Title: A Historical Look at the Status, Engagement and Implications of the Ta Ethne Immigration to the United States from 1775 to 2006
1A Historical Look at the Status, Engagement and
Implications of the Ta Ethne Immigration to the
United States from 1775 to 2006
- A Version Developed for the NAMB Leadership
Celebration
2Documentation of This Look At Immigration from
1775 to 1950
- Will Herbergs and Oscar Handlins works, along
with John Hansens work, stand today as the
classic works on immigration to the USA up to the
1950s. through major research of their own, which
included Their research was based upon the work
of hundreds of other social researchers of their
era. - That body of research when joined with research
from the 1960s to now provides clarity and vital
understanding of our situation today.
3Exploring The Ta Ethne Migration from 1775 to
2006 A.D.
- An old proverb says those who do not consider
and pay attention to history are doomed to repeat
it. - There is a more biblical focus. A look at
Israel in the Old Testament era tells us that
when Israel ignored God and history, God warned
them and instigated their downfall.
4The Three Periods that Led to Future-Altering
Changes in the USA
- The first of the three periods occurred between
1775 and 1924. We will extend this date to 1950
to include the religious data parameters. -
- The second period of change occurred between
1945 and 1960. (This period is an overlap
period.) - The third period of change occurred between 1960
and 2006 A.D. and will likely continue to the
extreme. Many Christians are unaware of issues.
5A Look At 1775 to 1950--The Main Historical,
Social and Religious Factors Related to
Immigration to the USA
6Will Herbergs Oscar Handlins Basic Research
Findings
- Oscar Handlin said in the 1950s Once I thought
to write a history of the immigrants in America.
Then I discovered that the immigrants were
American history The Uprooted, The Epic Story
of the Great Migrations that Made the American
People. (p. 3. Little Brown, 1957) - This is the most significant and critical
reality for America and American Christians to
understand-- then and now. We will explore the
then followed by a look at the now.
7A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- America was founded, grew and flourished in terms
of ethnic peoples, population, religious
adherents and their churches. We will explore
those categories. - Herberg described America following 1607 saying
The colonists who came to these shores from the
time of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the
outbreak of the Revolution were mostly of English
and Scottish stock, augmented by a considerable
number of settlers of Dutch, Swedish, German, and
Irish origin.
8A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- Herberg and Handlin said in separate research
documents in the 1950s At the time of the
Revolution, this British-Protestant element
(usually, though inaccurately, known as
Anglo-Saxon) constituted at least 75 per cent
of the 3,000,000 whites who made up the new
nation (in 1775). - In addition, there were about three quarters of
a million (750,000) negroes. - The great influx (of ethnics) came in the next
century. - In three huge waves, stretching over something
more than a hundred years, over 35,000,000 men
and women left Europe to come to continental
United States.
9A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- By 1924 when the great migrations were past, the
British-Protestant element had been reduced to
less than half the population, and Americans had
become linguistically and ethnically the most
diverse people on earth. (Herberg and Handlin)
That situation has continued to increase since
1924 to 2006.
10 A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- The melding force from 1775 was a combination of
the frontier, economics and the continuing waves
of ethnic immigrant arrivals from 1775 to 1924. - Immigrants found plenty of opportunities to work
on the Westward moving frontier and came in waves
seeking frontier jobs. - First generation immigrants rose from menial jobs
to middle class manager/business status
11The Economics of Immigrants
- From 1830 to 1930, Irish, Bohemians, Slovaks,
Hungarians, and many other peoples followed each
other in the service of the pick and shovel, each
earlier group, displaced by newcomers, moving
upward in the occupational and social scaleIf
successive waves of immigration served as the
push in this pattern of occupational
advancement, education and acculturation to
American ways provided the immigrants with the
opportunity of making the most of it, (Herberg)
12A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- The second generation of immigrants assumed the
jobs of the vacated first generation immigrants
who moved up on job ladder. - As the frontier moved farther westward and as new
waves of immigrants came to America, the movement
from menial to managerial jobs continued. - This kept immigrants from wholesale settlement
within ethnic enclaves, except in cities.
13A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- The Americanization process did produce in the
somewhat melded population a fairly common
English language among the ethnics. - However, pronounced (pun intended) regional, and
some sub-regional, dialectical accents, worldview
expressions and word choices remained unmixed
within the various ethnics. - Some immigrants stayed in cities and often
duplicated their ethnic status there.
14A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- Americanization of the various European ethnics
- even though they learned English for economic
reasons, this language melding did not erase all
of their ethnic identities. - As will be seen, this language melding did not
erase their religious identity from the old
country. Of all their ethnic qualities, their
religious identity came over from old country.
