[JerryS]

American society is very broad, and any generalizations are going to apply rather poorly. We are much more diverse than most nations: even those nations with substantial minorities tend to have an ‘official’ culture. China, for example, has many minorities with different religions and languages and traditions, but there has always been an understood definition of what being ‘Chinese’ means. Egypt has Muslims and Christians, and as I understand it is officially secular, but Islam pretty much rules daily life. The United States is not like that. Even in colonial times, the people who founded the different colonies were as interested in separating themselves from each other as anything else. You had a Catholic colony, a Quaker colony and several colonies with different Protestant denominations. As a result, the government is officially unaligned and there is no consensus as to what the majority religion is. (Yes, most people are Christians; but while to a non-Christian that makes them all alike, to each other they are very different.) That being said, most Americans would say they are religious; it’s the diversity that makes it seem otherwise to outsiders. A religious Jew, a religious Catholic, a religious Evangelical Baptist and a religious Muslim would share many core beliefs, but their practices would be very different. Fundamentalist Protestantism does predominate in the South and Midwest, and that’s where you’re more likely to see religious beliefs affecting local public policy.

User Detail :  

Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,