What made America so religious in comparison to other western nations?

>>2010700
Do you understand why America even exists?

jesus is freedom

Puritan founders

>>2010700
God

>>2010707
This

>>2010700
Freedom of religion means free to practice. If I recall correctly Marx had grievances with America for this reason. He thought, correctly, that America was a bastion for people wishing to practice religion, not for people seeking to free themselves from it (whatever that means, Marx).

>>2010700
Peace and prosperity (as opposed to two world wars) breed optimism, which breeds gratitude and religious sentiments.

Another explanation is a market explanation. In America various denominations compete against each other for followers. Where in countries like Germany churches are state-funded so priests just do the bare minimum if anything to get new adherents.

Does anyone else find it highly entertaining that a country built on religious freedom by those escaping religious persecution have become some of the most intolerant people on the planet?

Religion breeds tolerance my hole.

>>2010756
Most people around the world are pretty intolerant. America really isn't number 1 in intolerance.

>>2010768
Nooo! Only white Christian heterosexual males can be intolerant! Stop shattering my pipe dreams!

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>>2010768
Yeah, no.

>>2010707
They were basically Salafists. America was founded by the equivalent of hijab (bonnet) wearing no fun allowed Muslims.

>>2010781
Same thing is happening around Europe

Don't even get me started on Japan

Or all the ethnic conflicts in Africa and Asia

>>2010756
People are fundamentally intolerant, it cannot be helped, nor can it be expected otherwise.

Freedom of Religion bit in the Constitution and the type of precursor laws really permitted anyone to create their own little denomination or rogue one without getting condemned by a prevailing national one. Combine with the fact that many of those wacko churches that weren't tolerated in Western Europe moved to America to practice more freely and that many of them even deported their undesirables here (like with France giving the option to prisoners to move here and be free and get forcefully married to a prostitute they arrested off the street to take with you, or remain in prison; hence why New Orleans and Cajuns are so degenerate).

Along with this, they remain persistent today as they can pander to reactionaries for whatever media craze is going on, with no authoritative central organization restraining them in order to keep their moderate members or convert others.

Well, every religious weirdo was shipped off to America, so thats that. Also, The US is rural for a vast part, and this rural communities are a perfect safe space for religious people where the modern world doesn't has that much of an influence.
You can find the same kind of people in Europe, but likely they are living in some remote mountain valley and are insignificant because of their low numbers.
Next thing is numbers of denominations, Europe knows state churches (Lutheran, Evangelical Reformed Catholic) and they just don't keep their stuff together as the myriad of free churches in the US that preach fire and sulphur every day of the week.

>>2010707
puritans only founded New England.

>>2010700
There were multiple social movements throughout american history that spread a evangelical forms of Protestantism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Awakening

>>2010756
>escaping religious persecution
They weren't escaping religious persecution. That's the narrative schoolkids are told now because it sounds better, but the Puritans came to America because they were frustrated that England (and later the Netherlands) wasn't willing to let them establish an ultraconservative theocracy. They were never persecuted, people were generally tolerant of them, they were just angry that they couldn't make everyone else live like them, so they decided to make their own society.

The Purtians came to America because they wanted to establish a society that was as religiously intolerant as possible. Their attitude towards religious freedom was pretty much the same as many fundamentalist Christians in the US today, that freedom to them is the ability to dictate how everyone else lives.

>>2010782
>hijab (bonnet)
Whoa, really made me think a little bit there.

>>2010782
Fun is a sin

>>2010847
>willing to let them establish an ultraconservative theocracy
They tried that and banned dancing.

>>2010847
Puritans are not the only ones, you know? And not only English people migrated to the US. Mennonites and other Anabaptists where persecuted for real. So where French Protestants and many more.

>>2010847
I think this is not far from the truth. It's the same as Muslims that complain that they are "opressed" in Western nations when what they really want is to establish the rule of sharia law.

>>2010871
Europe had Ultraconservative Theocracies in place, the Republic of Zurich for example
>dancing forbidden
>colors forbidden
>City gates shut on Sundays
>Anabaptists get drowned in the river for heresy
and so on

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the holy spirit

>>2010887
Yes, maybe, but the fact remains that they perceived themselves as persecuted.

>>2010896
>white man can't dance

>>2010896
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR-F_FvfWa4

>>2010953
>ywn be american

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOH37W0jPpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54iqEr1flQ

>>2010893
>republic of Zurich
The fuck you talkin about

>be European
>never seen a TV Evangelist
>never seen a Charismatic Christian mess
>never seen a street preacher

>>2010990
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Z%C3%BCrich#Early_Modern_history
I'm talking about a Swiss city state.

