Where did religion come from in America?

In the last ten days of June this year 1 1, I went to the United States for training and investigation with the social security investigation team of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, and learned something about American religions by the way, as follows.

The United States is located in the middle of North America, covering an area of 9.37 million square kilometers, with a population of 280 million and an urban population of 76%. White people account for about 80% and are descendants of European immigrants; More than 30 million blacks; The rest are descendants of immigrants, Indians and Inuit from Asia and Pacific islands. This is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. Residents mainly believe in Christianity and Catholicism, but there are also some religions such as Judaism, Orthodox Church, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism. Religious citizens account for about 9 1% of the total population.

Christianity (Protestantism)

Christianity (Protestantism) has a history of more than 300 years in the United States. Before the independence of the United States in 1776, all the main factions of Christianity (Protestantism) had been introduced to the United States, and then it quickly developed into the most influential religion. Among American religions, the number of Christians (Protestants) is the largest, about 65.438+56 billion, accounting for 57% of the total population of the United States. There are mainly Baptists, Wesley, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, and Holy Churches. In addition, there are dozens of smaller sectarian organizations and inter-sectarian international organizations. There are more than 400 colleges and universities founded by various sects. Christianity has penetrated into all fields of society.

Baptist Church is the largest sect in American Christianity (Protestantism), which is divided into 150 sects. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, the first batch of Baptists came to America from England. 1639 founded the first Baptist church in America. 1707, five Baptists in Philadelphia jointly established the Philadelphia Baptist Federation. Since then, several organizations have been established. Southern Baptist Church is one of the largest Baptists, organized in 50 states, with more than 38,000 local churches and more than 654,380+05 million believers.

Wesleyan Sect was originally introduced by Irish immigrants. Wesley Church was founded in 1784. In the following 50 years, Wesley Sect developed rapidly in the new reclamation area. During the civil war, the church was divided into American-Israeli-American society and supervision society because of the abolition of slavery. 1939, Methodist Church was jointly established by two factions and the smaller Methodist Church. 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren to form the United Methodist Church. Wesleyan believers mostly belong to the United Methodist Church (including 5 affiliated federations and 865,438+0 annual meeting and 45 parishes).

Lutheranism/KLOC-0 spread from German to new york in June 23, and/KLOC-0 formed a church in June 649. More than 8.5 million believers. Believers are concentrated in Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. The main denominational organizations are the American Lutheran Evangelical Church, the Lutheran-Missouri Congress and the Wisconsin Lutheran Church. Lutheran inter-denominational organizations include the Lutheran Federation of the United States of America and the Lutheran Federation.

Calvinism Calvinism, also known as Presbyterian, Reformed or Reformed, is one of the major Protestant denominations in the United States. Presbyterian church and reformed church in America belong to Calvinist system. 16 1 1 organized the first congregation in Virginia, and then established the Presbyterian church. From 65438 to 0837, it was divided into two camps because of the abolition of slavery. 1958, the United Presbyterian Church of the United States of America was jointly established. 1983, the United Presbyterian Church of America and the Presbyterian Church of America joined hands to form the Presbyterian Church of America. Calvinist organizations include the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in the United States, the Reformed Church in the United States and the Reformed Church in North America.

The Episcopal Church of America is the autonomous church of the Episcopal Church of America. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, this believer was one of the earliest immigrants in America. Later, Virginia and Maryland established church organizations. 1776 After the independence of the United States, Anglican believers in the United States broke away from the Anglican Church and established the Anglican Church in the United States. 1789 achieved complete independence after the national congress. The National Committee was established in 19 19. From 65438 to 0974, nine archdioceses and 92 parishes were formed, with more than 3 million believers.

The Holy Church is a part of Christianity in the United States. At least 20 denominations belong to this category, with more than 6,543.8+00000 followers. Among them, the Pentecostal Holy Church was founded in 19 1 1 year; The Free Methodist Church in North America was founded in1860; The Salvation Army officially started its work on 1880, and its organizations have spread all over the United States.

Catholicism

Catholicism was introduced into Indian settlements in 1526. The first group was established in 1565. The first parish was established in 1789. By the middle of 19th century, there were more than 3 million Christians, which increased to19170,000 in 2004. It is currently 58 million. The church organization is relatively unified. There are 34 archdioceses, 164 parishes,185,000 churches, 200,000 priests and monks, and 76 million believers, accounting for 28% of the country's total population. There are more than 250 colleges and universities.

Because Christians are mostly concentrated in some big cities, they have potential advantages in politics, economy and culture. There are many similarities between the development trend of the Catholic Church in the United States and western European countries, which tend to be liberalized, diversified and secularized, and its contradiction with the Holy See is also similar to that in western Europe. Since the second half of the 20th century, the American Catholic Church has gradually intervened in the society, caring about realistic political and social issues. Catholics also play an important role in the presidential election. Catholic schools in the United States have a complete educational network, from primary school to secondary school to university. Among them, there are more than 500 missionary universities (including more than 300 theological seminaries), more than 600 middle schools/KLOC-0, and more than 8,500 primary schools with a total of 4 million students.

