Ross Douthat (June 07, 2007) - Why Are Americans So Religious? (Religion)

« Hearting Huckabee | Main | Quote For the Day »

Why Are Americans So Religious?

07 Jun 2007 12:05 pm

Because we're geographically mobile and ethnically diverse, says Brink Lindsey. Because our families are stronger than Europe's, says Mary Eberstadt. My own preferred explanation - which is doubtless a small part of the pantomime - is theological rather than sociological: Christianity has thrived in the United States by adapting its theology to the habits and mores of the American people, in a way that religion in Europe hasn't managed to do. America is an Emersonian country, and its religious innovators have invented an Emersonian form of Christianity - which some might suggest isn't Christianity at all, of course - that's nicely tailored to the broader culture in which it swims. Call it gnosticism, or Moral Therapeutic Deism, or just plain Americanism - it means Elaine Pagels and Karen Armstrong for highbrow audiences and T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer for the masses, and it works.

If Christianity in America meant the Christianity of Benedict XVI - or even the Christianity of C.S. Lewis, for that matter - I bet that about 15 percent of the country would be practicing believers. But you don't get Benedict or even Lewis from most pulpits; you get socially-conservative Emersonianism in Red America and socially-liberal Emersonianism in Blue America. This wouldn't fly in the European cultural context, but maybe there's a form of organized religion that would - its theology just hasn't been invented yet.

Permalink :: Comments (38) :: TrackBacks (0) ::

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/13088

Comments (38)

i think it's diveristy ( so ther'es a proper market in religion unlike just about every european country), a wilingness to change traditonal modes of worship to appeal to people (again i think partly due to competition and diversity) and a lot of churches which are solidly theologically conservative-like the churches in the rest of the world which have done best

Posted by edmund | June 7, 2007 12:37 PM

I think Yglesias has a post somewhere in the wayback file on this ... one other thing to note is that most European countries have at one point or another had even more intertwining of religion and government than the US. Indeed, religiosity in Iran, where this is the case, is much lower than more officially secular states.

I think also WWI and WWII would lead a whole lot more Europeans to question the existence of God.

Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot | June 7, 2007 1:17 PM

I doubt there is just one cause. I also think the difference between America and Europe is probably overstated. Religion in America tends to be more showy and superficial--wanting to be seen as being religious rather than actually being religious. Hence, things like people massively overreporting their rate of church attendance to pollsters.

British sociologist Steve Bruce suggests that the greater religiosity of Americans is largely a product of the country's size and political decentralization. This has allowed large and distinctive religious communities to flourish by more effectively transmitting their values and beliefs to their children and more effectively shielding them from secularizing influences.

But there is abundant evidence that religiosity is declining in the U.S. as well as in Europe and the rest of the developed world.

Posted by Mixner | June 7, 2007 2:20 PM

This insight is both horrifying (I am Christian of the Benedict XVI varietal) and true. I think you have struck a wide vein here. "Emersonian Christianity and Its Progeny" should be your next book.

Posted by Aaron | June 7, 2007 2:58 PM

Emersonian? I think most Americans are theists - no? Emerson wasn't, and he wasn't big on that whole divinity of Christ thing either, as he was a Unitarian. I don't think many consider UU the defacto American religion.
Individualism is important, but isn't the American version really just a form of Arminianism?

Posted by berger | June 7, 2007 3:42 PM

Christianity has thrived in the United States by adapting its theology to the habits and mores of the American people, in a way that religion in Europe hasn't managed to do.

this is basically the idea of rodney starks and a bunch in the rational choice school. religious are competitive "firms," and more choices means a better and more attractive median product. but in any case, i think theology is a bit narrow, especially since americans are notoriously a theologically superficial people. there is, i think, a big role for the institutional flexibility of american christianity.

I think also WWI and WWII would lead a whole lot more Europeans to question the existence of God.

the real change was in the 60s. that is, if you plotted the decline in most of the metrics (e.g., those who pay church tax in germany), the acceleration is in the 1960s. the same in the united states, when church affiliation dropped a lot before leveling off.

Posted by razib | June 7, 2007 4:47 PM

> Because our families are stronger than Europe's,
> says Mary Eberstadt.

If this were true, how come divorce rates are much higher than in most European countries?

MARCU$

Posted by MARCU$ | June 7, 2007 4:53 PM

Where's the leveling off? The American Religious Identification Survey, for example, found that the proportion of Americans who do not subscribe to any religious identification almost doubled between 1990 and 2001, from about 8% to over 14%. This finding has been confirmed by other large national studies of religious identification, the NORC's General Social Survey and the National Election Studies surveys.

