Abstract
This paper explores the establishment of the religion in North America. It suggests short statistics of religion in this region and gives short description of each of them. As a result, it was founded that the most widespread religion in North America is Christianity. Others include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Baptism, Atheism etc.
Key-words: religion, North America, Christianity
Pending the European Colonization, native peoples of America worshiped totems and believed in magic. First religion appeared here with the arrival of British colonists in the XV century. It was Christianity in form of Catholicism in the Middle and South America. Along with it in North America was implemented Protestantism.
Nowadays, most people in North America are Christians. However, Northern American countries hold the first place in the world according to the number of religious organizations and religious diversity. The religious history of this region is very rich due to historical and sociological events. Very often study of this region comes to study of the USA. Many people in this region say that religion plays a really important role in their lives. But still, 20 percent of them are non-religious of haven’t decided this question for themselves yet. Still, this region has the largest number of people who visits churches every week as compared to the European countries. Perhaps the reason for it is the way religion is represented in these two parts of the planet. In the European countries people treat it like a kind of a duty, the atmosphere in churches is quite sorrowful and sad. On the other hand in the US people are pleased to visit churches, the atmosphere is friendly and kind. It is also very important that religion in the Northern American countries becomes more and more popular among young people, while in the Europe it is popular for the most part among middle-age people.
Looking at each of the Northern American countries we receive the following:
- In Canada:
- Christianity – 67.3%
- Islam – 3.2%
- Hinduism – 1.5%
- Sikhism – 1.4%
- Buddhism – 1.1%
- Judaism – 1.0%
- Other religions – 0.6%
- Non-religious – 23.9%
- In the United States:
- Christianity – 76%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Not Stated – 5%
- Non-religious – 15%
- In Mexico:
- Catholics – 82.7%
- Other Christians – 9.7%
- Other religions – 2.9%
- Non-religious – 4.7%
- In Cuba:
- Catholics – 40%
- Other religions – 5%
- Atheists – 55%
- In Haiti:
- Roman Catholic – 80%
- Protestant – 16%
- Other religions – 3%
- Non-religious – 1%
- In the Dominican Republic:
- Catholics – 95%
- Other religions – 5%
- Trinidad and Tobago:
- Christianity – 63.4%
- Hinduism – 18.1%
- Islam – 5.0%
- Not stated – 13.3%
- In Nicaragua:
- Roman Catholics – 58.5%
- Evangelicalisms – 21.6%
- Moravians – 1.6%
- Jehovah’s Witnesses – 0.9%
- Other religions – 1.6%
- Non-religious – 15.7%
Christianity. World’s largest religion. An outstanding feature of this religion is monotheism. People believe in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and now watches us from the Heaven. Originates from the Roman Empire. This religion is divided into three large groups: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
Islam. The second largest religion in the world. It is also monotheistic. Originates from the doctrine of Mohammed. Muslims live for the most part in Asia and Africa. Islam has a very important role in modern political life of the global society. This religion is divided into two large groups: Sunizm and Shiism.
Hinduism. The third largest religion in the world. It is the oldest known religion, which originates from the Veda Civilization. It consists of different religious traditions based on monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, monism, atheism and etc. It does not have a single founder.
Buddhism. One of the world’s religions, which originates from India and is wide-spread in Asia. Its founder is Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. It is a polytheistic religion.
Judaism. One of the oldest monotheistic religions. Judaists believe in God. It is similar to Christianity, but in this religion people believe that Jesus and Mohammed were ordinary people.
Sikhism. Combines Hinduism and Islam. Originates from Punjab. Was established by Nanak.
Jehovah’s Witnesses. A religious group established in 1972 in the United States of America by Charles Russell. People believe in their own interpretation of the Bible.
Baptism. A part of Protestantism. First Baptists did not agree with the actions of the Catholic Church and thus established their own movement.
Atheism. An ideology, characterized by the absence of belief in any gods and supernatural powers. Was established in the Middle Ages.
As we can see different religions are popular in the Northern America. But the dominant one is definitely Christianity. It is most widespread in the USA and Canada, which occupy the largest part in Northern America. The first reason for that are historical events. I mean British colonization at the very beginning of American history. When the British colonists first arrived, they started implementing new religion, which quickly became popular. And the second major reason is the number of immigrants to Northern American countries from Europe, which are mostly Christians. There are many other religions in North America, but they are not so popular and do not change the statistics much. Among them: Kaldanism, Zoroastrianism, Vodou, Thelema, Shito, Caodaism, Kemetism etc. Due to a large number of immigrants new religions appear in the Nothern America but none of them is likely to become more popular than Christianity.
References
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 6, 2014 from the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jaffee, David. (October 2004) "Religion and Culture in North America, 1600–1700". Retrieved from: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/recu/hd_recu.htm
