The influence of religion on American Value IntroductionIn most countries, religious people had declined obviously with the society developing and science knowledge enlarging. America is a highly developed country in civilization, culture, science and technology. But the rate of religious people in America is far higher than other western countries. In this article, we try to outline some general American values influenced by religious tradition, religious history and today’s religion. To some extent, it is helpful to know of America and American society better.Relation between the Culture and ReligionIn any countries, the characteristics and values of people are related with their own society culture and tradition nearly and embody its own culture value concept. America, as a country, which was founded by the protestant immigrants from Europe and their descendants, from the view of culture origin, directly follows modern European civilization, which mainly contains the values of capitalist’s equality, freedom, and democracy from Enlightenment movement. They materialized strong concept of values and principles and moralities that influence not only the foundation of U.S.A and the form of the National Democratic Political System; meanwhile, but also American characteristics and values inevitably. Religion, as the only one among those factors which influence the development of American society that possesses invisible power (the religion value) and the visible power (religious denominations or groups) has its own more special even more everlasting influence.The Important Place of Religion Culture in American Society and American Life.The U.S.A is a highly developed country with modern science, yet it is also a religious country, in which people has strong religion fervency. Religion then, being theology or the everyday practices of a culture, gives us insight into the religious influence in American life. There is a strong religious influence in American life. Among 250 million people, there are over 3000 religious denominations and groups, and sixty out of a hundred have religious beliefs. Every Sunday morning, all over American, people pour into the churches, not only the catholic churches, but also the protestant ones too, are flourishing, and new church buildings, some with interesting architecture, keep pace with the ever-growing suburbs.ⅢSome American Characteristics and Values Affected by Religion1. American Creativity, Materialism and Hard Working from Its Religion Origin-----Puritanism[ˈpjʊərɪtənɪzəm](清教)In the eyes of other countries’ people, American s are often criticized for being so “materialistic” which means placing a high value on material possessions. Americans do not like to be called materialistic because they feel that this unfairly accuses them of loving only material things and of having no religious values. For them, though, this materialism is natural and proper. Material wealth is the mostwidely accepted measure of social status in the United States because Americans rejected the European system of hereditary aristocracy and titles of nobility; they had to find a substitute for judging social status.However, Americans pay a price for their material wealth, which is hard working. When puritans settlers arrival this new land, all the rich natural resources were undeveloped. They believed God gave those treasures to them and only by hard work could these natural resources be converted into material possessions and a conformable standard of living as the reward for the God. Hardworking has been both necessary and rewarding for most Americans throughout their history. Because of this, they have come to see material possessions as the natural reward for their hardworking. Most Americans believe if a person works hard, it is possible to have a good standard of living. Over 90% of young Americans think they will achieve what they want in life, and almost eight out of ten think they can get what they want through hard work. They have been thought that it is a good thing to work hard and acquire more material badges of their success, and that means a better future for them.3. 2 Individual Freedom and EqualityIn addition to viewing the Christianity as an expression of individual freedom and equality in their purest forms, Americans have also seen the Christens as a pure expression of the ideal of equality of opportunity. On the western Christianity there was more of a tendency for people to treat each other as social equals than in the more settled eastern region of the country. On the Christianity, the highest importance was placed on what a person could do. Because so little attention was paid to a person’s family background, the Christians offered the chance of a new beginning for many Americans who were seeking new opportunities to advance themselves. Americans moved west to the Christians to make a new beginning when they experienced disappointment or failure in business or in politics.The historic decisions made by those first settlers have had a profound effect on the shaping of the American character. By limiting the power of the government and the churches and eliminating a formal aristocracy, they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. The United States came to be associated in their minds with the concept of individual freedom. This is probably the most basic of all the American value. Scholars and outside observer often call this value “individualism,” but many Americans use the word“freedom.”Perhaps the word “freedom”is one of the most respected popular words in the United States today.By “freedom,”Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government , a ruling noble class, the church or any other organized authority. The desire to be free of controls was a basic value of the new nation in 1776, and it has continued to attract immigrants to this country.Political rights once belonged only to Whiteman at least 21 years of age, and in some cases only of they were property owners. Now, political rights belong to all men and women 18 years of age or older who are citizens, whether black or white, rich orpoor. They believe in equality not only of political rights but also educational rights, working rights, rights in court, and many other rights. Consequently, when women or racial minorities, the situation is regarded as social values. Denial of equality in such cases involves conflict of interest; but the demand for equality is rooted in the consensus view that equality is a general American value.Freedom is so much a part of American life that it is often taken for granted. But this is not to say that it is not valued. Indeed, the belief in the freedom of the individual is probably the most basic and most strongly held of all American beliefs. The desire for freedom is what motivated the Russian man to risk his life to come to United States, and it is one of main reasons why immigrants have traditionally come to his country.3. 