>>2010973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBVcsWYJd8

>>2010700
>America
>Religious

Nope you aren't

>>2010756
really makes you think

>>2010833
and new England dominated

>>2010756
>have become some of the most intolerant people on the planet
LOL

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>>2010707
Thanks be to God.

What time frame?
Also:
>Protestants
>religious

>>2010700
Apart from the founding aspects that others have already touched on America also turned more towards religion as the reds were against it. Not to mention televangalism and the war on drugs in the 1980s both pounded the ether with religion.

>>2010833
New England were the ones that spearheaded the revolution

Church and state were separated from the beginning.

>>2010756
Depends on your definition of tolerance, my lib. Tolerance requires not liking a party.

>>2010700
Ironically, I think that because the country was built on secularism, it became more religious. Countries in Europe have a long history of theocracy and absolute monarchism to draw from and learn from, and so therefore secularism became more desirable. No such history exists in the United States, so religious intervention in public affairs is a lot more enticing.

>>2011478
>>2011216

>Lee resolution pushed by Virginians
>Continental Army led by Virginian
>Declaration written by Virginian
>Constitution authored by Virginian
>Bill of Rights championed by Virginian
>four of the first five presidents were Virginians
>new england made america

I bet you thing Thanksgiving is about the Pilgrims in New England as well, how cute

>>2010871

>people buttmad about based ollie ironsides 'every mick on a stick' cromwell on my /his/

GET OUT REEEE

>>2011236
compared to most european christians they are

>>2011643
That's what I was taught, and I've never lived anywhere near the Northeast. Did they make up some special snowflake story down in Dixieland so people wouldn't get triggered every year?

Knee-jerk reaction to communism.

Had there been no devout Christians, America would have turned into a bunch of White/Black/Hispanic Nazi states.

God bless America. E pluribus unum.

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>>2010700

Because a lot the shit we did, ie. manifest destiny, we justified as being divine in purpose. Just like the Catholic Church's Doctrine of Discovery was used to justify the colonization and imperialism of Europe.

>>2010756
If you think Americans are the most intolerant people you really need to travel.

>>2010992
Fellow Yuropeen here - you are lying in order to appear better than the Americlaps but basically you are full of shit.

We have these fuckers on tv aswel with most digital television having one or two dedicated channels and basic cable providing partial coverage.

There are several countries running around with majority/minority Christian fundamentalist parties

And there are door-too-door aswel as street preacher types all over European nations. The only difference is the flavour of Christianity that they preach.

For a self professed European you are very ignorant of the status of Christianity on the continent and we are hardly any better that the 'Claps...

>>2010700
My personal theory

America experienced extreme prosperity throughout the 20th century, had no reason to go against the status quo and thus stayed conservative.

Europe on the other hand experienced two of the most devastating wars in history, and the extreme economic decline caused by those wars. This caused them to turn to things like communism, fascism, socialism which all tried to destroy or co-opt the Church. The Church's wholehearted support of the wars also helped disillusion people with them.

>>2011907
it really depends on the country

also i'm an ausfag and the only practising 'christians' i've met irl are jws

>>2010700
Alexis de Tocqueville attributed the strength of religion in America, compared to its decline in Europe, to the separation of church and state in the US, which contrasted to Europe where you generally had a strong tie between temporal and religious authority. Thus the process of freedom and destruction of tyranny in Europe was opposed to religious zeal, whereas in America he claims the idea of liberty and Christianity where essentially one concept. …

“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other”

>>2010700
Is it really though? Not even half of Americans go to church every week, whereas more than 50% of Poles and Maltese do.

>>2011907
What country are you from anon? I have never seen televised preachers (Unless you count mass at special occasions i.e royal wedding, christmas etc.) in my country.

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The dead of god in europe happened due too many devastating wars which made people question their worldview and the catholic church being overcome as an organised institution.
Islam and protestants work more decentralised, so they could hold on stronger.

>>2010756
>the most intolerant people on the planet?
Get a grip on reality

>>2012331
fellow european as well, gotta disagree with both anons. I've never seen televangelists and christianity is obviously less intrusive here than it is in America, people hardly go to church outside of holidays. There's a national religious channel and there's jehovas though, so it's not like I live in total seclusion of religion.

Though southern Europe is probably worse what religion is concerned and Scandinavia/former USSR are almost completely religion-free. Keep in mind that Europe is a diverse place dudes, not all of us have the same culture.

>>2012363
In some places which are not total atheist strongholds such as the baltics and eastern germany there are now protestant americans preying on the decaying social fabric.
Some countries have state subsidized catholic TV but I dont know of people who listen to that a lot and it doesnt get shown in your face.

