Religion

Abstract

Abstract ‘When I arrived in the United States, it was the country’s religious aspect that first captured my attention. The longer I stayed, the more I became aware that this novel situation had important political consequences. In France, I knew, the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty almost always pulled in opposite directions. In the United States I found them intimately intertwined: together they ruled the same territory.’ (Tocqueville [1835] 2004: 340–1) Through the centuries, numerous observers have been struck by the differences in the role religion plays in European and US-American life. This is especially note-worthy since both societies are, from a structural point of view, Christian despite an increasing number of non-Christian denominations and atheists in both societies, three quarters of the populations are Christians (the EU about 75% and United States 80%, see Barret, Kurian, and Johnson 2001).