3 Confidence, Courage and Optimism3.3.1 ConfidenceThe protestant settlers believed that by coming to American they were carrying out God’s plan. This belief gave them confidence that they would succeed. Modern Americans still need to believe that their nation will continue to succeed. The national religion helps to answer this need by reminding them of their religious heritage. It is a means of maintaining their national self-confidence in a rapidly changing world. But, Americans have developed a number of informal practices that combine national patriotism with religion.Protestant Christianity often emphasizes the natural wickedness of human nature, but Protestantism rejected the idea that acts of wickedness can be forgiven by a priest acting in God’s name. Therefore, individuals are left alone before God for their wickedness. In this way, Protestantism encourages a strong and restless desire for self-improvement. The need of self-improvement, once established, reaches far beyond in the purely moral sense. In the United States the belief in self-improvement can be seen in countless books that explain how people can be happier and more successful in life by improving everything, even their whole personality. They are the natural products of a protestant culture in which people believe that “God helps those who help themselves”. The key to self-improvement and success is self-confidence and ensure personal success in life.3.3.2 Optimism and CourageousOptimism ------“doing good” orientation can be found in the life of Jesus Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples said that he went about “doing good”. The Bible is full of how Jesus traveled from place healing the sick and counseling misfits and ordinary people. This procedure was filled with troubles. But Jesus always was optimistic. In short, activity and Christianity are bound together. Americans like to believe that a difficult problem can be solved. They take pride in meeting challenges and overcoming difficult obstacles. This spirit has traditionally given Americans a sense of optimism about themselves and their country. The spirit is a real source of pride and inspiration.Another strong message in Christianity is courage. Jesus was courageous. The life of Jesus reveals a man who would not be intimidated by his opponents. Jesus’strong personality, strength and courage are traits that all Christians are reminded of repeatedly. These are the powerful values in the American culture.Because life was getting easier, people assumed that it was getting better. The prevailing American attitude was one invented by a French pharmacist who, in treating his patients by hypnosis, instructed them to say,“Every day in every way I am getting better and better.” According to this kind of belief, Americans shared another happy attitude – a naïve patriotism that said the United States was the best of all possible places; that American policy was determined by ethics, not expediency; that we had never fought an unjust war; that we war always on the side of right and ruled by noble motives.ⅣThe Religious Outlook of AmericansMore than 80% Americans agree that even today, miracles are performed by the power of God, and 36%say they personally experienced or witnessed what they considered a miracle, according to a CBS news poll last year. Heaven isn’t just in your mind: it’s a real place, say 88% of a national sample of adults interviewed in 1997 by Opinion Dynamics for Fox News. Overall, the center’s survey confirms that America truly is one nation underGod or at least Americans say it is. In survey after survey, overwhelming majority of Americans firmly believe in God. They have no doubt about thatgod really exists. Women are far more likely to be true believers than men.An analysis of five separate GSS surveys between 1988 and 1998 found that believers were far more likely to be women (58%) than men (42%). [2] Though some evidence indicates a decline in recent decades of the influence of religion in American life, religion reaches large audiences via radio and TV. Weekly audiences of religious TV shows are about 24 million and radio audiences are probably even larger. Prior to 1960, the major religious groups handled most religious broadcasting and the broadcasting time was given to them as a public service. Today, many small religious groups buy broadcasting time and use it, not only to preach the word of God, but also to plead for contributions to support their church（and sometimes the preacher’s expensive lifestyle as well）. What’s more, belief in God may be getting stronger. In 1987, a Gallup poll found that 60% of those interv iewed completely agreed with the statement: “I never doubt the existence of God.”ConclusionAmerican religion is certainly one major factor to American development. Americans are strongly affected by those beliefs in their everyday lives although their ideals are only partly carried out in real life. The religion provided the space and conditions that helped to strengthen the American ideals were enlarged and made workable. Therefore, if we can understand what these basic traditional American values are and how they have influenced almost every facet of life in the U.S, it will be easier to understand what Americans are thinking and feeling.。