英美文化06 American Religion and Beliefs.docVIP

American Religion and beliefs A General Description In England, leaving aside the Catholics, four-fifths of the people go to church less than once a month, Yet half of American Protestants are active church members and they seldom stay away from churches. In Europe scientific and economic advance have been accompanied by a decline in religious observance (遵守宗教礼仪), but in America this has not happened. Religion for most people is important mainly as a means of getting together. The Bill of Rights in the United States constitution insists in its very first article that there should be no state religion, complete freedom of belief has been guarded from the beginning. The constitution seems to imply that public educational institutions should not provide religious instruction as part of the regular curriculum, and the Supreme Court delivered a ruling 裁决to the effect that religious instruction in public schools was against the Constitution. Three-Fourths of Americans (According to a census in 1990, the United States has a population of 250 million, and in 2000, 281 million, now estimated 310 million.) believe in various sects of Christianity, and only a small minority believe in other beliefs. Although people of British origin are by now a small minority among foreign-born Americans, about half of all Americans have a link with Britain through their religion, this well illustrates the British influence on American culture. Protestantism More than half (another figure puts it as three-fifths, please refer to朱永涛, 350) of the Americans believe in Protestantism, but this is only a vague nomination and there are distinct churches in this large branch. About two-thirds of the Protestants belong to denominations which had their origins wholly or mainly in Britain: Baptists, 浸信会Methodists, 卫理公会,循道宗Presbyterians长老会 (mainly from Scotland), with much smaller number of Unitarians ( 基督教唯一神教派, 反对三位一体的说法) , Society of Friends, 贵格会, 公谊会and Salvation Army. 救世军,基督教的一种传教国际救助和慈善组织,编