Why are some Americans more religious than European counterparts?
Upvote:4
traditionally, Europeans were told what to believe in, Americans came to American to believe in things of their own choosing.
Of course this is not wholly the case any more, many European countries are as religiously liberal as the US are now. But a strong monoculture exists in those countries still, with the majority of churches being of a specific denomination.
And of course at least on paper many European countries still have an "official religion", usually the one held to by their royal family.
Enforcement of these religions on the population may no longer happen, but remember that the last of the organisations like the Spanish Inquisition were disbanded only a few decades ago (though the Spanish Inquisition was officially ended in 1834, some of the laws under which it and similar organisations elsewhere operated existed well into the 20th century).
Many would flee from such things, often to the Americas. The sacrifice of doing so was high, high enough that it stands to reason that it would be those of very strong religious beliefs would be the more likely to go to the Americas rather than convert (at least in public) to the official religion of their home countries.
Leaving everything behind for an uncertain future in a rough, violent, country, rejected by your friends and family, probably with a death sentence over your head if you give up to return to Europe isn't something for the faint of heart.
And those of strong religious conviction (rather than those who are religious in order to be accepted by their society) are more likely to pass on that conviction to their children.
More post
- 📝 Why did the US use so much ordnance during the Vietnam War?
- 📝 How did East Indies oil lose its "top billing" in the Pacific War as the war went on?
- 📝 Which German cities does this article in The Economist allege that Britain destroyed?
- 📝 Is there any footage and/or photos of Germans surrendering towns and cities in the Western Front?
- 📝 Mnemonics for centures or any other longer periods, like Zodiac signs other than Chinese?
- 📝 Did small rural newspaper offices in 1895 use rotary presses with rolls of paper or sheets?
- 📝 How did the check pattern help with financial computations?
- 📝 How to make a proper chiton and himation?
- 📝 What was regicide conspiracy and what was the role of Djordje Gencic in it?
- 📝 Were there regionalist/independentist movements or feelings in mid-19th century Spain?
- 📝 Has historical revisionism ever led to problems in history?
- 📝 Were women allowed to study at the Library of Alexandria?
- 📝 Couldn't Japan have solved the problem of drifting at sea?
- 📝 Were Roman emperors officially considered kings of Egypt?
- 📝 Was the United States meant to be a confederation of states?
- 📝 When did Hinduism forbid overseas travel?
- 📝 What happened to schizophrenics in the USSR?
- 📝 Are state funerals always held on a Monday?
- 📝 What was the relation between the biblical king Herod and the Parthian king Orodes II?
- 📝 Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
- 📝 Who is Brezhnev's aide on this 1978 photo?
- 📝 Were there any generals in history who were willing to risk "half their army" in order win the war quickly?
- 📝 Did Joseph II introduce the presumption of innocence in his legal code?
- 📝 Ancient origins of women's day?
- 📝 How did the US abolition of slavery affect the cotton exports?
- 📝 Is there a historical precedent to the vaccine scare?
- 📝 What was Finland's position in World War Two?
- 📝 Which texts/works were lost due to the Mongol invasions of Baghdad?
- 📝 How were borders patrolled in history? They seem too large to patrol
- 📝 Are there any good records about the alleged 17th Century bucaneer Vincenzo Alessandri?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why are some Americans more religious than European counterparts?
- 📝 Why are some cultures historically more modest than others?
- 📝 Why are so many metros underground? Isn't that more expensive than an elevated system?
- 📝 Why did European countries become more economically advanced than non European countries?
- 📝 Are Western European countries more ethnically heterogenous than 100 years ago?
- 📝 Why were some German and Japanese cities bombed more than others during WW2? Is there a scientific consensus?
- 📝 Why some countries have more than one name?
- 📝 Why there are more people of red hair among Arabs than Mongols when both populations are naturally born with dark hair?
- 📝 Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
- 📝 Why were so many more Jewish men than Jewish women killed during the Holocaust?
- 📝 Why does Latin America have a higher number of surviving Native Americans than North America?
- 📝 Is it true that there are more slaves in the world now than ever at one point in history?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why did baseball become more popular than cricket in the USA?
- 📝 Why are some later Mayan scripts unintelligible to archaeologists, while earlier ones can be read?
- 📝 Why do land mines seem to be a more serious problem in the Balkans than the Alps?
- 📝 Why were the Prague Spring leaders treated more leniently than Nagy and his colleagues?
- 📝 Are Americans More Obsessed With the Military Aspect of History? If so, why?
- 📝 Why are some amphoras pointed on the bottom?
- 📝 Why are some Pharaohs depicted wearing the red or the white crowns even after the unification of Egypt?
- 📝 Why was ancient Christianity more successful than the Roman pantheon and Judaism in gaining followers?
- 📝 Why were there more Muslims in East Bengal than in West Bengal
- 📝 Why was immigration from France to the United States lower than from some other countries?
- 📝 Why does the parish register show more baptisms than burials?
- 📝 Why were the cities of the Eastern European Plain founded much later than those elsewhere in Europe?
- 📝 Were some Yugoslav "nationalities" more pro-Axis/Allied than others during World War II
- 📝 Why does Brazil have many more Italian descendants than the U.S. or Argentina when the latter two received more Italian immigrants?
- 📝 Why are the facades of some residential buildings in Paris, France, tilted?
- 📝 Why were northern Native Americans less urban than central or southern?
- 📝 Why was East Asia more religiously tolerant than Europe in medieval time?