Why is Christianity more pronounced in the U.S. than the rest of Western society?

[koshergrl]

European countries come from a history of pagan perspective. They were tribal savages initially, civilized and educated by the church....but by tradition non Christian. They did not leave to create a free, godly society, which is what makes them different.

 

[cnm]

Which is why we developed into the safest, most free, most prosperous country the world has ever seen.

With the highest rate of homicides and imprisoned among developed nations?

 

[cnm]

No connection between Christianity, and what being a Christian means. None, whatsoever.

What is your point, that unless a religious adherent meets your standards they are not actually members of their purported religion?

Or that the US is not a religious country?

Or that the US is not a Christian country?

Or all of the above?

 

[koshergrl]

Which is why we developed into the safest, most free, most prosperous country the world has ever seen.

With the highest rate of homicides and imprisoned among developed nations?

All that proves is that we have effective justice and prison systems.

 

[koshergrl]

No connection between Christianity, and what being a Christian means. None, whatsoever.

What is your point, that unless a religious adherent meets your standards they are not actually members of their purported religion?

Or that the US is not a religious country?

Or that the US is not a Christian country?

Or all of the above?

Wow you sound like an anti Christian zealot. You seem really, scarily angry.

 

[cnm]

With the highest rate of homicides and imprisoned among developed nations?

The highest rate of homicides among developed nations shows you have an effective justice and prison system? Doesn't sound Kosher.

Nor does having the highest rate of imprisonment strike me as very Christian.

 

[cnm]

But anyway, what would you say his point was? That the US is not really Christian?

What sort of zealotry would that be? An anti heretic zealot?

 

[g5000]

Christianity appeared and the Middle East and spread in Europe profoundly.
Taking into consideration the severe years of inquisition I may suppose that Europe should be far more "Christian" than the USA...
Americans tend to follow the traditions and the belief of Christianity a lot more than the rest of Western civilization. How can this be?

I can tell you exactly why this is.

Actually, there's another guy who can tell you exactly why this is, and he explained it 180 years ago. And his explanation stands as a warning to us today:

"On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country. My desire to discover the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it I questioned the members of all the different sects; I sought especially the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries of the different creeds and are especially interested in their duration. As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I was more particularly brought into contact with several of its priests, with whom I became intimately acquainted. To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and explained my doubts. I found that they differed upon matters of detail alone, and that they all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point."


He says more about this further down:

"The unbelievers of Europe attack the Christians as their political opponents rather than as their religious adversaries; they hate the Christian religion as the opinion of a party much more than as an error of belief; and they reject the clergy less because they are the representatives of the Deity than because they are the allies of government.

"In Europe, Christianity has been intimately united to the powers of the earth. Those powers are now in decay, and it is, as it were, buried under their ruins. The living body of religion has been bound down to the dead corpse of superannuated polity; cut but the bonds that restrain it, and it will rise once more. I do not know what could restore the Christian church of Europe to the energy of its earlier days; that power belongs to God alone; but it may be for human policy to leave to faith the full exercise of the strength which it still retains."

 

[Teddy Pollins]

I have a personal understanding of this phenomena. America was founded during the Enlightenment when Europe was weening itself off of Christianity. Maybe moving across the ocean to settle in the New World interrupted that process.

 

[g5000]

I have a personal understanding of this phenomena. America was founded during the Enlightenment when Europe was weening itself off of Christianity. Maybe moving across the ocean to settle in the New World interrupted that process.

Quite the opposite. They came here specifically to keep their faith and the Enlightenment alive. The monarchs of Europe resisted the Enlightenment and its democratic principles. Freedom was born HERE, not in Europe.

"The settlers who established themselves on the shores of New England all belonged to the more independent classes of their native country. Their union on the soil of America at once presented the singular phenomenon of a society containing neither lords nor common people, and we may almost say neither rich nor poor. These men possessed, in proportion to their number, a greater mass of intelligence than is to be found in any European nation of our own time. All, perhaps without a single exception, had received a good education, and many of them were known in Europe for their talents and their acquirements. The other colonies had been founded by adventurers without families; the immigrants of New England brought with them the best elements of order and morality; they landed on the desert coast accompanied by their wives and children. But what especially distinguished them from all others was the aim of their undertaking. They had not been obliged by necessity to leave their country; the social position they abandoned was one to be regretted, and their means of subsistence were certain. Nor did they cross the Atlantic to improve their situation or to increase their wealth; it was a purely intellectual craving that called them from the comforts of their former homes; and in facing the inevitable . sufferings of exile their object was the triumph of an idea.

