11.The religious scene in the us: the Protestant heritage.

There are two main brunches of the Christian faith in America: Roman Catholic and protestant. The Protestant branch has many different denominations (Methodism, Baptism, Episcopalian church, Presbyterian church, Lutheran church, Pentecostals, Mormons, seventh-day Adventists.)These denominations are completely separate church organizations and although there are many similarities, there are also significant differences in their religious teaching and beliefs. The major course for religious diversity is perhaps the Protestant belief that individual not the organized church should be the center of religious life. The Protestant tradition has encouraged the development of numerous denominations which express the religious preferences of individuals.

The Protestant brunch of the Christian faith broke away from the Roman Catholic church in Europe in the 16th century because of important differences in religious life in European countries. The protestants insisted that the individuals must stand alone before God they don’t need a medium in the face of Pope and Priest. After the Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church many denominations expensed religious persecution. Consequently, among the early settlers who came to America in the 1600s there were many Protestants seeking religious freedom. As a result the Protestantism became the Dominant religious influence in the new land. When the Constitution was written in 1789 the government was forbidden to establish a national church. The government and the church had to remain separate. Under this condition many Protestant denominations grew and developed with each denomination having a “live and let live” attitude toward the others. Thus the diversity was accepted and strengthened.

Although many Protestant denominations exist in the USA today all of them share a common Protestant heritage. One of the most important values associated with Protestantism is the value of self improvement. Protestant Christianity like Roman Catholic often emphasizes the natural wickedness of human nature. So, individuals are therefore left alone before God to improve themselves or suffer eternal punishment from God by their wickedness.

The achievement of material success is probably the most widely respected form of self-improvement in the US. Some people believe that those who were blessed by God might be recognized in the world by their material success.

American Protestantism has never encouraged the idea of gaining wealth without hard work and self-discipline. The belief in hard work and self-discipline in pursuit of material gain and other goals is often referred to as “the Protestant ethic”. There also exists an idea of improving oneself by helping others. In other words individuals make themselves into better persons by contributing some of their time and money to charitable educational and religious causes which are designed to help others. This philosophy is sometimes called “humanitarianism