Christianity in the United States

The major branches and denominations of Christianity are widely distributed throughout the United States (Figure 5-6). The specific distribution of each reflects historical and contemporary migration patterns.

Figure 5-6 Christianity. Several different denominations of Christianity are locally dominant in the United States. Baptists are dominant in much of the Southeast, Mormons in Utah and neighboring states, and Lutherans in the Upper Midwest

Roman Catholicism is most prevalent in areas settled by migrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, and other Catholic-dominated countries in Europe. Catholics are numerous in much of New England, the Middle Atlantic states, and the industrial cities of the Great Lakes. Some rural counties in the Midwest and Great Plains states also are home to numerous Catholics of European ancestry.

Many Roman Catholics live in southern Louisiana. The "Cajun" population of south Louisiana is descended from French-Canadian settlers who left Nova Scotia, or Acadia, after the British vanquished France in the French and Indian Wars between 1756 and 1763. The Roman Catholics of the Southwest, on the other hand, are of Spanish and Mexican ancestry. A large population of Spanish-Americans resides in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The ancestors of these individuals moved to their present homeland long before Mexico became independent of Spain in the early nineteenth century. Elsewhere in the Southwest, the Catholic population is descended from more recent migrants from Mexico.

In the United States, many local Roman Catholic parishes have been organized along national lines. The Church hierarchy distinguishes between territorial and national parishes. Territorial parishes include all Catholics residing in a particular area, whereas national parishes include only those Catholics who belong to the appropriate ethnic group. National parishes were established to maintain the faith of recent immigrants. They not only accommodated the Church's desire to preserve its adherents, but also the desire of members of immigrant communities to preserve their cultural heritage.

National parish churches were found in close proximity to one another, located in accordance with the distribution of ethnic groups throughout urban areas. Polish parishes were concentrated in the heavily Polish ethnic communities of Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and other industrial cities in the northeast and the Great Lakes states (Figure 5-7). In recent years, however, many of the national parishes have closed.

Nearly a third of those active in 1940 had been closed or reorganized as territorial parishes by 1980. The parishioners had either assimilated into the mainstream of American culture or migrated from ethnic neighborhoods to suburban areas. Those located in areas with two or more distinct ethnic groups and those located in archdioceses with large numbers of national parishes were most likely to have survived.

Figure 5-7 National Parishes. The distribution of national parishes in the northeastern United States closely mirrors the distribution of the immigrant population. Over the past few decades, many national parishes have closed as ethnic-community residents have moved away or become assimilated into the mainstream of American culture

The Protestant population of the United States encompasses several major denominations. Lutheran majorities in the Upper Midwest reflect the large volume of immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. The major denominations of most inland areas of the South and the central states, however, are the Baptists and Methodists. In contrast to the Catholic. Methodist, and Lutheran denominations, the Baptist denomination is autonomous. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this emphasis on individualism and local autonomy made the Baptist faith far more appealing to frontier settlers than the more hierarchical faiths of the Atlantic seaboard.

Emphasis on individualism contributes to the high density of churches in much of the southern United States. Travelers in the rural South are often struck by the large number of small roadside churches that dot the landscape. New congregations form following disputes over theology or church procedure within existing congregations. When a significant minority within a congregation disagrees with church policy, the group splits off and forms a new church. Such autonomy in religious practice is one reason for the relatively small size of congregations in the South. In general, however, American Christian congregations are somewhat smaller than those abroad.

Only two of the world's fifty largest Christian congregations are in the United States, while fifteen are in South Korea. The large congregations in East Asia may be attributable to high population density and a culture that emphasizes communal, cooperative activity.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon Church, is the major denomination of Utah, southern Idaho, and neighboring areas. The Mormons originated in western New York. Following repeated persecution, they decided to migrate westward to an unsettled area (Figure 5-8).

Figure 5-8 The Trek of the Mormons. The first prophet of the Mormon church. Joseph Smith, lived in upstate New York. Successive persecutions led the Mormons to move to Missouri, Illinois, and eventually to Utah. Today, the Mormon culture region extends throughout much of Utah and parts of several nearby states

In 1848 a large group of Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young, moved to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Their descendants settled most of Utah and surrounding states. Today. Salt Lake City remains the international headquarters of the Mormon denomination.