How immigrants are affecting US religion

E-mail|Link|Comments () Posted by Michael Paulson September 11, 2009 01:44 AM

At a panel on immigration and faith at the Religion Newswriters Association convention Thursday, Luis Lugo, the director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, made a few interesting observations:

Immigration is leading to an increase in the number of Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in the United States, but a large majority of new immigrants are Christian. This stands in contrast to the situation in Europe, where a much higher percentage of immigrants are non-Christian.
Although Protestants outnumber Catholics in the United States, new immigrants are overwhelmingly Catholic, and as a result, "immigration is tilting the balance within American Christianity in favor of Catholicism." Also, Lugo said, "We're very close to becoming a minority Protestant country.''
Many of the new immigrants are from Latin America, Africa and Asia. "What we are seeing is not the de-Christianization of America, but the de-Europeanization of American Christianity,'' he said. One effect of this, he said, is a rise in Pentecostal and charismatic worship styles in US churches, because those more expressive forms of worship are often preferred by immigrants from the Global South.
Nearly a quarter of all Catholics in the United States are foreign born -- the highest percentage among any of the nation's largest faith groups. "To know what the country will be like in three decades, look at the Catholic Church,'' he said.
The Muslim population in the United States is more diverse, in terms of national origin, than the Muslim population in any other country on earth. No more than 8 percent of American Muslims is from any one country. This, again, contrasts with the situation in Europe, where, for example, many German Muslims are from Turkey, many Spanish Muslims are from Morocco, and many French Muslims are from Algeria.

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11 comments so far...

The link for this article on the Boston.com home page read: "Immigrants' affect on US religion". That should be "effect".

Posted by K.B. September 11, 09 06:47 AM

it's utterly amazing that religion exists in this time . in some ways we've come so far, in some ways we've gone nowhere. given our current knowledge of the universe (which is admittedly little), it's pathetic mysticism still holds a place for so many. truly, man is a frail creature whose fears still overpower his reason.

Posted by jake September 11, 09 07:20 AM

Look at me, I'm the cocktail party faux intellectual pooh-poohing religion!

--Jake

Posted by Ron Mexico September 11, 09 08:40 AM

Want to see what the Catholic church really does, come down to Central America and see for yourself. All the hospitals, clinics, schools, workshops for the youth, soup kitchens, etc. etc. are all serving free of charge for the poor. many of the helpers are from the usa and for that we thank you but the Catholic Church is what makes the world go around in central america.

Posted by jose September 11, 09 10:04 AM

Get Mike Vick out of here!

Posted by Scooby Doo September 11, 09 10:27 AM

"All the hospitals, clinics, schools, workshops for the youth, soup kitchens, etc. etc. are all serving free of charge for the poor. ."

Yet conservative Christians scream "Socialism!" when governments provide, or try to provide, the same services. Funny, that. If all religion is is a charity, then perhaps it's time to put it out to pasture, and let government handle these services.

Posted by seathanaich September 11, 09 07:41 PM

Michael,

My comment is off-topic: It took a while to find the "Articles of Faith" blog on the redesigned Boston.com home page. I went to the very bottom of boston.com, then clicked on "your blogs" and then went to the very bottom of that page to find "boston.com blogs."

Why is so hard to find these blogs now?

Peter

Posted by Peter September 12, 09 07:27 PM

jake: "fears still overpower [] reason"

Please. You need to get over yourself. Christianity is completely reasonable, when you actually get to know it. It's much more reasonable than thinking that the universe, our existence, consciousness, gravity, and life forms just formed out of 'natural selectiomn' or something.

Posted by DPierre September 12, 09 08:00 PM

Um, no. Reality is much cooler.

Posted by movingtarget September 14, 09 01:00 AM

"jake"... you're an idiot. stop trying to sound smart and like you're better than everyone else, because you aren't. like "dpierre" said, christianity is completely reasonable. what's NOT reasonable is evolution and the "big bang theory" crap, or whatever you believe. the sad thing is, when you figure out that you were wrong, it will be too late.

Posted by amy September 17, 09 02:56 PM

Until we clean out the mindless infection of our own delusional superstitionism, perhaps we should limit further contamination by only admitting immigrants who do not believe in such foolishness. Many of those now arriving are members of religions (cults) that are involved in increasing their numbers through selfish over-breeding and in as much as the entire world needs to lower its population (hopefully through attrition), we should be setting the example, which is hardly served by admitting more people with a proclivity to procreate.

Posted by David Long September 17, 09 04:26 PM

Blogger

Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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Harvey Cox, the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, marks his retirement by asserting a little-used right of his professorship -- to graze a cow in Harvard Yard. Photo, by Barry Chin of the Globe staff, taken on Sept. 10, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.