15A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- Most of the regional dialectical and worldview
differences can be traced to ethnic heritages
that persisted. Consider the Cajuns in
Louisiana. German dairy communities spotted the
nation. For other examples see the DVD package
entitled The Appalachians and the San Antonio,
Texas Catholic Missions video produced by the US
Parks and Historical Society.
16A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- American frontier history shaped and melded
only to a degree the European ta ethne peoples. - Over a two-hundred year period these multiple
ethnic groups were melded mainly into an Anglo
Saxon or Anglo-Saxon-oriented population, at
least in terms of language. It is out of this
process that the WASP aroseWhite Anglo Saxon
Protestant. -
17A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A Nation of
Panta ta ethne Immigrants
- American religious denominations, beginning in
1775 and continuing until 1950, underwent classic
changes which were only minimally theological. - In the American religious landscape Protestantism
dominated from the 1700s to the 1900s. - American Indians, who were almost the only
Americans in the 1500s and 1600s, and who existed
in many ethnic groupings, are said by various
historians to have suffered the most between 1775
and 1924 as the European ethnics came and settled
the American frontier from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. -
18The American Indian from 1600 to 1900
- The first change was the overrunning of the
American Indians by the European immigrants - Of an estimated 300 plus original languages
spoken within the American continent, 175 living
languages remain (National Museum of the American
Indian, the Smithsonian Inst.) - Optimum estimates of pre-Columbian population was
15,000,000 to 18,000,000 (R. David Edmonds of
UTDallas)
19The American Indian from 1600 to 1900
- By 1860 in the continental USA there were
official government counts or estimates of
339,421 American Indians (James Collins, Native
Americans in the Census, 1860-1890) - By 1880 the American Indian count was 305,543.
(Collins) - Like all early US Census data, this was based
upon a projected sample. The issue is the
decline from 15,000,000 to 306,543.
20Immigration from 1775 to 1924
- The epic story of the great migrations that
made the American people came to an end
substantially with World War I and with the
restrictive legislation of the 1920s. - 35,000,000 Europeans had reached these shores
- 4,500,000 from Ireland,
- 4,000,000 from Great Britain,
- 6,000,000 from central Europe,
- 2,000,000 from the Scandinavian lands,
- 5,000,000 from Italy,
- 8,000,000 from eastern Europe,
- and 3,000,000 from the Balkans.
- (This was America. Much of Will Herbergs data
came from Handlins study cited earlier. See
Herberg, p. 8.)
21The Religious Situation In The USA from 1775 to
1950
22The First Period of Change from 1775 to 1924
- There was the status of Christianity in 1775
and the changes within the population in light of
Christianity during this period. - It was clear that the main reason that people
migrated to the New World was primarily for
religious freedom. There were other minor
reasons. - The percent of Christians in the colonies in 1775
was about 12 and the majority were Protestants - The Bill of Rights the Western frontier
resulted in a marked change in religion in America
23The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the Colonies
in 1780
- Congregational (745 churches)
- Anglican/Episcopal (405 churches)
- Presbyterian (490 churches)
- Lutheran (235 churches)
- Methodist (Less than 200 churches)
- Baptist (About 200 churches)
- Catholics are not included in this comparison
24The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the USA in
1850
- Methodist
- Baptist
- Presbyterian
- Lutheran
- Congregational
- Episcopal
- (See Neil Brauns Laity Mobilized Masters Thesis
for more discussion of this dynamic within US
history.)
25The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the USA in
1950
- Baptist was first
- Methodist
- Lutheran
- Presbyterian
- Episcopal
- Congregational was last
- (See Jim Slacks and Jim Maroneys IMB study of
the principles and practices of church planting.)
26Discerning The Lay of the Land
- In fact, the seven in 1775 were exactly
reversed by 1950. - By 1850 Methodists were the largest Protestant
denomination in the USA and Baptists were second. - By 1950 Southern Baptists were the largest of
the seven and Methodists were second. -
27Discerning The Lay of the Land
- It is very informative from a historic
evangelization and missiological perspective to
follow and compare the growth dynamics among the
7 largest Protestant denominations in 1775 with
the 7 largest Protestant denominations in 1950. - Baptists in 1775, who had not yet divided into
two major Baptist groups (Northern and Southern),
were the smallest of all seven Protestant
denominations. Methodists were next to last. - What happened that caused this turn-around?
28Why Did These Groups Grow Why Did the Order End
Up Reversed?
- Congregationalists whose polity was thought to
be best fitted for the frontier went though an
Old Lights and New Lights theological
controversy followed by a comity agreement with
Presbyterians. Neither of them recovered from
that missiological mistake. - Yet, it was Congregationalists who brought the
initial and major political and religious group
with a manifesto to the New Land. And, in 1900,
Congregationalists had 1,000 missionaries on
foreign fields, only to see them dwindle during
the 1900s. -
-
29Why Did These Groups Grow Why Did the Order End
Up Reversed?
- Anglican churches were identified with the
English colonizers, with the causes of the
Revolution and never overcame that image until
they changed their name. Few realize that many
of the Puritans and what today are Low Church
Anglicans had gone with Wesley, forming the
foundations of the Methodist church in both
England and the Colonies/USA. -
30Why Did These Groups Grow Why Did the Order End
Up Reversed?
- Presbyterians suffered from the comity
agreement between them and the Congregationalists,
and like the Episcopal churches, their
institutional preference of land and building,
and requirements for a theologically degreed,
denominationally chosen and installed pastor kept
them off the edges of the frontier. - The institutional denominations lagged an
average of 200 miles behind the frontier where
more settled communities were like them and could
afford them. -
31Why Did These Groups Grow Why Did the Order End
Up Reversed?
- Lutherans seem to be the strange anomaly among
the six denominations. Lutherans did make it to
the frontier and did grow. However, persecution
and lack of a colony base in New England pushed
Lutherans to Missouri territory and northward
into Canada where they settled grew some
distance from persecution.
32How did Methodists become First in 1850 and
Remain Second in 1950?
- Methodists had a strategy, a carefully defined
and carefully managed geographic circuit plan
that fitted the frontier. Their plan was the
method found in Methodist. The plan,
designed by Wesley for England, which was never
accepted there fit the US frontier beautifully.
(This is in quotes for a reason.) -
33How did Methodists become First in 1850 and
Remain Second in 1950?
- When the rigors of circuit riding in the early
days, as the Church moved over the country, are
brought before the mind and imagination, the
question is frequently asked, How did they stand
it? The answer is They didnt. They died
under it. No group of men ever lived up more
fully to the truth, He that looseth his life
shall find it. (pp. 42-43, Halford E. Luccock,
Endless Line of Splendor. The Advance for Christ
and His Church of The Methodist Church publisher,
Chicago, Illinois, 1950)
34How did Methodists become First in 1850 and
Remain Second in 1950?
- They died, most of them, before their careers
were much more than begun. Of the 650 preachers
who had joined the Methodist itinerancy by the
opening of the 19th century, about 500 had to
locate, a term that was used for those too
worn-out to travel further. Many of the rest had
to take periods for recuperation. Others located
not because of health, but by reason of lack of
support and the desire to marry and establish a
home. (Luccock)
35How did Methodists become First in 1850 and
Remain Second in 1950?
- Of the first 737 circuit riders of the
Conferences to diethat is, all who died up to
1847 - 203 were between 25 and 35 years of age
- 121 between 35 and 45.
- Nearly half died before they were 30 years old.
- Of 672 of those first preachers whose records we
have in full, - two-thirds died before they had been able to
render 12 years of service. - Just one less than 200 died within the first five
years. (Luccock)
36How did Methodists become First in 1850 and
Remain Second in 1950?
- Many circuits were from 300 to 600 miles in
lengthFor instance, in 1791, Freeborn Garrettson
was assigned to a circuit which included almost
half of what is now the state of New YorkIn 1814
James B. Finley, on the Cross Creek Circuit,
Ohio, had a circuit covering more than two
counties, and preached 32 times on every round.
The salary schedule has an eloquence of its own.
Cash was almost unknown. In 1821 Benjamin T.
Crouch records receiving only 38 toward his
years allowance. The same year Peter Cartwright
received the highest salary in the Kentucky
Conference--238. But when he moved, with his
wife and six children, to the Sangamon Circuit,
Illinois, he received 40, all told, for the
year. (pp. 44-45, Luccock)
37How did Baptists become Second in 1850 and Grow
to First by 1950?
- Methodism grew faster until after 1850, but
Baptist growth from 1800 to 1960 is unparalleled.
From a little over 100,000 in 1800, they were
approaching 20 million by 1960. (Gaustad 1962
as quoted by Braun) - The basic reason is that Baptist theology and
polity fitted them better for the frontier than
any other denomination of churches. -
38Growth Characteristics of Baptists
- Each local church was autonomous
- Churches were congregational in polity
- Baptist church members going west were encouraged
to plant a church if no Baptist church existed
where they settled - Churches that emerged met in homes, saloons,
hardware stores, barns, stables, school rooms,
under trees, etc.
39Growth Characteristics of Baptists
- Local churches found their pastor within the
maturing believers in their emerging church - Local churches called, recognized and ordained
their own pastors - Experienced pastors tended to itinerate,
pastoring 2-4 other churches - As frontier towns settled in and grew, some
churches sought pastors from more settled
frontier towns to the east
40Growth Characteristics of Baptists
- By the mid to late 1800s, in settled territory
behind the frontiers leading edge, as churches
there increased in number, in membership size and
stability, with pastors of longer tenure in the
pastorate, requests arose for training - This led to Baptist schools being started
41The Most Common Growth Reason
- Sweet, Herberg, Latourete, Braun and multiple
other historians said that the most common growth
factors were 1) the starting of churches in
homes where land and building for a church was
not a condition for having and being a church
and 2) lay preachers and pastors, most of whom
were bi-vocational.
42The Lay of the Land Discerned
- Over time, for sure by the early 1900s, as
religious status became the leading
characteristic of an American, the Bible Belt was
forming. The American culture was developing a
stronger Christian ethic, with Christian values
as its base. This base was in practice for
some, and only in the awareness or
conscience-ought to stage for others. It is
out of this base that the terms WASP (White
Anglo-Saxon Protestant) and Judeo-Christian
emerged in the mid-1900s. -
43The Major Concern of the Immigrants by the 1900s
- Their big concern was the preservation of
their way of life above all, the transplanting
of their churches. (pp. 10-11, Herberg.) - In his footnotes Herberg quotes Marcus L.
Hansens research in The Problem of the Third
Generation Immigrant (Augustana Historical
Society, Rock Island, Ill., 1938, p. 15 who said
The church was the first, the most important,
and the most significant institution that the
immigrants established.
44By 1950, Who Was an American?
- By the early 1900s being an American came out
of a degree of melding of three generations of
ethnic groups into being Americans. - Herbergs research discovered that by the 1930s,
A Triple Melting Pot situation in the US had
developed as the norm. Ethnic migration saw
their language and some of their culture receded
somewhat to the background. English had become a
practical acquisition of most ethnics, but their
religion persisted to become the ethnics major
identity.
45By 1950, Who Was an American?
- The singular most identifying characteristic
among most ethnics who migrated to the USA from
1775 to 1924 was their religious status. As
their language became mostly English and as they
gave up some of their cultural identity, the sum
of their status as Americans settled into three
acceptable identifying religious
markersProtestant, Catholic or Jew. - So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification
of an American was according to one of these
three categoriesProtestant, Catholic or Jew.
46(No Transcript)
47A Look At Culture and Religion in the USA1945 to
1960
- Again, the three primary researchers and authors
of what have become classic works concerning
American immigration were Handlin, Hansen
Herberg.
48By 1950, Who Was an American?
- In review of what went before, the singular
most identifying characteristic among most
ethnics who migrated to the USA from 1775 to 1924
was their religious status. As their language
became mostly English and as they gave up some of
their cultural identity, the sum of their status
as Americans settled into three acceptable
identifying religious markersProtestant,
Catholic or Jew. - So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification
of an American was according to one of these
three categoriesProtestant, Catholic or Jew.
49The USA Religious Scene in 1950
- In 1775 church members were only 10 to 12 of the
US population - By 1910 church members had grown to 43
- By 1960 church members had grown to 60
(pp.33-34, Herberg)
50The USA Religious Scene in 1950 A Consideration
of Conversions
- Conversions from one community to the other
take place, but they seem to be very small and do
not appreciably affect the over-all picture.
(Herberg, p. 160) (Herberg quotes the Yearbook of
American Churches, edition for 1960, pp. 261-262
for his data. In the research Herberg quotes
140,414 as the Catholics record of conversions to
Catholicism from Protestantism and he used The
1959 National Catholic Almanac, p. 407 for this
information. This data is for the year 1957.
For a more in-depth study, see Thomas J.M.
Burkes Did Four Million Catholics Become
Protestants?, America, April 10, 1954.
51Religion in USA in the 1950s A Consideration of
Conversions
- Burkes article, a survey by the American
Institute of Public Opinion (a Gallup poll) in
1955 indicated that of an adult population of
96,000,000, only about 4 per cent no longer
belonged to the religious community of their
birth of these 1,400,000 were Protestants who
had originally been Catholics, and 1,400,000 were
Catholics who had originally been Protestants,
about 1,000,000 had made changes of some other
kind. See also John A. OBrien, You Too Can Win
Souls (Macmillan, 1955). (Herbergs footnotes on
pages 170-171.)
52A Study of Marriage Patterns from 1870 to 1940
- In the early 1940s, Ruby Jo Kennedy undertook
an investigation of intermarriage trends in New
Haven from 1870 to 1940. She published her
findings in the American Journal of Sociology for
January 1944 under the significant title, Single
or Triple Melting Pot?The years 1870, 1900,
1930, and 1940 were isolated for detailed
examinationThe large nationality groups in New
Haven, Mrs. Kennedy found, represent a triple
division on religious grounds Jewish, Protestant
(British-American, German, and Scandinavian), and
Catholic (Irish, Italian, and Polish) In its
early immigrant days, each of these ethnic groups
tended to be endogamous with the years, however,
people began to marry outside the group.
(Herbergs quote of Kennedy data on page 33)
53A Study of Marriage Patterns from 1870 to 1940
- Kennedy found Irish marriage was 93.05 per
cent in 1870 74.75 per cent in 1900, 74.25 per
cent in 1930, and 45.06 per cent in 1940 German
in-marriage was 86.67 per cent in 1870, 55.26 per
cent in 1900, 39.84 per cent in 1930, and 27.19
per cent in 1940 for the Italians and the Poles,
the comparable figures were 97.71 per cent and
100 per cent respectively in 1900, 86.71 and
68.04 per cent in 1930, and 81.89 per cent and
52.78 per cent in 1940. But, while strict
ethnic endogamy is loosening, religious endogamy
is persisting (Herbergs quote of Kennedy data
on page 33)
54The USA Religious Scene in 1950 A Consideration
of Inter-Marriage
- By the 1950s, religion not only divided into
the three pools but those in each religious
category tended to marry only within their pool.
Hollingshead found in a study that - 97.1 of Jewish pool married only Jewish spouses
- 93.8 of Catholics married only Catholic spouses
- 74.4 of Protestants married only Protestant
spouses (pp.33-34, Herberg. He is quoting the
study of Hollingshead.)
55A Study of Marriage Patterns from 1870 to 1940
- Members of Catholic stocks married Catholics in
95.35 per cent of the cases in 1870, 85.78 per
cent in 1900, 82.05 per cent in 1930, and 83.71
in 1940 members of Protestant stocks married
Protestants in 99.11 per cent of the cases in
1870, 90.66 per cent in 1900, 78.19 per cent in
1930, and 79.72 per cent in 1940 Jews married
Jews in 100 per cent of the cases in 1870, 98.82
per cent in 1900, 97.01 per cent in 1930, and
94.32 per cent in 1940. Future cleavages, in
Mrs. Kennedys opinion, will therefore be along
religious lines rather than along nationality
lines as in the past.Cultural i.e. ethnic
lines may fade, but religious barriers are
holding fast.When marriage crosses religious
barriers, as it often does, religion still plays
a prominent role, especially among Catholics, in
that such marriages are often conditioned upon,
and result in, one of the partners being brought
into the religious community of the other.
The traditional single melting pot idea must
be abandoned, and a new conception, which we term
the triple melting pot theory of American
assimilation, will take its place, as the true
expression of what is happening to the various
nationality groups in the United States.The
triple melting pot type of assimilation is
occurring through intermarriage, with
Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism serving
as the three fundamental bulwarksThe different
nationalities are merging, but within three
religious compartments rather than
indiscriminatelyA triple religious cleavage,
rather than a multilinear nationality cleavage,
therefore seems likely to characterize American
society in the future. (pp. 32-33, Herberg)
56The Breadth and Depth (Evidences) of these
Religious Characteristics
- By 1950, ones personal identity, political
qualification, social status, marriage, and a few
other functional American categories were
primarily determined by their identify with one
of the three that was most appropriate for ethnic
background and geographic location in the USA. - (See Will Herbergs Protestant-Catholic-Jew.)
57The Consequences of this Religious Environment
- It was beginning to be true in the late 1930s,
increased as being true in the 1940s, throughout
the 1950s and into the early1960s that, to be
elected to a significant state and national
office in the USA, the candidate had to
represent, or make the public think they
represented, Judeo-Christian values or he or she
was seldom elected to a major offices. - This was especially true in the Bible Belt of
the USA. However, except in pervasively Catholic
areas, it was difficult for a Roman Catholic to
be elected to a national office. -
58The Consequences of this Religious Environment
- These Judeo-Christian values that can be seen
in the background of the US Constitution, had
emerged as the broad American ideal by the
mid-1800s and were commonly taught and nourished
in the US public schools from the 1800s to the
1970s. - It was the 1960s before the USA elected a
Catholic as president for fear that a Catholic
president would allow the Pope in Rome to
influence American political decisions in ways
unfavorable to Protestants and Protestant values.
Until Reagan, no divorcee had every been elected
as President of the USA. -
59The Consequences of this Religious Environment
- Southern Baptists, by 1950, not only emerged as
the largest and most influential Protestant
denomination in the USA, they existed
predominantly in the Bible Belt. - Methodists and Southern Baptists were the
major denominations that produced the Bible
Belt. - The people who produced the Methodist and
Baptist denominations and the Bible Belt were
migrant peoples, mostly from Europe, mostly
northern Europe. - Most of these had fled Europe looking for
religious freedom, while the others came to the
colonies looking for decent work, land, a better
lifestyle and freedom.
60The Consequences of this Religious Environment
- Southern Baptist evangelism and church planting
methods, or approaches, developed in the midst of
this history and upon this base of
Judeo-Christian values. They were assumed to
exist by most citizens in the USA. - These Judeo-Christian values permeated the
justice and legal system of the USA and were
assumed to be the best rules to live and do
business by in the USA. (See Herbergs book
Protestant, Catholic, and Jew.)
61The Lay of the Land Discerned
- Consequently, Southern Baptists, and other
evangelical denominations, and Para-church
agencies such as Post-WWII Navigators, Campus
Crusades, Inter-Varsity, and others, understood
the assumptions and aspirations of typical
Americans in the USA during this era. Thus, this
was the situation just prior to the next stage of
immigration and history.
62Looking Back on this Period from 1945 to 1960
- We now look back on the period from 1945 to
1960 as Americas most formative and significant
religious ingathering period in American history.
This does not minimize the affects and the
magnitude of the Great Awakenings in the 1700s,
or the Great Prayer Revival in 1850. However,
the growth of religious denominationsProtestants,
Catholics and Jewswithin this period speaks for
itself. Southern Baptists grew by 100 in this
period.
63A Troubling Reality of the Most Homogeneous and
Religious Era
- This is at least part of the picture presented
by religion in contemporary America. Christians
flocking to church, yet forgetting all about
Christ when it comes to naming the most
significant events in history men and women
valuing the Bible as revelation, purchasing and
distributing it by the millions, yet apparently
seldom reading it themselves. Every aspect of
contemporary religious life reflects this
paradoxpervasive secularism amid mounting
religiosity, the strengthening of the religious
structure in spite of increasing
secularismAmerica seems to be at once the most
religious and the most secular of nationscan
there be much doubt that, by and large, the
religion which actually prevails among Americans
today has lost much of its authentic Christian
(or Jewish) content. (p. 2-3, Herberg)
64Major Missiological Issues to Notice
- As the American population became
sociologically more homogeneously Anglo and as
most of the American population had come to see
itself as either Protestant, Catholic or Jew a
number of things occurred - Most any kind of evangelism program that a
Christian worked tended to work (meaning
produced fruit) - Programs and methods tended to work across minor
cultural boundaries
65Major Missiological Issues to Notice
- Programs, methods, approaches, whatever one wants
to call them, became more and more generic. This
was especially the case with Southern Baptists
who were mainly in the Bible Belt - Consequently Southern Baptists came to believe
that one size, meaning one model, fits all, and
they did to a great degree then, especially in
the Bible Belt
66Major Missiological Issues to Notice
- However, when Baptists hit the road and took
their evangelism teams to the Northeast, to the
Midwest and to the Northwest, they tended to
attract primarily transplanted Southerners who
had a firm Christian base. - And, when the Baptists were out of the Protestant
Bible Belt and in Catholic territories of the
1950s they met the we dont swap religions
ethnic identify that created America and
Americans of the 1950s.
67Major Missiological Issues to Notice
- Those transplanted churches were soon sealed off
those churches from the locals. For, when the
few locals who did come to see what church was
all about, they saw foreign southern folks,
heard sermons that assumed evangelical, Christian
values assumptions with southern Bible Belt
terms. - Most locals did not stay and join those
non-local, southern churches, for they did not
engage the locals worldview. Fifty years later,
most of those churches are as they were then, or
smaller.