Posted by Mixner | June 7, 2007 5:43 PM

Church-state separation may have something to do with it. See my discussion at http://groups.google.com/group/soc.history.what-if/msg/69ca5e17ebb8b27f

Posted by David T | June 7, 2007 6:03 PM

I think the reason might be traced to "We hold these truths to be self-evident....that they are endowed by their Creator etc..."

America is a credal nation. Its existence and founding documents make no sense without God. That men are equal is not something observable to the naked eye. Britain, Germany and China do not depend upon their existence or their Government or their independence on a Declaration that presupposes the Lord, nor a Constitution that ends In the Year of our Lord etc...

An atheist America has little reason for being. Which is why the "public religion" you describe is held by so many. Further, while Europe became less religious during the Cold War, from Truman to Reagan, we fought "Godless Communism." They just opposed Communism a bit. When your chief enemey for 50 years is described as atheist its probably not a good idea to declare yourself atheist.

Posted by jjv | June 7, 2007 6:42 PM

Baby boomers + menopause = excessive religiosity.

Posted by diefenbaker | June 8, 2007 9:43 PM

Oh God. There is something depressing about watching otherwise intelligent American conservatives talk about Europe seemingly without any input from any actual Europeans.

Ross, as one of the more intelligent American conservatives, I would have hoped you would avoid writing anything as fatuous as suggesting that some form of Emersonian religion "might fly" in a European context.

Europe is simply far more secular than the US, period. It has much to do with the fact that Church and State were far more wedded to each other in most European countries than they ever were in the US. Look at countries like Spain, Italy and the UK: these are countries where churches (Catholic in Spain and Italy, Church of England in UK) were hand in glove with the State for centuries.

The Reformation was as much a function of raison d'etat politics as it was theology. In Eastern Europe, the Orthodox Churches were wedded to the monarchy.

Therefore, when the intellectual climate turned against ancient privileged monarchies and oligarchies, the Churches were tainted; supremely secular France is the locus classicus of this phenomenon.

In contrast, religion in the US, while associated with political causes, has never been the unique preserve of any one grouping. Each different social class had its own variety. African Americans, Irish and Italians, Episcopalian WASPs, segregationist southerners all had their religious traditions.

In Europe, by contrast, the principle of cuius regio, eius religio enforced by the Treaty of Westphalia, meaning that subjects had to follow the religion of their prince, meant that such religious plurality wasn't an option. Such an arrangement could only lead to a cynical attitude to religion amongst those who wanted to get along.

For example, many sincere Protestants left England to go to the Americas during the 17th century, disgusted at the theological hotch potch that Anglicanism had become. When religion starts to become an instrument of politics rather than a statement of faith, it is drained of its power. Thus it was in Europe.

Comparing the US to Europe regarding religion is tricky, largely because religious belief is one of the main differences between both cultures, insofar as Europe can be thought of as a culture.

Ross talks about a US religiosity where "you get socially-conservative Emersonianism in Red America and socially-liberal Emersonianism in Blue America". But the truth is that there is no "Red America" equivalent in Europe. Social conservatives over here are nearly extinct; I should know, I'm one of them. Poland and Ireland, perhaps Portugal, are about the only countries where pro-life politics is in any way a factor at the polls, and even here in Ireland it is marginal.

As for those, citing stats showing the world with a growing group of non-religious people, have a quick look at some of Philip Longman's work, which shows that, in a world where the population is shrinking, its the religious folks who are having the babies. He suggests that this will make for a more religious future. He may be wrong, but his thesis is at least as convincing as that of Brink Lindsay's.

Posted by Tom O'Gorman | June 29, 2007 5:22 PM

ijgtpbaho djvnglwbz cleodfux musfb kjsmz smqkz akibpzygf

Posted by gpwsjbk rkgdwb | August 23, 2007 10:08 AM

subnude canonize unissuable nonspeculative deeply lamplighted teated brassbound
http://www.thehudson.plus.com/index.htm >Reco
http://www.legalnursing.net/

Posted by Amelia Richmond | December 16, 2007 7:00 AM

xsmyna kftdom ctayj vauk pzmlubko iymzpkca smldiyqe

Posted by cybfp imgjxzop | June 21, 2008 12:58 PM

vfzjw wgtdm rqyz qtwpk bgyn nykqsrca odhgrv

Posted by xplwc hjogdvyk | June 21, 2008 1:04 PM

crdtszv sywvh snlworm gwjosc fhnxirv ovamwltnh asdx http://www.cidlqegkm.fvhmdwj.com

Posted by gcloapen dbgo | June 21, 2008 1:07 PM

tjhgqc qsxp