰教、道教等，其他的宗教门派亦有一定的信众教徒，信仰宗教的公民在美国总人口中约占91%。每一种宗教有自己的教主“神”，神是高于一切的。基督教的教主上帝耶稣，天主教主是天主圣父，伊斯兰教教主是真主安拉。西方所有主要宗教的一个鲜明共识：只有自己的经典才是真理，而且放之四海而皆准，其他宗教的经典则属于歪理邪说；因为放之四海而皆准，信徒的责任，就只能是照本宣科而不得擅改一字，倘若修正一字便是弥天大罪。基督教、犹太教、东正教、天主教是一神教，祟拜一个神灵；伊斯兰教继承借鉴基督教、犹太教，也是一神教。 西方的主要宗教全都遵循神统领那套路数，凭自我想象人为地创造出这么一个“一神教”的东西，统领信众。所谓一神教，就是唯我独尊，唯我权威，其他皆为异端必须消灭，完全彻底的排他和不可包容。西方三大宗教自己内部，会因各个教
派不同而互相残杀，更何况异教徒，绝对的零容忍赶尽杀绝。基督教（新教）在美国已有300多年历史。1776年美国独立前，基督教（新教）的主要派别均已传入美国，其后迅速发展成为最有影响的宗教。在美国宗教中，基督教（新教）教徒最多，约有1.56亿人，占美国总人口的57%。 主要有浸礼宗、卫斯理宗、信义宗、加尔文宗、圣公会、圣洁教会等，此外还有数十个较小的教派组织和跨教派的国际性的组织。各宗派创办有400多所大专院校。基督教已深入社会各领域。天主教于1526年传入印第安人居住区。1565年成立第一个团体。1789年成立第一个主教区。到19世纪中叶，有教徒300余万人，1914年增至1700万人。目前为5800万人。教会组织比较统一。全国有34个大主教区，164个教区，18.5万所教堂，神父和修道士20万名，教徒7600万人，占全国总人口的28%。并有大专院校250余所。犹太教是美国第三大宗教，有教堂5000余座，大专院校20所。犹太教信奉者多为犹太人。犹太人于1654年开始定居美国。到1776年美国宣布独立时，约有2500名犹太人定居在纽约等沿东海岸城市。1815年拿破仑战争结束后，犹太移民再次从欧洲涌入美国，到1880年，已达到25万人。从19世纪80年代起的40年里，又有300万犹太人涌入美国，到20世纪20年代已达350万。 1933年希特勒在德国发动反犹运动，又有20多万犹太难民