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America stands out as unique among industrialized Western nations for the high level religious participation in general, and the high number of confessing Christians in particular. While some recent studies indicate a tiny increase in secularism, I do not believe there is enough data to indicate or forecast long term trends. Patrick Allit in his Teaching Company course on American Religious History indicates that America actually differentiates itself from other Western nations in that our religious fervor may have actually increased in the 20th century as compared with the 17th and 18th century.

He suggests that this unusual differentiation in the normal trend confounds some scholars. Why the increase? Allit suggests at least one possibility: because America is not a Christian nation. Not in the legal sense. Most secularized western nations still have official state churches like the Church of England. These nations are legally Christian but not practicing Christian nations. In America, the trend is the opposite. Our national politics can be disconcerting to other secular allies because the religious content seems completely intertwined in the dialogues and speeches of politicians, including our newest president. Americans (Christian and non-Christian) have a deep symbolic reservoir of religious and Christian symbolism.

Why would Allit see this as a reason for expansion (and/or sustaining power) instead of extinction? He suggests that the lack of a state church opened the door for churches to operate in the free market. So American developed a unique form of Christianity: free market Christianity. Our Protestant churches in particular but even the Roman Catholic church has demonstrated the ability to adapt and change to a changing culture.

On the one hand, this is a good thing. Drawing from some ideas on power and faith by Mark Noll, I would suggest that in America, Christianity became connected with the struggle of working class against the elite. (I am not talking about political movements, but about social groupings). Interestingly, the struggle is opposite on the other side of the ocean. in Europe, the working class has often left the faith and struggle against a religious elite.

So it appears to have actually benefited Christianity that America was not formally a Christian nation. There are other interesting tidbits about the relation of faith and practice in America. Allen C. Guelzo suggests that it is possible the great legacy bequeathed to Americans from the colonial period is the first “Great Awakening.” In The Great Awakening there is a pairing of religious fervor and social change. Guelzo believes this pattern continues to repeat throughout American history. Now this is not to suggest Christians were unified in a particular social act.

In reality, Christians have often divided on acts of social change right up through the civil rights. But this does indicate that religious fervor and the public have never been completely separated in practice. While I perceive this as a good, I also recognize the danger in religion moving beyond a pairing with a social cause and become paired with a political party (but that is for another blog post).

The downside of accepting this argument is that religion is so deeply connected to the market that it has often mirrored the market. Lacking the stability of Christianity in many nations, the American expression seems more deeply subject to trends (on both the right and left). This has resulted in American Christianity looking rather similar to American Pragmatism. And to Robert Bellah’s argument that in the American practice, the public religion of individualism rises over each creed. His insight is prophetically haunting and might be a warning to an American church that often looks like another form of American consumerism.

In spite of the negatives, the freedom the Christian church has known in a state that is not specifically aligned with any religion is tremendous and should be guarded. At the same time, I would hope that Christians might exercise this true freedom of religion with wisdom, avoiding the trap of living from one trend to the next and learning how we might continue to grow and change while still learning from the wisdom our deep roots in ancient traditions.

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