Perspectives on Faith:
A Web Site for Inquiry about Religion


Religion in the United States
Reference Books

The following books are a few of those available in this vast area.

Eck, Diana: A New Religious America: How A "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001)

Hemeyer, Julia Corbett: Religion in America, Fifth Edition (Prentice Hall, 2006)--A basic text written from the perspective of the study of religion as a part of the humanities--Sixth Edition forthcoming

Melton, J. Gordon: The Encyclopedia of America Religions, Eighth Edition (Gale Research, Inc., 2008)--This is the grandfather of all such references

Neusner, Jacob: World Religions in America, Third Edition (Westminster John Knox Press, 2003)

Prothero, Stephen (Ed.): A Nation of Religions: The Politics of Pluralism in Multireligious America (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

The Hartford Seminary Foundation's Hartford Institute for Religion Research has an extensive site that has good denominational links. Ecumenical and interfaith in nature.   The Electronic Church and the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches site has hyperlinks to sites referred to in the Yearbook. These sites are great sources for official information, mostly from organizational Web sites. If you want statistics, Adherents.com may well be the site you need. "Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 41,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations -- references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc."

Important Christian ecumenical organizations include:

The National Council of Churches of Christ in The U.S.A.

The National Association of Evangelicals

The World Council of Churches
 


Families of Religion in the United States

 

There are more different religious groups in the United States than anywhere else on Earth. The remarkable diversity of religion in the United States makes it difficult to arrive at a good way to group them into manageable categories.  The following list of links uses the "families of religion" categories used by J. Gordon Melton in his very valuable reference work,  The Encyclopedia of American Religions (Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., new edition every two or three years).   Brief descriptions follow each family name, and links are provided when available. If you are aware of a denominational link that is not here, please let me know.

The Western Liturgical Family includes Catholicism and Anglicanism.  These churches are distinguished by their emphasis on liturgical worship, including the use of orders for worship that date (with modifications) back to the earliest days of the Christian church, highly patterned and formal worship, and provision of orders for worship for different times during the day and different seasons of the church year.  Liturgical churches also make use of creeds that summarize their faith and celebrate seven sacraments.  They also embrace belief in apostolic succession, the concept that they stand in an unbroken line of authority that reaches back to the Apostles.
 

The Eastern Liturgical Family includes the Eastern Orthodox churches, the two largest of which in the United States are the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.  They share the liturgical characteristics of the Western Liturgical churches but are organized along national lines. The Lutheran Family traces its history back to the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 1500s.  Martin Luther and the German princes who supported him brought about a break with the Catholic tradition of which they were a part and began the branch of Christianity that came to be called Protestantism.
  The Reformed-Presbyterian Family also traces its heritage back to the Protestant Reformation, but primarily to John Calvin rather than Luther.  It includes churches such as the Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregationalist.  They are distinguished by having "reformed" faith and a connectional system of government.
  The Pietist-Methodist Family includes the United Methodist Church and as number of Black Methodist denominations, as well as the Moravian churches.  Pietism  centered on a biblically-based faith manifested in an emotional experience of Christian life and worship. Methodist churches trace their roots back to the work of John Wesley,  the son of a priest in the Church of England (Anglican).  Wesley advocated a stricter lifestyle and a methodical observance of devotions in daily life, a practice which earned him and his followers the derisive title "methodists." The Holiness Family focuses on lifestyle.  Followers of the holiness way in Christianity believe that inward holiness must be reflected in the outward holiness of life.  This is defined as the avoidance of "worldly" things, which often include dancing, the use of alcohol, attending movies, using slang language.  Usually these faith communities endorse a dress code for female members that includes not wearing pants or shorts, wearing higher necklines and longer sleeves, avoidance of jewelry and cosmetics, and wearing the hair long.  Examples include many of the Churches of God, the Nazarene Church, and the Wesleyan Churches, as well as many independent churches. The Pentecostal Family focuses more on specific types of religious experiences believed to arise from the action of the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.  Speaking in tongues is often foremost among these "gifts of the Spirit."  Others include healing, prophecy, wisdom that cannot be gained by natural means, and the ability to discern spirits (for a biblical listing, see I Corinthians 12:4-11 in the Christian New Testament).  Some Pentecostal believers also embrace a holiness lifestyle, while others do not.  "Full Gospel" churches are usually pentecostal.  Other examples include the Foursquare Gospel, the United Pentecostal Church, Church of God in Christ, Maranatha Christian Churches, and the Assemblies of God, along with numerous independent congregations. The European Free-Church Family includes Mennonites, the Amish, Brethren, Friends, and other free church traditions that began in Europe.  These communities of faith go back to the "radical reformers."  These reformers emphasized belief and liturgy less than church organization and the relationship between church and state.  Many were persecuted and some martyred for their convictions. The Baptist Family includes those confederations of churches that have "Baptist" in their name, as well as other denominations.  Many independent congregations are also in this category.  These churches are gatherings of adult believers, people who have been baptized when they wergild enough to understand for themselves what it meant, and who were most likely to have been fully immersed. The Independent Fundamentalist Family derives from John Nelson Darby (1800-1882).  They stress an intense concentration on the Bible.  Darby believed that the church is a temporary organization that will end with the return of Christ to the Earth, a belief which is held by his followers today as well.  Denominations include the Plymouth Brethren, the Rex Humbard Ministry, Berean Bible Fellowship, and a variety of independent congregations.

