<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >
A brief overview of religious distribution in the Americas

Introduction

The Americas are divided in a Northern and Southern continent and comprise many different countries, the major ones in North America being Canada, the United States of America and Mexico – and in the South, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. The major religions in these countries today are still the religions which were brought by colonists from Europe.

North america

In the United States, with its history of British colonisation and immigration from all over Europe, half of the population belong to about 900 Protestant churches, and about a quarter of the population are Roman Catholics. No single Protestant church in the USA is larger than the Roman Catholic Church. The Jewish adherents number less than ten per cent but this is the largest concentration of Jews In the world - by one estimate, there are as many Jews in New York City as there are in Israel. Since the revision of immigration laws, which banned Asian immigration to the USA, in 1965, a steady stream of immigrants together with religious teachers and missionaries have arrived from Asia and has led to sizeable numbers of adherents to Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

The group that has grown the most in recent years is those who belong to no religion (this now stands at about 20 per cent) although these people are not necessarily atheists. Many still believe in God and think of themselves as spiritual despite avoiding organised religion.

When compared with European statistics Americans are more religious with 97 per cent saying they believe in God and about half of them reporting that they attend church services weekly, but only a quarter declared themselves "deeply religious".

In Canada, where there were mainly English and French immigrants, about half of the population are Roman Catholic (from the French stream) and 36 per cent Protestants (from the English immigrants). Once again. as in other Western countries, more Canadians than ever are reporting no religious affiliation

Three quarters of the Canadians who list themselves as not belonging to any religion, are under the age of 45 – but 40 per cent of these people actually believe in a God who cares about them personally.

Mexico lies just south of the United States and was colonised by Spain in the early sixteenth century. Ever since that time, Roman Catholicism has had a strong influence on the country. Today 90 per cent of Mexicans belong to the Roman Catholic Church, and just a tiny group to Protestant denominations – mostly of a Pentecostal variety.

South america

With regard to the countries of South America, the pattern is the same as in Northern America inasmuch as the religion of the colonisers (Spain and Portugal) have all but wiped out the traditional religions of the sub–continent, both the religions of great Andean civilisations such as the Incas and those practised by tribes deep in the Amazon rain forest. In Brazil, the largest country in South America, three–quarters of the population belong to the Roman Catholic Church, and in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela the percentages are even higher. Lately Protestantism, particularly of the Pentecostal/Evangelical variety, has made some inroads, but still Protestants remain in the minority. The way evangelicalism is growing in Brazil, though, that might no longer be true by the time you read this. One or two Brazilian pentecostal churches are even being exported: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, for example, has branches in South Africa, where it evangelises in inner-city environments.

An interesting development that has its roots in this part of the world is Liberation Theology, which emphasises that the church should lead the struggle against oppressors for a better life on earth. A number of Catholic and Protestant theologians led the way in countries such as Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and Argentina in protesting, on theological grounds, the way in which the poor masses of the rural and large urban slums were treated in these countries. The movement eventually brought people together in Christian–based communities, to study the Bible and to fight for social justice. This movement also had an influence on the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, Learning about religion. OpenStax CNX. Apr 18, 2015 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11780/1.1
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'Learning about religion' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask