EUROPEAN RELIGION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

This article seeks to describe and analyze the place of religion in contemporary Europe through a comparison with the religious situation in the United States. Given their common grounding in Judeo-Christian traditions, such a comparison is both interesting and revealing. The article focuses on three important and loosely related dimensions of religious experience: the extent and nature of institutional belonging; the extent and nature of spirituality amongst church members; and the extent and nature of religious belief. The article then discusses one possible product of such features-the extent to which churches command an authoritative voice in the public square. The analysis reveals a consistent pattern in all four areas: generally speaking, the United States has a significantly more "religious" culture than Europe with more robust religious institutions and a more accepted voice in public affairs. Some possible reasons for this difference are then briefly explored.