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Keep in mind that a lot of people came to America fleeing religious persecution [0]. Many of our ancestors chose to cross the globe and start brand new lives r

Keep in mind that a lot of people came to America fleeing religious persecution [0]. Many of our ancestors chose to cross the globe and start brand new lives rather than give up their religious beliefs. Take a nation made up of very religious people with a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, add in huge supplies of natural resources and a legal/property system designed to encourage development and investment, and after a few centuries you get a prosperous and religious nation. In light of history, it's not that surprising that the US would be an outlier. [0] A few select groups: Puritans from England (1630), Quakers (1680), Anabaptists from Europe (late 1600s-1700s), Catholics from Ireland (late 1800s), Christians from Russia (1917), Jews from Germany (1939).

wnoise 16y ago
You can say that the Puritans fled religious tolerance in England. But the first groups went to the Netherlands. There, they eventually couldn't stand how their neighbors were socially influencing their kids to be more tolerant. They felt they were blending in and losing their identity. When they then went to America, in a sense what they were fleeing was religious _tolerance_. (There were other groups that went directly to America, of course).
- leot 16y ago
  Interesting -- the fact that the US is physically large may thus have contributed to religiosity: people could more easily choose to raise their children "free" from the nefarious influences of people who were different. (c.f. "group polarization" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_polarization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_polarization )
zeteo 16y ago
Since you're mentioning the denomination for everyone else, Russian Christians = Eastern Orthodox.
- lotharbot 16y ago
  There were several Christian denominations who fled from western Europe to Russia during the time of Catherine the Great, as she provided them with asylum. Many of those groups fled from Russia starting in 1917, including Eastern Orthodox, Jesuits, Mennonites, and many others Christian denominations, as well as quite a few Jews.
  - zeteo 16y ago
    I see your point about Catherine the Great and Mennonites, however: Jesuits = an order, not a denomination; Jesuits are Catholics Eastern Orthodox = 90+% of Russians belong to this denomination; not one of the groups welcomed by Catherine and fleeing later

wnoise 16y ago

You can say that the Puritans fled religious tolerance in England. But the first groups went to the Netherlands. There, they eventually couldn't stand how their neighbors were socially influencing their kids to be more tolerant. They felt they were blending in and losing their identity. When they then went to America, in a sense what they were fleeing was religious _tolerance_. (There were other groups that went directly to America, of course).

leot 16y ago
Interesting -- the fact that the US is physically large may thus have contributed to religiosity: people could more easily choose to raise their children "free" from the nefarious influences of people who were different. (c.f. "group polarization" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_polarization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_polarization )

zeteo 16y ago

Since you're mentioning the denomination for everyone else, Russian Christians = Eastern Orthodox.

lotharbot 16y ago
There were several Christian denominations who fled from western Europe to Russia during the time of Catherine the Great, as she provided them with asylum. Many of those groups fled from Russia starting in 1917, including Eastern Orthodox, Jesuits, Mennonites, and many others Christian denominations, as well as quite a few Jews.
- zeteo 16y ago
  I see your point about Catherine the Great and Mennonites, however: Jesuits = an order, not a denomination; Jesuits are Catholics Eastern Orthodox = 90+% of Russians belong to this denomination; not one of the groups welcomed by Catherine and fleeing later