(*) One Nation under God

Religion has had a big role in American society ever since discovery of the continent by Columbus in 1492. Although early immigrants and settlers (Columbus included) mostly used (or abused) spreading Christianity as a pretext to loot gold and other riches out of this New World, religion has been actually influential in shaping American civilization and culture. Indeed, it was the surge of immigrants fleeing 17th century Europe's religious and political persecution that laid the foundations of what we know today as the United States of America.

The irony is the very people who had sought refuge in the New World to build a city on the hill, soon found themselves committed to enforce their own (sometimes narrow-minded) interpretation of pure Christianity and repressing others who would choose to think differently. Such incidents in America and precedents in old Europe led the Founding Fathers to consider freedom of religion in the Ammendments to the Constitution. Still, religious values are intertwined in American life and culture (and even legislations) and despite waxing and waning over the history of the US, religion will continue to be a cornerstone of American society.

In a poll conducted by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2002, nearly six-in-ten Americans (58%) think the strength of American society is based on the religious faith of its people. Just over a third (36%) take the opposing view. Americans are relatively positive about people of other faiths, but they tend to look more negatively at those without faith. Atheists, in particular, are viewed unfavorably by a 54% majority.

In a recent survey in 2006, the forum shows that many Americans are uneasy with mix of religion and politics. Still, the same survey denotes that Americans overwhelmingly consider the U.S. a Christian nation: Two-in-three (67%) characterize the country this way. A decade ago, Americans were somewhat less likely to tie the nation's identity to Christianity. In 1996, 60% considered the U.S. a Christian nation. Despite all concerns about separation of Church and State, many Americans prefer to describe themselves the way mentioned in American Pledge of Allegiance: One Nation under God.

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The complete report on Public Opinion on Religion and Public Life (PDF file), could be downloaded here.

The report on Americans views on Religion and Politics could be viewed here. The complete report (PDF file) could be downloaded here.

Why Study America? (2)

I come from a religious (yet open-minded) family and have lived in a country where traditions (especially religious ones) lay the foundation of its culture. Personally, I'm not a traditionalist though. Some people hold to traditions just because they've been in place for generations regardless of who's set the trend and why.

Well, in that sense, I'm somehow on the anti-traditionist side. To me, traditions are worthy only when their religious origin has been firmly and rationally established (that's a very controversial issue indeed). Yet, I'm keen to know about traditions in any society and as a religious person would like to study about societies where religion and religious values play a big role. America is an example.

Many people are surprised at hearing this. Maybe they're right, maybe not. A country where roughly half the marriages (first attempt) lead to divorce wouldn't be easily considered as a religious country. Yet, religion is very important in American Culture and the functioning of everything in there from daily life to government and politics.

(*) The Changing Face of America

Once, diversity in American society used to be expressed in terms of black and white. That was the case even until 1970s. However, after national quotas on immigration were repealed by Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, this trend began to change. This caused immigrants from other parts of the world like Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean to move more freely to America. As a result, multiracial immigrants began to play a bigger role in American society.

By studying statistics acquired from the U.S. Bureau of Census, we could observe drastic increase in population and percentage of ethnic and racial groups other than black and white as represented in American society over past three decades, taking into account the factors that affected these demographic changes. U.S. Census data show the Hispanic population in the United States now numbers more than 41 million, or one-seventh of the U.S. total population of more than 296 million.

Apart from the changes in methodology employed by the U.S. Bureau of Census (in determining census respondents' race and ethnicity), high birth rate among these newly arrived ethnic groups has greatly contributed to these changes. By July 1, 2050 the Bureau estimates Hispanic Americans will make up 24 percent of the U.S. population.

Furthermore, inter-group marriage has resulted in the increase of multiracial people; again, altering the old black and white pattern of diversity in American society.

Based on these factors and statistics, we may concludes that this trend will continue for decades to come and the percentage of Hispanic and Asian ethnic groups representation will further increase. This could have important results, especially when considering Hispanic representation.

Hispanics now fill top positions in the U.S. government, with Mexican-American Alberto Gonzales serving as U.S. attorney general and Cuban-born Carlos Gutierrez as secretary of commerce. In 2004, Florida voters elected another Cuban native, Mel Martinez, formerly secretary of housing and urban development, to the U.S. Senate.

Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States are growing three times faster than the national average for all firms. According to the bureau's Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002 to nearly 1.6 million. Those firms generated about $222 billion in revenue in 2002 -- the most recent year for which data are available. The emergence of Hispanic-owned businesses mirrors the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States.

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The original title could be visited here.

The full text of the Census Bureau report (PDF, 631 pages) is available on their Web site here.

Furthermore, these articles show the increasing trend in Hispanic population and the role they would play in the future of America:

Hispanic-Owned Business Booming in the United States

Hispanic Americans Contributing to the American Mosaic

Why Study America? (1)

As I've mentioned in my SOP, I read my first book in Sociology when I was 10. What you learn in childhood would leave quite an imprint in your mind that would last for years to come. That book was written by 2 American Sociologists. So, they had mostly focused on American society. In that sense, my passion for studying Sociology began concurrently with keen interest to know about the US, the most diverse country (ethnically and racially) in the world. In my opinion, diversity has been one of the key points turning into a superpower a country that didn't even exist 5 centuries ago and was ruled by the British till 18th century .

George Washington, in a letter to John Adams, November 15, 1794 puts it well:

... there is no need of encouragement: while the policy or advantage of [immigration] taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for, by so doing, they retain the Language, habits and principles (good or bad) which they bring with them. Whereas by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures and laws: in a word, soon become one people.

To view the other half of the glass however, this has come at the expense of uprooting millions of innocent native Indians who had been living in the New World for millennia before those white people discovered their continent.

Anyway, having read about America since that age makes me wonder about all the hype and myths surrounding this country.

I'll write more about other reasons that made me interested to study about America. For now, I'll get down to one of the courses that I'm studying this semester. I'll mark course assigments with asterisk (*) to make them distinguished from the rest of my posts.