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69The Third Period of American History 1965-Present
- The most homogeneous era and the most religious
period in US history soon - eroded into the most secular period the US has
ever known - entered, became and continues to escalate into a
separation of church and state era that never
existed in previous US history and that is
totally out of character with the intentions of
the founding fathers
70The Third Period of American History 1965-Present
- The most homogeneous era in US history and the
most religious period in US history soon - saw a renewed influx of ethnic immigrants who are
on their way to surpassing the numbers which
occurred from 1775 to 1924 - began experiencing ethnic immigration that,
except for ethnics coming from Latin America,
come from very different cultural, worldview, and
religious stock
71The Third Period of American History 1965-Present
- The most homogeneous era in US history and the
most religious period in US history soon - was faced with a large percentage of ethnics from
many different ethnic groups who want to keep not
only their religion as did those of the 1800s,
but who in addition want to keep their own
language and their own culture as well - had ethnics, some of whom are compromising enough
to learn English at a work level
72The Third Period of American History 1965-Present
- The most homogeneous era in US history and the
most religious period in US history soon - experienced immigrant ethnics who want the
American dream but who do not want to assimilate
into American culture to the point of giving up
language, culture and religion yet, who want all
of the rights of any traditional American
citizen and who soon - met Christians who do not see them as, or relate
to them as, Jesus panta ta ethne.
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75Missiological Issues This Generation Faces
- Attempts to revive and repackage methods and
approaches used during the most homogeneous and
religious period in US history, that of the
1950s - Following the lead of secular, market-driven,
demographic, sociological categories, that
adequately locate and define ethnic Anglos, an
ever-shrinking pool within the American
population as very diverse ethnics increase
76Missiological Issues This Generation Faces
- Assuming and search for generic, silver-bullet,
models that will work among each and every one of
the ethnic groups throughout the USA - And, this is when the old 1950s methods do not
even work today among a very different pool of
Anglos from those of the 1950s - Post-modern Anglos of today do not resemble nor
respond to programs of homogeneous and religious
Anglos of the 1950s
77Missiological Issues of Today
- The American population continues to move away
from Judeo-Christian values - Two entire generations of school kids have not
been introduced to Judeo-Christian values and
worldview assumptions - This is very much the truth in the cities and on
college university campuses
78Missiological Issues of Today
- The political landscape has changed drastically.
The attempt is to move Christianity out of the
market place and out of public view into the
privacy of homes or church buildings. - Political campaigns are not friendly to up-front
declarations of Christian truth and obvious
Christian positions.
79Missiological Issues of Today
- Based upon biblical and pedagogical evidence,
each ethnic group should be engaged in the idiom
of its heart language. (See the Acts 2 miracle
of the Pentecost visitors hearing in their own
heart language.) - Worldview is at the heart of ta ethne
engagement, yet is a hardly understood and
followed concept today - Worldview is laid down in the life of each person
in the idiom of their heart language
80Missiological Issues of Today
- What is beneath the issue of heart language and
worldview? - Pedagogy, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology
tells us that by the time a child is 4-5 years
old, he or she, has accrued from 45-60 of his or
her worldview. These same researchers tell us
that by 11-12 years of age, 80 of a persons
worldview is formed. - To engage and influence a persons worldview in
favor of a Christian worldview it should be
engaged in the persons heart language idiom
81Missiological Issues of Today
- What is beneath the issue of heart language and
worldview? - Generic approaches and generic content that does
not work in a persons heart language and that
does not address a persons specific worldview
issues has little opportunity of influencing that
persons worldview - To not engage a persons worldview is to face
syncretism in that persons life
82Missiological Issues of Today
- What is beneath the issue of heart language and
worldview? - Even if an ethnic learns English, the worldview,
to be engaged, should be engaged in the persons
heart language for that is the language in which
worldview beliefs, values and habits reside - Today, a large number of the ethnics are coming
from Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Animistic,
Catholic and Post-Modern cultures
83Missiological Issues of Today
- What is beneath the issue of heart language and
worldview? - Copying materials developed for one ethnic group
and translating them into the language of another
ethnic group will not address the second groups
worldview unless they have the same language and
worldview. The IMB did it for years and reaped
syncretism from it. - The setting ethnics live in, such as urban or
rural, has less to do with evangelizing ethnics
than does their language and worldview
84Missiological Issues of Today
- As the US experiences the entry of record numbers
of different ethnic peoples with their own
individual languages that produced their own
peculiar ethnic worldview beliefs, values and
lifestyles, there is the high priority need to - Segment society according to each and every
ethnic group within the USA - Encourage, learn about and assist in the People
Groups Info partnership between the IMB and NAMB
research departments
85The Paramount Ta EthneFacing America Today
86Americas Most Critical Hour
- Multiple ethnic groups are migrating to the US
and Canada today who have various heart
languages, and various ethnic worldviews, yet who
embrace the same religionIslam. - Even though they have their own individual
languages and worldviews, they share the aim of
living permanently in the US, along with their
aim of being the dominant religion in America.