Judaism

Judaism is the third largest religion in America, with more than 5,000 churches and 20 colleges and universities. Jews are mostly Jews. Jews began to settle in the United States on 1654. By 1776, when the United States declared its independence, about 2,500 Jews had settled in new york and other cities on the east coast. 18 15 After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Jewish immigrants once again poured into the United States from Europe, and by 1880, the number had reached 250,000. In the 40 years from 65438 to the 1980s, another 3 million Jews flooded into the United States, reaching 3.5 million in the 1920s. 1933, Hitler launched an anti-semitic movement in Germany, and more than 200,000 Jewish refugees entered the United States. After World War II, the number of Jews in the United States continued to grow steadily. By the 1990s, the total number of Jews in the United States had exceeded 6 million, accounting for about 50% of the total Jewish population in the world. There are three schools of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative and Reformist. These organizations include the Hebrew Association of America, Covenant Children's Association and American Jewish Association.

Orthodox Church

There are 3 million Orthodox Christians in the United States, mainly distributed in the East, Midwest and California.

The history of the American Orthodox Church can be traced back to 1767, when the Greek Orthodox Church was founded. 1794, 10 Russian Orthodox monks went to Alaska to preach. 1867, the United States bought Alaska, and Christians moved outside Alaska. 1872, the Orthodox Church moved its parish from Alaska to San Francisco. 1905 moved to new york. 1922, the Greek Orthodox Church established the Archdiocese (headquartered in new york). The church has four seminaries.

Besides Russian Orthodox Church, there are Greek Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Albanian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States.

Buddhism

There are about 3 million Buddhists in the United States, mostly Japanese immigrants and their descendants. But in the United States, the number of people influenced by Buddhism is far greater than that of Buddhists. Among them, there are 250,000 Orthodox Christians in Rilian, and the rest are Buddhists from Mahayana, Tibet and South China. There are more than 500 Buddhist organizations (including more than 40 national organizations), nearly 100 temples and thousands of Buddhist temples and meditation centers.

Buddhism has been introduced to the United States for more than one hundred years. /kloc-In the second half of the 0/9th century, Japan expanded to the Pacific region, and Buddhism entered the Hawaiian Islands with Japanese immigrants. Then it was introduced to San Francisco and other places. At the same time, Buddhism in China began to be introduced. Believers at that time were mainly Japanese, China and Asian expatriates. Theosophical Society 1875 was founded in new york, publishing books, giving lectures and promoting Buddhism. After the World Religious Congress was held in Chicago from 65438 to 0893, the American branch of Mahabodhi was founded. 1899 Japanese pure land Sect established a central temple in the United States. /kloc-From the end of 0/9 to the beginning of the 20th century, temples integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism appeared in Chinatown in the United States for China immigrants to burn incense and worship. By the end of 1930s, Japan's Pure Land Sect, Pure Land Sect, Rilian Sect, Neo-Zen Sect, etc. A temple was established in America. Many big cities in the United States have monks and believers, and even whites participate in meditation. During World War II, the missionary activities of Japanese Buddhism in the United States were ordered to stop. 1945 years later, Japanese Buddhism developed on the west coast of the United States and Hawaii, and Buddhism in South Korea and Southeast Asian countries began to influence the United States. In the 1960s, Tibetan Buddhism established monasteries, charities and academic institutions in the United States. In order to adapt to American social habits, the architectural style, prayer form and activity content of Buddhist temples are gradually Americanized. The conference halls of some monasteries are bigger than the monasteries themselves, where young people can play basketball, hold banquets and watch movies.

Islamism

Islam was introduced to the United States in the second half of the19th century. At present, there are about 7 million Muslims (some people think it is 2 million or100000), accounting for about 3.5% of the total population of China. There are about 1000 mosques. American Muslims come from 80 countries. Arab Muslims, immigrants from countries such as India and Pakistan in the South Asian subcontinent and African Muslims (that is, black Muslims in the United States) each account for one third. There are relatively few white Muslims, about 75,000. 19 Muslim immigrants from the Middle East entered the United States on a large scale four times from the 1970s to the 1960s. 1979 After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, about/kloc-0,000,000 Iranians immigrated to the United States. Since the 1990s, a large number of Muslims from dozens of Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Albania, have moved to the United States. The total Muslim population in the United States has increased rapidly, and a number of mosques have been built every year.

American Muslims mainly live in new york City and California, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois and other states 12, but Muslims can be seen all over the United States.

There are four major Muslim political organizations in the United States: American Muslim Association, American-Islamic Relations Association, Muslim Affairs Committee and American Muslim League. In addition, there is the American Muslim Political Coordination Committee composed of representatives of four organizations.

Taoism

Taoism was founded in China. From the Tang Dynasty, it gradually spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Southeast Asia, and then to Europe, North America, Australia and other countries. Besides Christians in China, there are also Taoists among the local residents.

New york, Arizona, California, Hawaii and Houston all have Taoist temples. There are Tiangong and Yingdao Palace in new york, Zhongfu Daoyuan in Arizona, Ziyin Pavilion in San Francisco, California, and Taixuan Daoguan in Hawaii. There is a large-scale Guandi Temple in Houston, which is a classical building in China with cornices and antique appearance. Hou Baoyuan, the host of the Hong Kong Pine Pavilion, established the Taoist American Pine Pavilion and the Taoist American Association in the United States, which expanded the influence of China Taoism overseas.

The rise of Taoist studies in the United States is a factor to promote the spread of Taoism in the United States. Taoist studies in the United States began in the19th century, and were first introduced to the American public by Christian missionaries in the form of social investigation reports. Later, some American scholars studied China's Taoist monographs (such as China's alchemy test) and translated Taoist classics (such as Bao Puzi's Inner Chapter) and published them in the United States. Many China scholars have also publicized Taoist thoughts and knowledge to the American people through monographs, papers and translations.

Except for these great religions, almost all the major religions in the world have followers in the United States.

Author: That Source: Guizhou National Daily