In the United States, religion is widely diversified in that; there is a wide range of religious beliefs and practices, and many of these religious faiths have flourished in this country. A large number of Americans have reported that religion is a vital part of their being. This is because it plays a major role in their lives by strongly influencing one’s character, personality, and moral behavior. Statistics show that 70.6% of Americans identify themselves with the Christian religion while 6% of the population belong to other religions including Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and the Islam faith.
Veit Bader, a professor of Sociology and of Social and Political Philosophy, is presently a leader in a project based on Religious Diversity. It focuses on the governance of religious diversity, which includes the mechanisms of governing or action coordination and undertaken by a government, market, or organization. He argues that there are various challenges to the governance of religious diversity. One of the key challenges is immigration. Immigrants often bring rise to strange religious beliefs and practices and may lead to the reconceptualization of religion that may lead to the subsequent change of the already established institutional arrangements of religion (Bader, 2007). Also, immigrants come as a challenge for the social sciences and political theory, verifying the explosion of social scientific studies of religion and migration.
Anthropologists of religion have also explored the changes in religion that may be influenced by conditions of post-colonialism. Before colonization, people practice traditional religion but colonialists bring about new religious beliefs and practices that eventually lead to changes in religion among people.
References
Bader, V. (2007). Secularism or democracy?: Associational governance of religious diversity. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
