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American Churches: Difference between revisions
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Other religions are also well-represented in the country, although all of them are clear minorities of the United States population.
* '''[[Judaism|Jews]]''' are primarily concentrated on the East Coast (particularly the New York and Washington areas, where they make up a double-digit percentage of the population in some counties), South Florida (where many of them go to retire), and California, with small enclaves elsewhere in the country. Their disproportionate presence in New York and Los Angeles explains why Jews are [[You Have to Have Jews|so well-represented in the entertainment and financial industries]]. They tend to pull for the Democrats in large numbers -- the only Democrat since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] who earned less than 70% of the Jewish vote was Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956 -- and usually have social views more liberal than the American mainstream. <ref>They were heavily involved in the [[Civil Rights Movement]], and it was a Jewish woman who wrote ''The Feminine Mystique'', the book often credited with kick-starting the second wave of feminism.</ref> In America, as in most other places, Jews are [[Once-Acceptable Targets]] -- anti-Semitism was prevalent in America as late as [[The Great Depression]] (during which time populist radio host Father Coughlin blamed the Jews for the stock market crash), but slowly began to fade after the atrocities of [[World War II]] were brought to the surface.
* There is significant debate of the number of '''[[Islam|Muslims]]''' in the United States, with most estimates ranging from as low as one million to as high as seven million. Two-thirds of the Muslim community is foreign-born, while most of the rest consists of African-American converts (where we get the stereotypical "[[Malcolm Xerox|black Muslims]]"). Almost one-fifth of [[American Prisons|American convicts]] are Muslims, most of whom converted to Islam while in prison (again, the "black Muslim" stereotype). They tend to be concentrated on the East Coast, in Detroit, in Houston, and in California.<br /><br />Thanks to the 9/11 attacks, Muslims have become [[Acceptable Target|acceptable targets]] in many parts of the United States, [[Defector From Decadence|which has caused many of them to support the Democratic Party]]. <ref>Interestingly, before the attacks, most Muslims voted Republican due to their affluence and social conservatism.</ref> Even so, they tend to be rather well-integrated compared to their European counterparts, having a higher average income and educational attainment than the national average. The first Muslim member of [[American Political System|Congress]] is Keith Ellison, an African-American Democrat from Minnesota elected in 2006; he was followed by another African American, Andre Carson (Democrat of Indiana), after a special election in 2008. And no, despite [[Conspiracy Theorist|what you may have heard]],
** The '''Nation of Islam''', whose more prominent members have included [[Malcolm X]] and Louis Farrakhan, and Muhammad Ali, is an American offshoot of the religion of Islam. As with mainstream Islam, the NOI preaches adherence to the five pillars of Islam, personal modesty, eschewing pork, and many other similarities. They differ from mainstream Islam in that they also preach black supremacy and that their founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, was the Christian Messiah and the Muslim Mahdi (much the same thing). With its own religious text, doctrinal differences with traditionalists, and American origin, the Nation of Islam can be seen as analogous to Mormonism, and its reception has often been similar (frosty at best, hostile at worst).
* '''[[Atheism|Atheists]] and other non-religious people''' (not a church, but here for completeness) make up about 15% of the American population, with their numbers being highest in the Western states and the Northeast.<ref>The title of "least religious state" often varies between Vermont, Colorado, Oregon and Washington depending on the year and the survey.</ref> The vast majority of non-religious people tend to be either liberals (they voted about 71% for [[Barack Obama]]) or libertarians, although there are a few prominent conservative atheists. They have long been an acceptable target in American culture, often being stereotyped as [[Hollywood Atheist|bitter, elitist, amoral, un-patriotic]], and [[Dirty Communists|possibly Communist]].<ref>An example of the type of treatment that atheists get in America -- former President [[George H. W. Bush]] once stated in an interview on the campaign trail that atheists couldn't be considered citizens, as America is "one nation under God."</ref> However, lately there have been some more positive portrayals of non-religious people in the media, such as [[Bones|Temperance Brennan]] and many of [[Joss Whedon]]'s (himself an atheist) characters.
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