Religious Diversity in the United States

Religious diversity in the United States
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Introduction
Religious diversity in the United States can be traced back to 1776 when the British rule came to an end (Balmer, 2015). The idea of religious liberty was taken more seriously when the diversity of American religion was enhanced to a great extent by the Revolution that was taking place in the country. The Great Awakening that was characterized by religious revival was made possible by the fact that religious liberty was allowed in the country even before independence. There was a great evangelical movement in the country during the Great Awakening period under the leadership of George Whitefield and this gave rise to new ideas such spiritual liberty (Balmer, 2015). Before the evangelical movement came into place, the American religious landscape was completely dominated by European religious assumptions, but this domination was set aside by the Great Awakening. Spiritual liberty provided a perfect chance for religious sects such as the Mormons and numerous religious denominations to come up (Cohen & ‎Numbers, 2013). Churches from the South and the North were later pulled apart from the abolitionist debate that gave rise to fundamentalism in the 19th century. However, religion was revived again in the mid-20th century and since then the American religious landscape has evolved with the emergence of new denominations (Wuthnow, 2011). This article will discuss the scope of religious diversity in the United States.
America’s Religious Pluralism
There is a very high adherence level when it comes to religious practices and beliefs in the U.S and the presence of a wide diversity in religious beliefs has not in any way hindered the peaceful co-existence in the American society (Cohen & ‎Numbers, 2013). Most developed nations do not give religion much attention as it is given in the United States because Americans give religion a lot of importance. The US has a multicultural immigrant heritage and this has made it possible of many religious faiths to flourish in the country (Cohen & ‎Numbers, 2013). When compared to other countries across the world, the United States is the most religiously diverse considering the fact that are other faiths that were founded within the country apart from those brought by immigrants. The issue of religion in never a part of the U.S census and that is why the available data on the composition of various religious groups in the United States is based on independent surveys (Boundless, 2015).
According to some of the surveys conducted in the recent past, the most common religious faiths in the U.S include Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, atheists and those that are not affiliated with any religious group (Boundless, 2015). The majority of the population in the United Sates is affiliated to the Christian religion. The United States has the largest number of Christians in the world and this is attributed to the country’s history and large population. Those who are not affiliated with any religious faith come in second while the third largest religious faith is Judaism (Boundless, 2015). However, the majority of the Americans that are affiliated with the Judaism religion do not do so on religious grounds but on cultural and ethnic grounds. The arrival of African slaves in the United Sates led to the establishment of the Islam religion in the country because it is estimated that 10% of them belonged to the Islamic religion (Boundless, 2015). According to research findings, American Islam is more prosperous and assimilated within the society as compared to European Muslims.
The current Religious Landscape in the United States
It is interesting to know that the majority of the adults in the U.S do not identify themselves with any religious faith and that is why the number of Christians has been on the decline in the recent past (Pewforum.org, 2015). All religions have been affected by the latest trend going by the findings of a recent survey. Many demographic groups continue to experience these changes where Americans of all ages continue to drop their Christian affiliation. A significant number of college graduates, Latinos, Blacks and Whites continue to drop their religious affiliation and a recent research revealed that the number of Christians dropped by close to 8% from 20...