In my post Religious diversity & its discontents<\/a> I referred to America as a “Protestant nation.” This caused some confusion because as regular readers know I’m not too focused on theology, as opposed to historical and evolutionary continuity. For example, the fact that every colonial and early republican era Unitarian Church in New England used to be a Congregational Church excepting King’s Chapel<\/a> is extremely significant to me. American Unitarianism was predominantly Christian until the 20th century (this nation has had 4 Unitarian presidents, though Thomas Jefferson was certainly a closeted Unitarian in terms of his personal beliefs), and theologically had some affinities with the latitudinarianism of Anglicanism (the “Broad Church”). But in terms of its history, institutions and cultural outlook it was a product of Calvinist New England.<\/p>\n I just finished Kevin Phillips’ The Cousin’s Wars<\/a>, and he gives the statistic that at the time of the American Revolution ~60% of Americans were adherents of dissenting Protestant sects, while only 5-10% of English were (both these numbers are likely underestimates, insofar as exclusions upon dissenters in England probably resulted in many adhering to the Anglican Church, while in regions like Virginia the aristocracy hewed to their customary Anglicanism despite personal heterodoxy of belief which would have made them dissenters). You can read Phillips’ book for his full argument, but in short he argues that there has been a centuries long conflict which organizes itself along the divisions which first came to the fore in the early 17th century between Puritans and Cavaliers. This chasm is descriptively obvious, copiously documented in works of scholarship such as Albion’s Seed<\/a>.<\/p>\n What stuck me in hindsight is Phillips’ review of the data which suggests that there was a strong tendency among Protestant immigrants from European nations to assimilate to the Anglo-Saxon folkways which they encountered in the United States.<\/strong> This is why metaphors such as “the melting pot,” “salad bowl” or “stew” as a model for American cultural evolution mislead, they deny the consistent hegemonic role played by Anglo-Saxon cultures. As an example, below are the results from the General Social Survey on the denominational breakdown for the 2\/3 of German Americans who label themselves Protestant. Though the traditional Lutheran church is prominent, the majority of German American Protestants now affiliate with sects of British origin. Assuming that 1\/2 of the “Other” are various Reformed & Calvinist and Mennonite groups you get about ~1\/3 of German Protestants adhering to their “ancestral” religions (I think I’m being very generous in regards to the proportion of non-Lutheran Protestants). The frequency for German Americans who are Roman Catholic is ~21%, which seems a bit on the low side. I assume there has been some erosion to dissenting Protestantism from this group as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my post Religious diversity & its discontents I referred to America as a “Protestant nation.” This caused some confusion because as regular readers know I’m not too focused on theology, as opposed to historical and evolutionary continuity. For example, … Continue reading
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German American Protestants
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<\/TD> <\/TR> Denomination<\/em><\/TD> Frequency<\/em><\/TD> <\/TR> Baptist<\/TD> 19.3<\/TD> <\/TR> Methodist<\/TD> 17.5<\/TD> <\/TR> Lutheran<\/TD> 26.2<\/TD> <\/TR> Presbyterian<\/TD> 7.2<\/TD> <\/TR> Episcopal<\/TD> 3<\/TD> <\/TR> Other<\/TD> 18.8<\/TD> <\/TR> No Denomination<\/TD> 8.1<\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TBODY><\/TABLE><\/p>\n