Newsgroup: it.cultura.religioni.cristiani
Titolo: [Economist] religio in USA

Traditional churches are in trouble. But Christianity is doing rather
well
DO YOU believe in God? If you are European, you probably shuffle your
feet, look mildly embarrassed, and mutter, -Well, it depends on what
you mean by God.- Or something of the sort. In Western Europe, a mere
20% of people go regularly to a service; in Eastern Europe, only 14%.
But if you are American, the answer is almost certainly an unabashed
-Yes-. Only about 2% of Americans are atheists, and a startling 47%
tell pollsters that they go to a religious service at least once a
week. Even if that is an over-statement, the broad difference between
continents is clear.
To most Europeans, it has seemed obvious for the past century and
more that modernism is the foe of religion, and of Christianity in
particular. But religion is flourishing in both the developing world
and America. The reason is largely the powerful evangelism of new
denominations that sprang up in America in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. 
How has this come about? The answer lies in the unique history of
religious experience in the United States, in the adaptive genius of
Pentecostalism, and in the power of the fundamentalist Christian
message in an era of rapid social change. Moreover, as fundamentalist
Islam has moved back into the limelight, so too has the political
role of Christian organisations in America. Some believe the true
power of both to have peaked. None, though, can deny their current
prominence.
Take ye the sum of all the congregation
Counting believers is difficult. The world's Christian churches
claimed some 2 billion adherents in 2000, up from 1.2 billion in
1970, which is roughly in line with population growth, but still
leaves Christianity a larger faith than Islam. In America, the number
of Christians rose from 81m in the early 1950s to 171m in 2000. Over
the last two centuries, the proportion of Americans belonging to a
church has grown sharply (see chart). 
 (ndr: la cartina fa vedere la crescita negli Usa: oggi circa
il 60% e' osservante...
 ................................. 
But not all denominations have done well. A survey by the Glenmary
Research Centre of Cincinnati, Ohio, found impressive increases in
the past decade in the number of Mormons, Catholics and
non-traditional Protestant churches such as the Pentecostalists and
the Southern Baptists. The losers were traditional churches such as
the Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists and Presbyterians. 
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CUT 
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In all this, America differs starkly from Europe, where religion is
often what Grace Davie of Britain's Exeter University describes as a
-public utility-. As she puts it, _In Europe, there is a concept of
`vicarious religion': of a small number worshipping on behalf of
everyone else._ Americans find Europe's secularism bizarre. _My
American friends' eyes stand out on stalks when I say that I don't
have a single friend seriously interested in religion,_ says Karen
Armstrong, an ex-nun and the author of several books on religion. 
But in America, religion has always been a competitive affair,
founded on personal belief.
eccetera su USA.. un grosso survey:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1487612

 ha scritto nel
messaggio
E poi viene a dire a me che se non metto un 20% di commento ogni volta che
posto un articolo mi fa togliere dalla white list.
Il bello è che almeno io li posto in italiano.
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