Religion in America: The Basics

200 Pages·2023·5.396 MB·English

by  Michael Pasquier

RELIGION IN AMERICA
THE BASICS
Religion in America: The Basics is a concise introduction to the his-
torical development of religions in the United States.
It is an invitation to explore the complex tapestry of religious
beliefs and practices that shaped life in North America from the
colonial encounters of the fifteenth century to the culture wars of
the twenty-first century. Far from a people unified around a com-
mon understanding of Christianity, Religion in America: The Basics
tracks the steady diversification of the American religious land-
scape and the many religious conflicts that have changed American
society. At the same time, it explores how Americans from a vari-
ety of religious backgrounds worked together to face the challenges
of racism, poverty, war, and other social concerns.
This thoroughly revised second edition now covers the Obama
and Trump administrations, Black Lives Matter, Christian national-
ism, pluralism, and the development of the “nones” and the “unaffil-
iated.” With each chapter featuring concise summaries and suggested
further readings, this book is an invaluable resource for students
approaching the history of religion in America for the first time.
Michael Pasquier is Professor of Religious Studies and History at
Louisiana State University. His work on the history of religion in
America has been supported by the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Whiting Foundation.
THE BASICS SERIES
The Basics is a highly successful series of accessible guidebooks
which provide an overview of the fundamental principles of a sub-
ject area in a jargon-free and undaunting format.
Intended for students approaching a subject for the first time, the
books both introduce the essentials of a subject and provide an ideal
springboard for further study. With over 50 titles spanning subjects
from artificial intelligence (AI) to women’s studies, The Basics are an
ideal starting point for students seeking to understand a subject area.
Each text comes with recommendations for further study and
gradually introduces the complexities and nuances within a subject.
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY (second edition) DIGITAL RELIGION
RICHARD MARTIN HEIDI A. CAMPBELL AND WENDI BELLAR
PLAY DIRECTING DRAMATURGY
DAMON KIELY ANNE M. HAMILTON AND WALTER
BYONGSOK CHON
ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEORY
ROBERT CHAPMAN HINDUISM
NEELIMA SHUKLA-BHATT
INFORMATION SCIENCE
JUDITH PINTAR AND DAVID HOPPING RELIGION IN AMERICA (second edition)
MICHAEL PASQUIER
DEATH AND RELIGION
CANDI K. CANN FINANCE (fourth edition)
ERIK BANKS
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.
com/The-Basics/book-series/B
RELIGION IN AMERICA
THE BASICS
Second Edition
Michael Pasquier
Designed cover image: Getty; Bettmann
Second edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Michael Pasquier
The right of Michael Pasquier to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2016
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-367-69179-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-69180-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-14073-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003140733
Typeset in Bembo and Scala Sans
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
CONTENTS
Note on Second Edition vii
1. Introduction 1
Approaches to the Study of Religion 3
Studying Religion in America 7
Further Reading 8
2. The History and Memory of Religion in America 10
Church History and the Protestant Moral Establishment 12
Contested Narratives in the Era of Church History 14
The Challenge of American Religious History 18
Public Memory and Civil Religion 21
Further Reading 25
3. Religion and Colonialism in Early America, 1400s to 1770s 26
Native American Religions 27
African Religions 29
European Reformations 32
Spanish Catholicism and Colonization 36
French Catholicism and Colonization 41
vi
CONTENTS
English Protestantism and Colonization 46
The Great Awakening and Evangelical Protestantism 52
Further Reading 58
4. Religion in a New Nation, 1770s to 1860s 61
Faith, Reason, and Revolution 62
Denominational Life and the Second Great Awakening 64
Slavery, Abolitionism, and Civil War 69
Religious Experimentation and New Religious Movements 75
Immigration, Expansion, and Religious Diversity 80
Further Reading 89
5. Religion in a Modernizing America, 1860s to 1920s 91
Religion and Race after the Civil War 92
White Protestant Alliances and Divisions 97
European Immigration and Ethnic Diversity 104
Asian and Native American Religions 108
Further Reading 115
6. Religious Diversity in a Globalizing America, 1920s to 2000s 117
The Great Depression and the Interwar Years 118
World War II and the Judeo-Christian Tradition 122
Social Discontent and Religious Reform 128
White Christian Conservatism and the Religious Right 138
New Immigration and Religious Pluralism 144
Further Reading 152
7. Religion in America after 9/11 155
National Tragedy and the Limits of Religious Unity 157
Hope, Race, and Rage 163
Religious Pluralism as an Ideal 178
More Questions than Answers 181
Further Reading 182
Index 183
NOTE ON SECOND EDITION
The first edition of Religion in America: The Basics came out in 2016.
Much about American religion has changed since then. But a lot
has stayed the same. This updated edition takes us through the first
two decades of the twenty-first century – from the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001, to the attempted insurrection at the U.S.
Capitol on January 6, 2021. My hope is that our knowledge of U.S.
religious history will help us understand the recent past, less as an
era of aberration and exceptionalism, and more as a reflection of the
persistent entanglement of religion, race, and politics in American
life. I’m not saying that history repeats itself. That would be intel-
lectually lazy of me. I’m saying that the study of religion isn’t just
about religion, especially when we’re talking about religion in the
United States. I’m saying that race and racism are real American
experiences. And I’m saying that political ideologies often merge so
closely with religious affiliations that it’s sometimes difficult to dis-
tinguish between the two. I love thinking about religion in America
precisely because of these connections. They bring me joy. They
make me angry. They confuse me. They shape me. I suspect they
do the same to you. As such, this book is dedicated to your children
and to mine.

6
1
INTRODUCTION
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) – a sociologist and cultural critic of
American life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries –
offered incisive and at times controversial commentary on the role
of religion in the United States. Well known for his 1903 book
The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois made a distinction between the
concepts of “church” and “religion.” A church, he wrote in his
magazine The Crisis in 1933, is an organization that regulates the
creedal beliefs, worship practices, financial obligations, and ethical
goals of a group. He saw churches as human institutions grounded
in social reality, complete with all the hopes and frailties that come
with any human endeavor. Religion was for Du Bois a theory
about the ultimate concerns of humanity and moral questions of
right and wrong. Such a theory of religion permitted Du Bois to
recognize the plurality of truth claims, the dangers associated with
confessional exclusivity, and how the influences of religious beliefs
and practices extended well beyond the walls of churches.
The lives of most interest to Du Bois were those of African
Americans. In a chapter of The Souls of Black Folk entitled “Of the
Faith of the Fathers,” Du Bois identified African American churches
“as the social centre of Negro life in the United States.” He
described the historical development of African American churches
DOI: 10.4324/9781003140733-1