History UsefulNotes / AmericanChurches

American Catholics are often perceived as being more liberal than the American mainstream, dissenting from the Church in Rome on many social/cultural issues (such as gay rights, allowing priests to marry, birth control, and the ordination of women and gays) while supporting activism for social justice projects. However, the culturally conservative direction taken by the Church in the last few decades under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI means that many recent converts tend to have more conservative views on social issues than the stereotype suggests. The growing Latino contingent within American Catholicism also tends to hold more traditional values. Indeed, Catholics are considered part of the Democratic Party's historic base, but in recent years the Republican Party has been courting them, with part of the GOP's 2012 post-election "autopsy" emphasizing a need to appeal to socially conservative Catholic Latinos, though this has since been largely abandoned with Donald Trump's swing towards a hardline immigration stance.[[note]]There are two reasons most Latinos oppose this. The first is the racial profiling and harassment it inevitably inflicts on them, and the second is that many may belong to mixed-status families where they themselves may be native or naturalized citizens but have loved ones who are undocumented[[/note]].
* '''Mainline Protestant churches''' include the Methodists, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians (the American branch of the Anglicans), the United Church of Christ, and other well-established, or "heritage", churches. These churches are usually the more liberal of the two Protestant groups, and will often take moderate or liberal positions on social issues. They are generally concentrated in the Northeast and the Midwest. These churches saw steep declines in membership in the late 20th century as people gravitated to either the more conservative evangelical churches or toward more secular outlooks, a trend that only [[https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-unlikely-rebound-of-mainline-protestantism bottomed out]] in the 2010s. During that time, many of these churches battled conservative defections due to their liberal social positions, especially with regards to homosexuality. The Episcopal Church's election of an openly gay bishop, for example, caused some parishes to break away and align themselves with more conservative Anglican denominations in Africa.

Politically, they are the second most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party, after only African Americans. [[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections Since Al Smith in 1928,]] the Democrats have always won the Jewish vote by enormous margins, typically more than 70%, even in elections that the Republicans otherwise won in a landslide.[[note]]The closest a Republican came to winning the Jewish vote after 1928 was UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in 1980, who lost it by six points in an election that he otherwise won by ten, and in which Jewish voters also broke strongly for the centrist third-party candidate John B. Anderson.[[/note]] Their social views in particular are more liberal than the American mainstream, owing to a history of persecution and, with it, a general sympathy for marginalized groups. They were heavily involved in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, and it was a Jewish woman, Betty Friedan, who wrote ''The Feminine Mystique'', the book often credited with kick-starting the second wave of the feminist movement in the US. Conservative Jews, however, are not unheard of. Most notably, it was disillusioned Jewish former socialists who provided much of the intellectual backbone of the neoconservative movement in the US, and on the subject of Israel, Jews tend to take a hawkish perspective and [[BerserkButton react very strongly]] to criticisms of and opposition to the Jewish state's existence from both the left and the right. Orthodox Jews, particularly the Haredim (aka the ultra-Orthodox), are [[http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Washington-Watch-Are-Jewish-voting-patterns-changing also]] a [[https://religionnews.com/2021/02/19/the-political-chasm-between-left-and-right-is-tearing-orthodox-jews-apart/ major exception]] to the liberalism of the Jewish community, with the Modern Orthodox community (those who blend in more with general society) being politically split and the Haredim swinging overwhelmingly Republican.

* '''The Church of Satan''' was founded in TheSixties by Anton Szandor [=LaVey=] in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Sources state that there are about ten to twenty thousand official members of the Church of Satan in the United States, and there are countless more who adhere to the philosophy or one of its offshoots. Despite their name and reputation, they [[NonindicativeName do not actually worship Satan]], being an atheistic organization rooted in a mix of pseudo-[[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzschean]] philosophy[[note]][=LaVey=] claimed inspiration from UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}}, but his philosophy is significantly different.[[/note]] and the theatrics of Creator/AleisterCrowley and other occultists. They chose the name because they feel that {{Satan}}, the original rebel in Christian theology, is a role model for people to look up to, and that the Christian message of tolerance, humility, and egalitarianism is self-destructive for both individuals and society. The Church of Satan is not to be confused with...

The evangelical churches saw rapid growth in the late 20th century, much of it at the expense of the mainline Protestant churches, enough to make them, for a time, the largest of the major Christian groups in America. Even today, these are the stereotypical "American" churches often seen in fiction made after TheSixties. However, that growth quickly [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/08/rapid-decline-white-evangelical-america/ stalled out and saw a rapid reversal]] in the late 2000s and 2010s for a variety of reasons, with young people in particular abandoning the faith, such that White evangelicals are now the oldest religious group in America. They are most heavily concentrated in an area known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt "Bible Belt",]] consisting of the South, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, and parts of the Midwest. If a character is described as a "born-again Christian," then he or she is most likely an evangelical -- the two terms are largely seen as interchangeable in American usage.\\