"The immigrants, or, as they deservedly styled themselves, the Pilgrims, belonged to that English sect the austerity of whose principles had acquired for them the name of Puritans. Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories. It was this tendency that had aroused its most dangerous adversaries. Persecuted by the government of the mother country, and disgusted by the habits of a society which the rigor of their own principles condemned, the Puritans went forth to seek some rude and unfrequented part of the world where they could live according to their own opinions and worship God in freedom."

 

[koshergrl]

With the highest rate of homicides and imprisoned among developed nations?

The highest rate of homicides among developed nations shows you have an effective justice and prison system? Doesn't sound Kosher.

Nor does having the highest rate of imprisonment strike me as very Christian.

We don't have the highest rate of homicides. We have the highest rate of REPORTED/IDENTIFIED homicides, and we have the highest rate of catching criminals. So it doesn't sound to me like you have a clue what you're talking about. Not surprising, since you're a bigoted moron.

 

[g5000]

Which is why we developed into the safest, most free, most prosperous country the world has ever seen.

With the highest rate of homicides and imprisoned among developed nations?

Notice the carefully chosen qualifer, "developed". Rather than out of all nations, the dipshit attempts to construct a frame which will indict the United States, revealing his bias.

He still loses. Canada has a higher rate of homicide than we do. As does Mexico.

Maybe there is something in the North American soil?

 

[bodecea]

Christianity appeared and the Middle East and spread in Europe profoundly.
Taking into consideration the severe years of inquisition I may suppose that Europe should be far more "Christian" than the USA...
Americans tend to follow the traditions and the belief of Christianity a lot more than the rest of Western civilization. How can this be?

What evidence do you have to back up your assertion that Americans "tend to follow the traditions and the belief of Christianity a lot more"? In my travels thru out the world in the military, I don't find that to be the case at all. A bit arrogant, don't you think?

 

[bodecea]

Christianity appeared and the Middle East and spread in Europe profoundly.
Taking into consideration the severe years of inquisition I may suppose that Europe should be far more "Christian" than the USA...
Americans tend to follow the traditions and the belief of Christianity a lot more than the rest of Western civilization. How can this be?

I would suggest that one possible reason is that in America religion has never been directly sanctioned by the state. That isn't to suggest that values based on religion have not been 'promoted' by those in office, but that there has never been a law directly imposing one religious view.

One of the reasons that right-wing people like myself, want government involved in as few topics as possible, is that once something is politicized, people hate or oppose a particular topic for no other reason, than because they oppose whoever is in power.

Europe for generations had religion and government intertwined. Thus religion was politicized.

Not so much in America. While there are religious groups that support one view point or another, no one generally identifies one directly with the other. No one says "All Mormons are Republican", or "All Baptists are Democrats".

That said, I would question the claim that America is still Christian. I find that claim to be dubious. Nothing in my experience suggests that is still true. No doubt we have lasted longer than Europe at being Christian, but I'm convinced that period is at an end.

Europe is still Christian...to assume otherwise is again arrogant.

 

[bodecea]

Same reason why we have the lowest math and science scores in the industrialized world.

Americans are just piss ignorant.

To be fair, you have to understand that ALL American students are testing in math and science every year, including the Special Ed students why almost every other industrialized nation only tests their college track students, around the top 30-50%.

 

[bodecea]

Christianity appeared and the Middle East and spread in Europe profoundly.
Taking into consideration the severe years of inquisition I may suppose that Europe should be far more "Christian" than the USA...
Americans tend to follow the traditions and the belief of Christianity a lot more than the rest of Western civilization. How can this be?

The inquisition was hundreds of years ago, brief, and was an example of what happens when the state controls the church.

Brief?

 

[bodecea]

The US was formed as a Christian country. Christians came here to escape persecution and the country was developed via application of Christian philosophy. Which is why we developed into the safest, most free, most prosperous country the world has ever seen.

Some "christians" came to escape persecution...and persecute other. The Puritans and Pilgrims in Massachusetts, the Quakers in Pennsylvania, the Catholics in Maryland. All the others were to make money thru companies or royal charters.

 

[Lakhota]

Maybe it's their tax-exempt status in the U.S.?

 

[cnm]

We have the highest rate of REPORTED/IDENTIFIED homicides, and we have the highest rate of catching criminals. So it doesn't sound to me like you have a clue what you're talking about. Not surprising, since you're a bigoted moron.

You have the highest rate of imprisoned and of homicides among developed nations. If that fits your claim of safest and most free I can understand why you think it's kosher.

 

[cnm]

Notice the carefully chosen qualifer, "developed". Rather than out of all nations, the dipshit attempts to construct a frame which will indict the United States, revealing his bias.

He still loses. Canada has a higher rate of homicide than we do. As does Mexico.

Maybe there is something in the North American soil?

I can understand why you'd rather be compared to third world nations. Too, I understand why you don't back up your assertions with cites and links.

Canada 1.6

United States 4.7

List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia