ABSTRACT
The maturation of the United States into a global superpower was matched by the diversification of the American religious landscape during the twentieth century. Change came first with the disruptive consequences of the Great Depression and World War II, as many Christian Americans reconsidered the role of religion in both American society and the global community. It was in the aftermath of these events that Protestants and Catholics found reason to cooperate against the perceived evils of the Soviet Union and within the booming postwar economy. This ecumenical goodwill also applied to Jewish Americans, leading some to describe the 1950s as a decade that witnessed the formation of a Judeo-Christian tradition. Not far beneath the surface, however, was a level of social discontent that formed the basis for the civil rights, feminist, and antiwar movements of the 1960s and 70s. Religious organizations played a critical role in these and other efforts to reform society for African Americans, women, and the poor. Not everyone welcomed these liberal advances, leading to the consolidation of white Christian conservatism into what has come to be called the Religious Right. Adding to the religious entanglements of postwar America was a new phase of immigration that introduced unprecedented numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and non-European Christians to the American populace. Such changes to the country’s religious composition have prompted some to regard the United States as a post-Christian or post-Protestant nation, while recognizing that the historical legacy and political potency of
Christianity remains applicable to American life in the twenty-first century.