The Adventist Family includes several churches that grew out of expectations that the return of Christ to the Earth was immanent.  They believe that there is a cosmic struggle between good and evil which will be decisively ended with God's victory at that time.  The coming end of history as we have known it relativizes the importance of life in this world.  Representative groups include the Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other smaller adventist groups and congregations.

The Liberal Family typically includes adherents of one of three key ideas: unitarianism (that God is one rather than a trinity), universalism (that all will be saved), or infidelism (centered on humankind rather than on God).  Examples include the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, the American Humanist Association, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.  Melton also includes certain mail-order churches in this family.
  The Latter-day Saints Family includes Latter-day or Mormon groups.  All hold as a central belief that the church has fallen away from what it was right after Jesus' death, and that the Latter-day Saints represent the beginning of the restoration of the true apostolic church.  They also believe that the future kingdom of Zion will be in the United States rather than in the Holy Land. The Communal Family includes those groups who have attempted to embody their faith in a dramatically different style of living in which property and goods are held in common.  Communal history in the United States began in the 19th century.  Perhaps best known is the resurgence of communalism in the 1960s as an aspect of the "hippie" movement.  Representative groups include the Amana Church Society, the Shakers, the Oneida Community, the Hutterites, and the Farm.
  The Christian Science-Metaphysical Family includes Christian Science and New Thought groups.  The two groups are clearly related although quite different from each other.  Both hold to an idealistic philosophy that sees everything as a manifestation of Mind.  In addition to Christian Science, representative groups include  the International Metaphysical Association, the Divine Science Federation International, the United Church of Religious Science, and the Unity School of Christianity.
  The Spiritualist, Psychic, and New Age Family emphasize the power of mind and spirit.  They focus on parapsychological experience.  Some practice mediumship and clairvoyance or clairaudience (seeing or hearing  through supernatural means).  Swedenborgian churches are included in this family, as are a range of metaphysical churches, spiritualist organizations, and many New Age groups. The Ancient Wisdom Family focuses on the attainment of special wisdom that is transmitted from teachers whose lineage began in the remote past.  This family includes Rosicrucianism and Theosophy.
  The Magick Family (spelled with the k to distinguish it from stage magic) includes paganism, neo-paganism, ritual magick groups, Wicca, and Satanism.  Practitioners of magick believe that change can be brought about by human will and the exacting performance of ritual.  People are either controllers or controllees; there are no other options. The Middle Eastern Family (Melton divides them into Parts I and II) includes those religions that began in what is now the Middle East.  Judaism is probably the best-known among this family in the United States, but the family grouping also includes Islam, Sikhism, and Baha'i, as well as some others.
  The Eastern Family (like the Middle Eastern, Melton divides them into Parts I and II) includes those religions that began on the continent of Asia, along with their American-born offshoots.  Primary examples include Hinduism and Buddhism.
 
Parachurch Organizations & Publications

 

Parachurch organizations are religious organizations that exist outside the boundaries of specific denominational organizations, but often with their support.  People often participate in these types of religious groups in addition to membership in their communities of faith.

Campus-based organizations help to provide for the religious needs of college students.  Hillel Foundation is the Jewish campus organization.  Both Campus Crusade for Christ and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship are conservative, primarily Protestant Christian groups, as is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  On some campuses, the Catholic Student Union provides fellowship for Catholic students. There is a U.S. and Canadian Muslim Students' Association for Muslim college students.

Many Christians make use of devotional guides such as Guideposts.  Its site has a daily devotion and more.

 

Miscellaneous Links
These are links for which there is currently no category on the page.

Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches:  Christian church that focuses its ministry on gay and lesbian people, dedicated to the principle that "Christian" and "homosexual" are not contradictory terms.

American Atheists:  One of the more high-profile atheist organizations.  This site provides many links around the "secular Web"

Scientology:  The religious organization founded by former sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard

Christian Identity:  The Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance provides information on this controversial movement.  It's trustworthy information.


 
 

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Copyright 1997,  Julia Mitchell Corbett

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