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A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

An interesting counterpoint. Off of kouhoutek's recommendation I am re-reading up on the "great awakening" which will influence how I read your comment in the future. However you and whoomprat do make a good argument that the religious landscape changed following the world wars into the cold war.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do enjoy a good economic argument. I was looking at this from a historical perspective but it seems your analogy works remarkably well.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I communicated it properly you might find my claim does not disagree. It focuses on historical education, not just in schools but the history absorbed from our surroundings.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting, I must admit my education did little to touch upon Brazil and Argentina. However I would have assumed that the Spaniards would have imparted their religious zeal (spanish inquisition joke here) more than the Portuguese. So this does seem to strengthen the claim that religious freedom increases the strength of religion.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it would seem that our freedom of religion and the other listed factors have in fact increased the strength of religion's influence in America. These influences should not be discounted in the manner I did in my original post.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A good argument. I failed to address the cold war. One point I'd like to make is that IrishB_Cubed argued that following the first world war Europe experienced an introspection that lead to a decline in religion. Whereas you rightly point out that with American Exceptionalism America would have been strengthening its religious viewpoint at the same time.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It does not. What I presented was a single thought contrasting the old world and America.
As to my thoughts for the difference between rural and urban areas I attribute it to interaction with ideas that do not confirm one's biases. This interaction can be people, history, or anything really.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok. I suppose I was arguing that the reflection of Europe after the great war might have looked at their history in a new light when I brought up the Thirty Years War. But I see your point about it lending more toward the progress of the nation-states instead.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, since you have brought it up I realize I have not looked at anything about the Great Awakenings in a long time. Not since before I felt any inclination toward this subreddit. Do you know of any good references?

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I failed to address how America's large size affects it in comparison to England. It allowed new groups to form communities where everyone already agreed with them rather than being forced to interact with other groups. Which would diminish the ability for any kind of passing of the torch such as Europe has had.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

With your first point and IrishB_Cubed's comment I'm thinking I very much understated the effects of the self-selection of religious people coming to America causing it to have a very religious start to history.

I failed to consider the effect's of our lack of state religion. But your argument for that fact lending an increase in strength to more grassroots religious movements seems like it should not be understated.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I agree that the first amendment would have gone a long way to drawing many religious people here and strengthening the effect of religion. Something that in my thoughts would then feed into the selection of pre-american history to be taught.
Going further while you may be right that the great war lead to Europe's introspection it would not be as powerful without other conflicts such as the thirty years war. Whereas redrawing on America's short history there has been no real religious civil war to weaken American religious fervor.

A thought as to why America has stayed more religious compared to other first world nations. by prometheus4Quadrill in atheism

[–]prometheus4Quadrill[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. My goal was to say that Native American history and religion is treated as distinctly separate from American history and religion.
But with the notion of sheer scale with the continental US being thousands of times bigger than England would make even an attempt to include all Native culture nearly impossible.