Religious diversity and social change : American cities, 1890-1906

Powerful Forces Of Social Change At The Turn Of The Nineteenth Century Forced American Churches And Their Members To Confront, For The First Time, The Issue Of Religious Toleration. Christiano Analyzes The Effects Of Mass Immigration And Urbanization On Various Communities. These Upheavals Required The Established Churches To Either Accept Or Repel A Level Of Religious Diversity Unimagined By The Architects Of American Liberty. By Examining Changes In Church Membership In The Largest Urban Areas, Integrating Historical Research From A Number Of Disciplines With Statistical Analyses Of The United States Census Reports Of 1890 And 1906, This Cross-disciplinary Study Provides An Empirical Assessment Of The Cultural Shifts That Laid The Foundations For The Denominational System That Prevails In America Today. 1. 'as Slavery Never Did': American Religion And The Rise Of The City -- 2. 'numbering Israel': United States Census Data On Religion -- 3. 'an Infinite Variety Of Religions': The Meaning And Measurement Of Religious Diversity -- 4. 'a Motley Of Peoples And Cultures': Urban Populations And Religious Diversity -- 5. 'a New Society': Industrialization And Religious Diversity Sociological Approaches To Industrialization And Religious Diversity -- 6. 'no Fast Friend To Policy Or Religion': Literacy And Religious Diversity -- 7. 'god's Bible At The Devil's Girdle': Religious Diversity And Urban Secularization -- 8. 'if The Religion Of Rome Becomes Ours': Religious Diversity, Subcultural Conflict, And Denominational Realignment -- 9. 'matters Merely Indifferent?: Religious Diversity And American Denominationalism'. Kevin J. Christiano. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 203-231. Floods of immigration and rapid industrialization and urbanization in America at the turn of the century set in motion the transformation of many long-established institutions. This book examines specific ways in which cultural changes affected the structure of the religious establishment. Statistical models are applied to United States Census data from 1890 and 1906 on city and church populations, revealing connections between the growth of cities, the increase in literacy, and the formation of ethnic subcommunities that led to a new level of religious diversity. The author analyses evidence of growing competition among churches and of a level of individual commitment to congregations, demonstrating that the patterns of religious community established at the turn of the century provided the basis for the current denominational system. The author further analyses the relationship of religious diversity to urban secularization, as well as its role as a catalyst to sectarian conflict. In offering a quantitative assessment of issues central to the history of American religion, this book is a significant contribution to the study of religion in America After the conclusion of the nineteenth century's most important social crusade, the one which sought to liberate thousands of Americans from legal though involuntary servitude, Wendell Phillips, a prominent abolitionist and a farsighted reformer, predicted that "the time will come when our cities will strain our institutions as slavery never did" (quoted in Strong, 1898: 101-102).