Free Essay Example - Organized Religion

It is important to note that religion in the United States is characterized by both practices as well as the diversity of religious belief alongside great devotion level to a given religion. Various religious choices have been available to the population of the United States as a result of the First Constitutional Amendment, which allowed for freedom of religion (Troeltsch, 2017). The paper seeks to discuss Protestantism as one of the organized religions in the United States by discussing its prevalence and membership. Further, the paper will discuss its symbolic interactionist perspective by looking at the beliefs, rituals, as well as religious experiences that its members share.

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Protestantism as a religious movement began in the northern parts of Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. The religion started as a reaction to medieval Roman Catholic practices. It is crucial to mention that Protestantism further became one of the three major religions of Christianity (Troeltsch, 2017). It should be noted that after several religious wars that occurred in Europe from the 16th century to the 19th century, Protestantism spread throughout the world. As a result, it influenced the cultural, economic, political, and social lives of the people in areas it gained a foothold.

In the United States, Protestantism is the largest religious grouping consisting of Christians. Protestants are more in the United States than any other country in the world. It is important to note that out of this large number, Baptists account for one-third of all American Protestants (Turner, 2017). However, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in America. Although various denominations under Protestantism may differ, they share some protestants foundations. For example, the belief and emphasis on faith over good work, the use of two sacraments, and the preeminence of the scriptures are some of the most shared religious beliefs and experiences (Turner, 2017). Also, protestants believe that there is life after death through divine judgment. A symbol commonly used by Protestants is the Cross, which is widely recognized in the world. Apart from sacraments and baptism, Protestants are widely known to hold rituals and celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, as well as Pentecost (Turner, 2017).

In conclusion, Protestantism, as a religion, is one of the largest in the world. It has got several denominations, mainly comprising Christians that share various rituals, beliefs, symbols as well as religious experiences, as mentioned above. Therefore, this makes Protestantism a different religion in the world.

References

Troeltsch, E. (2017). Protestantism and progress: a historical study of the relation of Protestantism to the modern world. Routledge.

Turner, B. S. (2017). Ritual, belief, and habituation: Religion and religions from the axial age to the Anthropocene. European Journal of Social Theory, 20(1), 132-145. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1368431016645355?journalCode=esta