They aim for it to be the only religion in
America.
87Americas Most Critical Hour
- Islam is already on its way to becoming the
dominant religion in Europe. Scholars who seldom
ever agree on any one issue, political or
religious or secular agree that Islam has Europe
in its grasp and will soon have Canada, followed
soon after by Islams possession of the US.
Possession to Islam means socially, religiously,
politically and economically without any rivals.
88- Document prepared by
- Dr. James B. Slack
- IMB, SBC
- August 2006
- For NAMB-SBC Leadership Meeting
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90End of Presentation
91- No one who attempts to see the contemporary
religious situation in the United States in
perspective can fail to be struck by the
extraordinary pervasiveness of religious
identification among present-day Americans.
Almost everybody in the United States today
locates himself in one or another of the three
great religious communities. Asked to identify
themselves in terms of religious preference, 95
per cent of the American people, according to a
recent public opinion survey, declared themselves
to be either Protestants, Catholics, or Jews (68
percent Protestants, 23 per cent Catholics, 4 per
cent Jews) only 5 per cent admitted to no
preference. (p. 46, Herberg. Herberg gained
this data from the Catholic Digest, January 1953.
The survey was conducted by Ben Gaffin and
Associates. Only adults over 18 are considered.)
921950s
- Much the same may be said about the high and
growing repute of religion in the American public
mind. Religion is given continued public and
political approvalGodless is a powerful
epithetAt least nominal public acceptance of
religion tends to be a prerequisite to political
success (Herberg quotes Williams American
Society, pp. 326, 336.).It was not always so
there was a time when an atheist or agnostic like
Robert C. Ingersoll, who went around the country
defying God and making anti-religious speeches,
could nevertheless occupy a respected and
influential position in American politics. Today
that would be quite inconceivable, a professed
unbeliever would be anathema to either of the
big parties and would have no chance whatever in
political life. (p. 51, Herberg) -
- Congressional Religious Affiliations-1957
- The contrast between the days of Ingersoll and
our day, when every candidate for public office
is virtually required to testify to his high
esteem for religion, measures the position that
religion as a value or institution, has
acquired in the American public mind. Of the 528
members of the two houses of the 85th Congress,
only 4 gave no religious affiliation 416
registered as Protestants, 95 as Roman Catholics,
12 as Jews, and one as a Sikh. (p. 52, Herberg.
Herberg quotes the Report of the Legislative
Reference Service of the Library of Congress,
released April 6, 1957.)
931950s
- The figures for church membership tell the same
story but in greater detail. Religious
statistics in this country are notoriously
inaccurate, but the trend is so well marked that
it overrides all margins of error. In the
quarter of a century between 1926 and 1950 the
population of continental United States increased
28.6 per cent, membership of religious bodies
increased 59.8 per cent in other words, church
membership grew more than twice as fast as
population. Protestants increased 63.7 per cent,
Catholics 53.9 per cent, Jews 22.5 per cent.
Among Protestants, however, the increase varied
considerably as between denominations Baptist
increase was well over 100 per cent, some
holiness sects grew even more rapidly, while
the figure for the Episcopal Church was only 36.7
per cent, for the Methodist Church 32.2 per cent,
for the Northern Presbyterians 22.4 per cent, and
for the Congregationalists 21.1 per cent. (p. 47,
Herberg. Herberg found in Information Service,
March 8, 1952 that The trend continues. In the
thirty-two years between 1926 and 1957, the
population of continental United States increased
about 45 per cent while the membership of
religious bodies increased nearly 92 per cent,
more than twice as fast. (Yearbook of American
Churches, edition for 1959, p. 294.) - In 1950 total church membership was reckoned at
85,319,000, or about 57 per cent of the total
population. In 1958 it was 109,557,741, or about
63 per cent, marking an all-time high in the
nations history. (p. 47, Herberg. Data taken
from Yearbook of American Churches, edition for
1960, pp. 258, 279.)
94The First Period of Change from 1775 to 1924
- There were some noble human events during this
period of unprecedented migration, but there were
also so many ignoble events when viewed from the
perspective of the American Indians. - San Antonio as an illustration of Catholic
mistakes - Jonesborough and the Free State of Franklin as an
illustration of Baptist ethics and church
planting - There never has been a significant period of
evangelization of American Indians in US/Canada