I dont know about the orhtodox countries.
Also italy is very pious, but its more of a part of life and culture there making it much less obstrusive.
We got mormons and jehovas witness going around, all of american descendence.

>>2011907
No, really not. What country are you from? Because I seriously never saw such things here.

>>2012369
The social decay is there because you abandoned religion. Now your societies are being preyed upon by wackos like Muslims

>>2010756
>>2011893
There's certainly a strong streak of intolerance based in religion in America, but overall America is one of the most tolerant nations on the planet. Not from any particular sense of social justice in the national psyche, either, but rather because America has embodied the concept of corporate pragmatism for the past century.

>>2012462
>The social decay is there because you abandoned religion.
t. lonely Christfag

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>>2010992
I met one though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50oiJZAOWjE

felt bad taking the piss out of this led

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>>2010700
>16th Century
>"Explorers" are literally all just pirates and goon.
>Everyone who goes to the New World dies in a month.
Things carry on like this for ~100 years.

>Proddy bullshit gets real.
>100 different types of madman Christianity pop up.
>Salafist jr. weirdos are despised in their home country and run away to America.
>After a while they get better at surviving in the New World.
>New World colonies become so profitable that other religious minorities from all over Europe move there.
>Immigrants and settlers are so diverse that religion becomes a hardcore identity marker.
>As people push north, more and more group carve out their own niche.

Here's a fun game, match each religion to a corresponding ethnicity and the social/racial/economic strife that brought them to America!

>>2011794
Yeah, Jefferson, Washington, and Madison are just southern fairytales to make them feel better

>>2011907
>tells story
>is asked where from Europe
>doesn't answer

Yeah, amerifat christfag posing as European again.

>>2011794
No, Thanksgiving is just an old Anglo tradition of thanking God for the years harvest. The pilgrim story was added on during the 20th century by New Englanders to feel special . If it was about the pilgrim then why would Canada even celebrate it?

>>2010781
>Wanting to preserve your culture by limiting (mostly illegal) immigration
>Intolerance
No.

Also, the same exact thing is happening in Europe (outside of Germany, that is) with far-right nationalist parties like UKIP and Front National.
In fact, Front National is far more radical than Trump, and they have a very serious chance of winning. You could even call them Fascist.
Is France a bastion of intolerance, Leftfriend?

>>2013524
>Is France a bastion of intolerance, Leftfriend?

Not the guy you replied to, but yes. The idea of Europe being SuperWoke is a 2000s era liberal fantasy.

>>2012324
american detected
the american religious devotion is pretty much unparalleled in the west
>not even half
you should see the average turnouts in most western european countries

>>2010700
Puritanical origins and belief in God.

>>2010756
>have become some of the most intolerant people on the planet?
What did she mean by this?

>>2014843
and subsequent great awakenings whilst europe secularised

>>2010756
I'm sorry your mom made you go to church.

>>2010700
It has a constitution based on the notion of "God-given" human rights. It's outdated nonsense, but it works.

>>2010707
the english colonists were puritans.
the founders were deists.

>>2010700
ebin communisms

God is with us.

>>2012945
What are "Christian" and why are they not part of Other

>>2010700
>so religious
You realize most latin america is like 40x more christian than you, right?

>>2017286
I think he was talking about 1st world countries, in that respect the US takes the cake for being overly religious.

>>2010700
Too many stupid people

>>2010869
If you're happy and you know it it's a sin!
If you're happy and you know it it's a sin!
If you're happy and you know it
and you really wanna show it
If you're happy and you know it it's a sin!

>>2010804
It's a survival mechanism, take it away and watch people die out. At least it's just shitty white people dying out and paying for their sins.

>>2017440
>Smartest country in the world until minorities overran it
Idk man I'm not sure that's quite right.

>>2010741

I'd say times of hardship increase religiosity, rather than succes and prosperity.

>>2011907

t. Falseflagging Americlap

I have literally seen two Jehova's at my door, never a street preacher, no television preachers, the Christian parties are among the lowest in my country. Fuck off.

>>2011910

Not a bad theory mate

>>2010896
Unrelated to the topic at hand, but I find it amazing just how effective, if unpredictable, these reactions are. I've been to a few different events where there's tons of people in an auditorium or stadium, someone will be talking about the word of the lord or some other mystical event, and some people will just behave completely bizarre.

I remember my gf who took me once burst into uncontrollable laughter for no reason, several other people in a few rows ahead broke down sobbing. The air of suspense and intensity in the place was palpable. I really wonder how much research has been put in to the psychological affects of such practice, just from an interesting standpoint.

>>2010896
> 614

No. NO. I live in Columbus, Ohio. There's way more secular people than religious, though there is a fair share of religious folk too.

