"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion--several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."
~ Mark Twain
In addition to being the wealthiest, most militaristic and the most armed (citizenry) country in the world today, America turns out to be the most religious as well. There are estimated to be around 250 religions in America, of which over 200 have their origins in Protestant Christianity. According to the recent American Religious Identification Survey, 77% of Americans consider themselves Christian (159 million in over 200 denominations), 13% secular (scientific/humanist/non-religious), 1.3% Jewish, 0.5% Moslem, 0.5% Buddhist, 0.5% agnostic, 0.4% atheist, ).4% Hindu, 0.3% Unitarian Universalist, 0.1% Pagan and the rest a mix Baha’i, Sikh, New Age, Native American, Scientology and Deist. According to the survey the fastest growing religions (in percentage terms from 1990 onwards) in America are (in descending magnitude): Deism, Sikhism, Hinduism, New Age and Baha’i. One of the most interesting findings is that while the Christian population has increased by 9 million since 1990, the number of people that have become non-religious or secular has doubled to over 28 million – that’s a lot of people dropping out of organized religion. What is it about religiosity that makes us so violent, I wonder?
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All Rights Reserved: (c)2004, Raja Choudhury,USA
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