4. Religions in the usa

4.1. Religious Movements in the u.S.

One of the reasons for which many of the first immigrants left England and Germany was to escape religious persecution (such as the Puritans and the Mennonites – a protestant sect named after Simons Menno (1492 – 1559)). The variety of religions increased at the end of the 19^th c. and the beginning of the 20^th c. with the massive influx of immigrants from central and southern Europe.

The majority of the population belongs to one of the 1,000 or so Protestant Churches. Protestants include Baptists, Methodists and Lutherans and each of these groups is divided into smaller ones. Nearly a quarter of the present population is Catholic. Catholics are the single largest religious group. To sum up, more than 90 % of the Americans are Christians.

Judaists are the largest non-Christian group, then Moslems, and smaller numbers are Buddhists, and Hindus. Native Americans often preserve their tribal religions.

Answer the questions:

1. What was one of the reasons for the first immigrants to leave England and

Germany?

2. What are the largest single Christian and non-Christian groups in the U.S.?

4.2. Religious Phenomenon in the u.S.

The lack of a national religion resulted in the Bill of Rights attached to the original Constitution. Most Churches in America are characterized by a strong evangelical spirit. A common phenomenon in the U.S. has been the rise of new Churches or sects, such as the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists. Many preaches make use of television to preach their message.

Religious differences of immigrants and the territories where the immigrant groups settled account for the existing nowadays religious differences among certain regions of the United States:

● the Mormons religion in Utah;

● the Baptist religion mostly in the South;

● most Lutheran Churches in the Midwest;

● some sections of the South and the Midwest form “the Bible Belt” because of many Protestant fundamentalists living there;

● the locations with the population of Latin American and Mexican origin – in the South-west, and in the regions close to the Mexican border – belong to the Catholic Church.

Answer the questions:

1. What sects do you know in the U.S.?

2. What religion forms “the Bible Belt”?

3. Where are the Catholic Churches located?

4.3. Translations of the Bible

The Bible (Gr. biblia – “books”) is a set of books comprising the Christian Scripture. The Bible consists of two parts, the Old Testament (50 books) and the New Testament (27 books). The Old Testament is written in Hebrew (some parts in Aramaic), while the New Testament is written in Greek (Matthew – in Aramaic). The first Biblical texts appeared in the 12^th century BC, and the latest texts date back to the beginning of the 2^nd c. AD. Aramaic was the native language of Jesus Christ.

The first translation of the Old Testament into Greek (“Septuagint”) was made by 70 Jewish translators who spent 72 days, and became the first part of the Christian Bible. It was made on request of Ptolemy II, king of Egypt (285 – 247). The Latin version of the Bile was prepared by Jerome (342 – 420) in the late 4^th who translated it directly from the Hebrew text of the Old Testament making use of the Septuagint Greek translation as well. This version is known as “Vulgate” (Lat. vulgata – “public”).It is used by the Roman Catholic Church.

The spread of Christianity necessitated translations of the Bible into Coptic, Ethiopian, and Gothic. In the era of the Reformation new versions in European languages were made.

The name of the Russian translation of the Bible (from Greek) approved by the Moscow Patriarchate and published in 1876 is called Synodal. The Russian Pravoslavnaya Church uses in its liturgy the translations made by the enlighteners of Slavs Kirill and Mefodii (Cyril and Methodius).

The first English translation was made by John Wycliff who translated the Bible from Latin in XIV c. The popular name of the 1611 English translation of the Bible is the Authorized Version, known as the “King James Version”. It is the first Bible translated from Greek into the Literary Standard English (by 54 translators).

Answer the questions:

1. What parts does the Bible consist of?

2. What languages are they written in?

3. What other versions of the Bible in European languages do you know?