>>2010781
>Trump is le ebil intolerant man

He is the most tolerant GOP president and candidate in decades. Even if he were a standard Republican, such "intolerance" as you deem it is nothing compared to the racial complexes felt amongst East Asians.

>>2017216
Christian Scientists?

>>2019019
>such "intolerance" as you deem it is nothing compared to the racial complexes felt amongst East Asians.
Are you talking about East-Asian-Americans or East-Asians in East Asia?

>>2019019
Just because GWB was stupid doesn't mean he was massively intolerant.

>>2010700
It's kinda what happens when you turn an entire sect of fundamentalist Christians into a settler class. The land they settle ends up being more fundamentalist.

>>2010756
Probably a fucking leaf

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>>2010953
If you unironically hate this you should get out of my country.

>>2018203
Humans are all psykers and religion is the conduit through which we combine our mental energies.
Fuck I wanna be an Ork and just be able to make shit happen with just belief.

WW1 caused Europe to destroy its christian traditions. America didn't suffer greatly in WW1.

>>2018203
it's psychologically a drug to them.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437

>when jesus bites you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBVcsWYJd8

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>>2021088

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>>2021189
Yeah, there's literally nothing wrong with endangering yourself, you pussy.

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>>2010756
tips

>>2011643
>virginia
>the state where tobacco was grown
How did they get so much power?

>>2011910
The more I read this the more it makes sense.

>>2010781
Please be a troll. Do you know what Japan/Korea/China is, sir?

>>2021189
.You realize that this is implied right?

>>2011907
Brit here, agree with this anon

>>2024651
>Brit here,
Timestamped pic of your passport or amerifat.

Its a modern cold-war meme. The commies have no God so we must follow him to no end.

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>>2024668

>>2024745
you win. seriously, I never experienced that, only religious people I know are jews, only people I saw doing missionary work where mudslimes.
>Germony here

>>2010700
>>2010756

I think it's interesting you can find millions arguing on both sides that America's foundations were religious or irreligious, and also millions on both sides arguing the current America is religious or irreligious.

>>2024754
I see Jehova witnesses in the city center everyday, have a few churches in my local area. But didn't know of many Christians in secondary school. Only knew around 10 in my year iirc, one of them kept it a secret from pals. Even my mates would get surprised when I told them their names were from the Bible

Dunno if its cause I've been spending too much time on 4chan but it seems there's been an increase in numbers or at least a media presence of Christianity in recent years

Are you living in former East Germany?

>>2024795
Deep south.

>>2024848
Right, not a lot of Catholics around then.. I thought traditionally Catholic Germany is more religious nowadays then the Lutheran areas?

>>2024795

>be vaguely aware that some younger people escape the JWs, and that the JWs are like a cult in certain respects
>always found their lit schmaltzy, Chick tract tier
>that said, visit jw.org
>Their whole thing is actually based on actually reading the actual Bible
>a page very, very clearly spells out what JWs actually believe, and why (citation of bible verses). They immediately cop to the 144,000 thing and don't try to hide it at all.
>huh, this page is actually respectable as a basic statement of theology
>remember that JWs adhere to the theological doctrine of Annihilationism, which maintains that in the End, the humans not judged worthy of heaven/salvation do NOT suffer eternal torment For Ever and Ever, but instead are simply and totally destroyed, for all time
>that is actually a quite humane and tolerable religious view of things IMO, and far less depraved than the idea of Hell itself
>finally realize that what JWs do is actually an intellectual process, in the objective sense, even if it isn't "scientific". They read a text, they then interpret that text and do so with citations that lead them to take certain contrarian views that actually have a Biblical basis. They then believe so strongly in their interpretation, that they then literally apply the prescriptions of that interpretation to their daily lives. If that isn't an intellectual process, then I don't know what is.
>avoid military service because they literally give no fucks about any earthly government whatsoever. I personally think that their reason for this is wrong, but the conclusion sounds about right.

I know that being raised in the JWs really does fuck some younger people up for life, but they do have certain beliefs and practices that I find to be if not admirable, then at the very least /consistent/, /sincerely held/, /not hypocritical/, even /humane/. The Catholic doctrine of Hell, for example, is wholly inhumane, even and especially in the case that it is actually true.

>>2010992
Deep in my sky subscription there's a few christian talkshows being broadcast from africa and a dude said i was going to die on fire in speakers corner.

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>>2010756
>the most intolerant people on the planet?

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>>2010756
ayyyyy shut the fuck up dumbcunt

>>2010896
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tK_JTZl2w

>>2010756
ITT everyone gets baited by this

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>>2010756
Congrats, you are now a pro-fisherman