ABSTRACT
When looking at the United States, secularization critics either deny religious decline or, when acknowledging some decline, discount its significance by emphasizing the still high levels of American religiosity, the recent start of decline, or the slowness of decline. Defenders of the secularization thesis similarly recognize the theoretical import of the United States. For them, embarrassingly strong American religion presents a case with which they must grapple, a puzzle they must somehow solve to sustain the secularization thesis. Americans remain remarkably religious in both belief and practice, particularly as compared to people elsewhere in the West. The chapter shows that in a fundamental respect the American pattern of decline is remarkably similar to the pattern found throughout the West: the decline is driven by generational differences in religiosity. It focuses on comparisons with other English-speaking countries: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
