Immigrates brought diverse religious ideas to the United States in the past, and still to this day. The influx of religious ideas aided to shape and change the religious landscape (religion, region, and diversity) of the United States of America. Through immigration, emigrants were able to transport their religious cultures and increase membership for many religions, in particular, Asian religions, such as Buddhist and Hindus, in the United States. Additionally, the United States saw a drastic increase in Catholicism and Muslims.
The United States can be seen as a nation of immigrants. As various cultures settled in different regions, each area had its own religious ethos (Goff and Harvey 329). Ethnic is derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning nation or people. Religion can be seen as a second language, as an ethnic carrier. Many Americans struggled with their identity, ethos, and how religion played a large part in shaping Americans. As people immigrated into the United States, issues arose about how people should function together despite different viewpoints. New people in the United States brought diverse religious views and had a difficult time getting used to the American ways (Goff and Harvey 164).
Major immigration spanned the time period of the 1820’s to 1900’s, and peaked in the 1880’s with a majority of immigrates hailing from Europe, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. They brought Roman Catholicism, eastern orthodoxy, Judaism, and Buddhism with them. A huge influx of mostly Catholics from Ireland and Germany drastically changed the religious landscape. The Catholic population increased from 30,000 in 1790, to 600,000 in 1830, becoming the largest single church in the country (Goff and Harvey 243). T...
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... Congress believed that the changing ethnic mix was alternating the country’s culture. Again, the federal government significantly reduced the number of Asians through the Immigration Act of 1965 (Goff and Harvey 353). Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Asian religions in America became stagnant. The Act stopped the flow of immigrates to America that would otherwise function as Asian teachers and practitioners. This in turn restricted the flow and development of Asian religions. Eventually, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the order 9066, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Tweed and Stephen 163-166).
Immigration has been vital to the shaping of American religion, and without emigrants bringing their religious views to America, we would not have as a diverse place as we do. The biggest challenge to protestant establishment was immigration.
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
During the 1920’s there were many controversial issues. There was a concern about declining moral and ethical values, which led to restrictions such as prohibition for example. The concern about these issues seemed most intense when they pertained to religion. In situations like these it always seems necessary to place the blame somewhere. One particular group on which this blame was emphasized happened to be the immigrants. Irish Catholic immigrants were a main focus of discrimination in many ways.
-Despite the already severe legal and social restrictions on Asian immigration, some European Americans felt that immigration should be forbidden altogether with a specific Asian Exclusion Act. In arguments which seem familiar to modern followers of the immigration debate, Asians were accused of taking white jobs and causing social
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
The progression of people into and within the United States has had an essential impact on the nation, both intentionally and unintentionally. Progressions such as The Great Migration and the Second Great Migration are examples of movements that impacted the United States greatly. During these movements, African Americans migrated to flee racism and prejudice in the South, as well as to inquire jobs in industrial cities. They were unable to escape racism, but they were able to infuse their culture into American society. During the twentieth century, economic and political problems led to movements such as The Great Migration and The Second Great Migration which impacted the United States significantly.
When immigrants first began arriving in America, business owners welcomed them because they worked for less money. However, ever since the labor radicalism of the World War I era, and particularly since the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, business owners have increasingly come to view immigrants as the source of labor unrest. Because the common American felt that the United States was becoming too much of a multi-cultural, multi-belief nation, the government passed the Immigration Restriction Acts of 1921 and 1924. The latter reduced the number of Catholic and Jewish immigrants to a trickle by setting extremely low quotas for the number of people to be allowed in each year from Southern and Eastern European countries. As modernists questioned the beliefs of Fundamentalists, they ended up making a religion out of science. Modernists in the Twenties often acted as if science could provide all the answers to the questions of life, a role that religion had assumed in the past. If fundamentalist religion continues to remain a force in American culture and politics, perhaps it is because of the failure of science to answer these questions.
Thomas, Oliver "Buzz". "How To Keep The 'United' In United States: Coping With Religious Diversity In The World's First 'New' Nation." Church & State Feb. 2007: 19+. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.
Religion and culture become one of the major conflict fronts. The American natives and the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) fought against the new cultural practices brought in by the immigrants. Traditional Protestants retained their religious beliefs but fought Catholicism and Judaism brought by the new immigrants. This created many mishaps and tension. Some politicians failed to win their seats because of their religious affiliation. Preachers tried to woo national audiences through media outlets like radio. The move was considered sophisticated but was surprisingly used to restore religions.
This book serves as the best source of answers to those interested in questions about the origin of ethnicity and race in America. Impossible subjects is divided into seven chapters, and the first two talk about the action and practices that led to restriction, exclusion and deportation. It majorly traces back experiences of four immigrant groups which included the Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Mexican. Ngai talks of the exclusion practices which prevented Asian entry into America and full expression of their citizenship in America. Although the American sought means of educating the Asians, they still faced the exclusion policies (Mae Ngai 18). All Asians were viewed as aliens and even those who were citizens of the USA by birth were seen as foreign due to the dominant American culture (Mae Ngai 8). Unlike the Asians, Mexicans were racially eligible to citizenship in the USA because of their language and religion. However, she argues that Mexicans still faced discrimination in the fact that entry requirements such as visa fee, tax and hygiene inspection were made so difficult for them, which prompted many Mexicans to enter into the USA illegally. Tens and thousands of Mexicans later entered into America legally and illegally to seek for employment but were seen as seasonal labor and were never encouraged to pursue American
Immigration has been part of America since before the 17th century. America has evolved into what it is today due to immigration; however immigration as negative effects as well. Immigration is the building blocks for America. Every one that lives in America today are here because their ancestors immigrated here long ago. Over the years immigration as evolved into a more sophisticated matter. There are many laws they have been put in place to monitor and stop immigration. Immigration I a big factor in America but must be done correctly to insure Americas safety.
Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants, with the first and most important law passed being the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the discrimination the Chinese immigrants so harshly received was not rightly justified or deserved. With all of their contributions and accomplishments in opening up the West, they were not so much harming our country but rather helping it.
German immigrants were deeply religious people. In fact many immigrants came to America to escape religious persecution in Germany. The immigrants, however, splintered into many different religious groups. Some of the most common German religions were Lutheran, Catholic, and Free thinkers. (# 3 pg. 45) Many of the new German Americans exerted great energ...
Now to get a complete picture of immigration in America we must start are the beginning. From the beginning, The United States started off as a nation of immigrants, starting with the first Europeans in the 1500's, led by the French and Spanish settlers. Both had began establishing small settlements or towns in what would become America. In most ways they are the one in the same as immigrants today. Why do desire to live in America? To pursue their American dream. What you can see is that a vast majority of these individual are driven by the effect of emotivism, which is an overall emotional response to a problem. Just like the original settlers on the 1400's, they are both after religious and economic freedoms that America provides. They both found and find challenges doing such because the price of the voyage was so high in prices, that an est...
In America, there are many ethnic groups with many varieties of language. The U.S. was created through many people from different countries migrating to the new states. In the U.S. there is an “official speech” which is in the English language. The language of both these countries is not only different in meaning and sound, but also reflects the way in which the people in these societies live, believe, and function. Religion usually plays a big part in the cultures of the world and is the basis for their beliefs and values.