Religion and Public Life in the Middle Atlantic Region Fount of Diversity

by Balmer, Randall; Silk, Mark; Klaff, Vivian; Fisher, James; Balmer, Randall; Grossman, Lawrence; Hudnut-Beumler, James; Cadge, Wendy

• ISBN13: 9780759106376
• ISBN10: 0759106371
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-23
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

The Middle Atlantic region's religious diversity began in the seventeenth century and continues today. European religious minorities recognized the need to tolerate other faiths if they themselves were to be tolerated. From Quaker Pennsylvania to English-Catholic Maryland to New York with no state religion, the Middle Atlantic colonies inspired the framers of the Constitution to keep a wall of sepration between religion and government. But the religious diversity of the region is tempered by the many religious institutions that have centers in the area, especially in Washington, D.C. and New York City. The diversity here is due less to fluid identities and emerging religions than to many established religious institutions recognizing and tolerating each other. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish traditions function alongside each other here and they make room for the religions of new immigrants. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	5	(4)
Mark Silk
INTRODUCTION The Proving Ground for Pluralism	9	(12)
Randall Balmer
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC REGION AND THE NATION	21	(4)
Religious Self-Identification and Adherents Claimed by Religious Groups, National and Regional Comparisons
CHAPTER ONE The Religious Diversity of an Immigrant Region	25	(20)
Vivian Z. Klan'
CHAPTER TWO Protestants in the Middle Atlantic Region	45	(26)
James Hudnut-Beumler
CHAPTER THREE Catholicism in the Middle Atlantic	71	(24)
James T. Fisher
CHAPTER FOUR Jews–Middle Atlantic and Beyond	95	(38)
Lawrence Grossman
CHAPTER FIVE Religions of Immigrants in the Mid-Atlantic States	133	(22)
Wendy Cadge
CONCLUSION The Pluralist Imperative	155	(10)
Randall Balmer
APPENDIX	165	(2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	167	(2)
INDEX	169	(8)
CONTRIBUTORS	177