Religion and Politics in Anglo CountriesSee also Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, United States 1. Brief Introduction 1. Brief Introduction to Religion and Politics in Anglo Countries Anglo countries are generally less legally secular than the United States and more religiously observant than European countries. This section focuses on the religious connections of immigration across the Anglo world. Anglican elites led the British Empire, but, as Phillips demonstrates, the Calvinist-Reformed tradition contributed many of its themes to both religious and political events in the colonies and ex-colonies. The Irish, Italians, and others came later in lower-level capacities, but they succeeded in establishing a vibrant working-class Catholicism that eventually produced leadership for what became very powerful societies. African slaves eventually got their freedom, and most joined Protestant Christianity. Almost all Anglo societies had previous inhabitants, from North American Indians to New Zealand Maori to Australian aborigines. In recent years, as documented by Eck, various non-Christian groups from world religions have joined the immigration to these originally British Protestant societies. Thinking about the similarities and differences in these societies will help organize connections across the globe. Hanson (2006), pp. 131-38, discusses “Anglo Societies: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and the New Immigrants.” 2. A Short Introductory Course to Religion and Politics in Anglo Countries Phillips demonstrates the Low Church, Calvinist Protestant connections between those who fought in the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and American Civil War. He (xii) states, “From the birth of Protestantism in the sixteenth century, no Western nation has matched the English-speaking peoples in asserting their destiny as God’s Kingdom.” Guth and Fraser show the connections between religion and voting in Canada. The volume edited by Ahdar and Stenhouse explains the New Zealand experience of religion and politics. Eck focuses on non-Christian immigration to the United States. Phillips, Kevin. The Cousins’ Wars: Religion, Politics, and the Triumph of Anglo-America (New York: Basic Books, 1999). Guth, James L. and Fraser, Cleveland R., “Religion and Partisanship in Canada,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40 (March 2001): 62-63. Ahdar, Rex, and Stenhouse, John, eds. God and Government: The New Zealand Experience (Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press, 2000). Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How A “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001). 3. Other Key Resource Materials for Religion and Politics in Anglo Countries Hoover, Dennis R., Martinez, Michael D., Reimer, Samuel H. and Wald, Kenneth D. “Evangelicalism Meets the Continental Divide: Moral and Economic Conservatism in the United States and Canada,” Political Research Quarterly 55 (June 2002). Lineham, Peter, “Government Support of the Churches in the Modern Era,” in Ahdar and Stenhouse, The New Zealand Experience. Howe, Brian, and Hughes, Philip, eds. Spirit of Australia II: Religion in Citizenship & National Life (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2003). 4. Recent News Articles October 13, 2009. |
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