【正文】 phenomenon in the United States and often misunderstood by foreigners. Part of this may be because the media, for example, television and films, are often the only ways that foreigners are exposed to American culture. These media, in general, ignore the role and importance of religion in America.Driving through the countryside and passing through small towns in the United States, foreigners are often surprised by the number of churches in even a small town of two or three thousand people. That there are so many churches doesn’t seem so strange, perhaps, if we look at the history of the United States. Remember when talked about immigration to the United States? At that time, we pointed out that many people immigrated to escape persecution and to seek freedom to practice their religion. Considering that people from many different countries and religious backgrounds immigrated to the United States, it shouldn’t be surprising to find a great number of different religious denominations. Even in a small town, there will usually be several churches representing different religious groups. Today I’d like to give you some facts and figures about religious groups in the United States, then pare the United States to other modernized nations, and, finally, say something about the importance of religion in America, particularly about the increasing role of religion in . political life in recent years.Estimating the number of people belonging to various religious groups in America can be a little difficult to do. First of all, the . government cannot ask for information on religious affiliation on a mandatory basis in any official capacity, statistical information must be gathered from surveys of the population and from organizational reports, which might, for example, include the number of members belonging to a church, synagogue, or mosque. One survey done in 2002 shows that 76 percent of the total population identified themselves as Jewish and another 1 percent as Muslim. I should pint out that Protestants, who form the single largest religious groups, are found in more than 1,200 denominations.Another study, called “The American Religious Identification Survey,” showed that the number of people identifying themselves as Christian dropped from 86 percent to 77 percent between 1990 and 2001. The total number of those identified themselves as Jewish declined a little, whereas the total number who identified themselves as Muslims doubled. Other smaller groups such as Buddhists and Hindus also increased their numbers. I don’t want to suggest that these are the only religious groups. Ok, so that’s enough facts and figures about various religious groups in the United States.Now let’s look at two ways that religion in the United States differs from religion in other modernized nations. The first relates to the number of persons who claim membership in churches or some other religious organization. The second concerns the relationship of religion and government. Let’s consider the first way the United States differs from these other modernized nations. About 60 percent of Americans belong to a church or other modernized nations. This number is surprisingly high in parison to other modernized nations. For example, the percentage of people who belong to a church or other religious organization is only 22 percent in Great Britain, 15 percent in Spain, 7 percent in Italy, and 4 percent in France. This is not to suggest, though, that religious values may not be important in these countries, but it does suggest how important belonging to a church or other religious organization is to Americans pared to Europeans. However, there is another somewhat contradictory difference that we should also consider. In many of these modernized, European nations, there is no clear separation of religion and government. When discussing religion in America, it’s important to remember that whereas freedom of worship is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, this same amendment also establishes the separation of church and state. Therefore, although this amendment guarantees everyone the right to practice his or her religion, it also tends to keep religion out of the public schools, for example. Religion has been a matter of government, politics, and public education. Of course, religious beliefs and values have always influenced politics and education, but generally indirectly. To sum up, then, the importance of belonging to a church or religious organization seems greater to Americans than to Europeans, but at the same time, religion has no official role in the government as it has in some European countries and has largely been confined to the private side of people’s lives. However, there has been a recent trend leading to an increase in the influence of religion in politics. Finally, let’s take a closer look at this rather sudden rise in the influence of religion on American political life.Although religion in America seemed to many people to be in decline during most of this country, in the 1970s, there was a religious revival that surprised many, especially those people in academia, the media, and government. This religious revival became known as the “rise of the religious right.” That is, the people involved in this religious revival were politically conservative, or to the right of the center. For a while it seemed that this rise in conservative religion would be largely confined to the private sphere of life. The religious right was generally opposed to abortion, but abortion was made legal by the Supreme Court anyway. The religious right generally favored prayer in schools, but the Supreme Court found that prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. The issues of abortion and prayer were felt by many to be matters of private concern, not serious political issues. However, these issues have bee increasingly politicized, and because very politicized and has led to very bitter political debate