A Nation with the Soul of a Church? The Strange Career of Religion in America
A View from Europe
Abstract
American religiosity is a mystery to most Europeans. The difference derives from several historical contradictions: The founding myths of America were pre- and post-millenarian, based on predestination and on progress. Whereas the European revolutions stood opposed to religion, the American did not. While the First Amendment forbad the establishment of religion, it guaranteed each citizen the free exercise thereof. Though America became the spearhead of modernization (and hence, Max Weber would argue, of secularization) the lure of religious freedom made it the home to all "dissenting faiths of Europe" and to an indigenous religious revivalism. In short, the very separation of church and state caused the enormous flowering of religion in the free market of popular opinion.
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