They are also responsible for the growth of what are often called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachurch megachurches]]. While a more traditional church will have from a few dozen to a few hundred parishioners return every week, with "extracurricular" services largely limited to Sunday schools, bake sales, and (for Catholic and some larger Protestant churches) grade schools, a megachurch has thousands or even tens of thousands, and its services will often be more comparable to a rock concert than an old-time congregation. A large number of these churches have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-site_church multiple sites,]] a model under which the head pastor/minister usually preaches live at the main campus with the message transmitted via satellite or Internet to the other sites, though other campuses will have their own worship music and in-church announcements are tailored to each individual location. Megachurches are likely to have their own [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem K-12 schools]], fitness centers, day cares, shops selling Christian merchandise (some of it likely pertaining to, or created by, the head pastor/minister), and ministries targeting various UsefulNotes/{{subculture}}s,[[note]]though a surprising number of megachurches largely ignore singles as a targeted subculture[[/note]] making them one-stop shops for born-again suburbanites. The trend began in the mid-20th century and is associated with the rise of the Religious Right and the growth of the evangelical and Pentecostal movements, as they tend to focus on conversion and personal morality/salvation. These churches have been the target of criticism by both Christians and non-Christians alike, for drawing parishioners away from traditional churches, for their "big box" feel and perceived focus on consumerism, their use of secular business models to bring in worshipers and dollars, and their tax-exempt status.[[note]]These churches bring in millions of dollars annually, tax free, and their leaders also get tax breaks. It has caused some friction. Think "money changers in the temple".[[/note]]
* Related to the Evangelical movement is '''Pentecostalism''', which writers often lump in with the evangelicals due to a lack of familiarity with either one. Pentecostalism is based around a direct experience with God, and often includes faith healing, speaking in tongues, and getting "imbued" with the Holy Spirit. Often associated with loud, charismatic preachers (indeed, a subset of Pentecostalism is called the "charismatic movement," although the word has a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_Christianity more specific meaning]] in this context), who many skeptics will claim are responsible for the activity that goes on during Pentecostal sermons due to their getting the crowd riled up.\\

Despite the fact that Hollywood screenwriters often lump Pentecostals and evangelicals together (most likely due to their shared social conservatism), the two groups differ on a great number of theological issues, which has led to some friction between them. Pentecostals and Charismatics believe in faith healing, speaking in tongues, and a continuing tradition/gift of prophecy (think mystics). Evangelicals believe in personal revelation and experience. Both believe in biblical inerrancy/literalism and baptism/rebirth in Christ. Pat Robertson (Charismatic) made doomsday predictions and believed he spoke with the voice of God. Evangelicals confine themselves to agreeing with him when, ex post facto, he said a certain city was punished for not punishing homosexuality. To confuse things further, there are [[http://www.ancient-future.net/charismatic.html charismatic Catholics]], too. One group of Pentecostals diverges from mainstream Christianity with its rejection of the Trinity. They are known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneness_Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostals]], after their view that God is one. As a consequence, they believe in "Jesus' name baptism", baptizing people in the name of Jesus only. Many also enforce "holiness" standards, i.e. a strict dress code (particularly with women).

Their religious beliefs often conflict with those of mainstream Christianity, particularly with regard to their belief in Literature/TheBookOfMormon, which they believe to be a holy text on par with and corroborative of the Biblical Gospels. This, combined with their past practice of polygamy (which is not helped by the existence of breakaway sects that ''still'' practice it, in violation of both the law and current LDS Church doctrine), means that they are still targets of mockery in many parts of the country. Both from other Christians who view them as heretics, and non-Christians who view them as a {{cult}}. Many secularists also associate them with the rest of the Christian Right, in spite of the latter’s issues with their beliefs. This became evident in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries, when UsefulNotes/MittRomney's Mormon faith caused issue with some Christian conservatives,[[note]]Most notably, in the '08 primary Mike Huckabee, a competing candidate who was running as a social conservative, caused controversy after making some derisive comments about Romney's Mormonism.[[/note]] and in the California Proposition 8 debate in 2008, going by some of the reactions from the anti-Prop 8 side to their influence over the gay-rights debate in California.

The evangelical churches saw rapid growth in the late 20th century, much of it at the expense of the mainline Protestant churches, enough to make them, for a time, the largest of the major Christian groups in America. Even today, these are the stereotypical "American" churches often seen in fiction made after TheSeventies. However, that growth quickly [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/08/rapid-decline-white-evangelical-america/ stalled out and saw a rapid reversal]] in the late 2000s and 2010s for a variety of reasons, with young people in particular abandoning the faith, such that White evangelicals are now the oldest religious group in America. They are most heavily concentrated in an area known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt "Bible Belt",]] consisting of the South, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, and parts of the Midwest. If a character is described as a "born-again Christian," then he or she is most likely an evangelical -- the two terms are largely seen as interchangeable in American usage.\\

The evangelical churches saw rapid growth in the late 20th century, much of it at the expense of the mainline Protestant churches, enough to make them, for a time, the largest of the major Christian groups in America. Even today, these are the stereotypical "American" churches often seen in fiction made after TheEighties. However, that growth quickly [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/08/rapid-decline-white-evangelical-america/ stalled out and saw a rapid reversal]] in the late 2000s and 2010s for a variety of reasons, with young people in particular abandoning the faith, such that White evangelicals are now the oldest religious group in America. They are most heavily concentrated in an area known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt "Bible Belt",]] consisting of the South, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}, and parts of the Midwest. If a character is described as a "born-again Christian," then he or she is most likely an evangelical -- the two terms are largely seen as interchangeable in American usage.\\

** '''The Worldwide Satanic Church of Evil''', which is ''not'' a real church -- although that hasn't stopped thousands of UrbanLegends. Since time immemorial, many religious groups have claimed that there is an evil cult that performs occult rituals, human sacrifice, and other evil acts.[[note]]The Church of Satan actually did perform Black Masses during their heyday, but they were purely for show and to spark controversy.[[/note]] Fear of Satanism turned into a moral panic back in TheEighties following the publication of ''Michelle Remembers'', a now thoroughly discredited book purporting to be an expose of an underground, worldwide Satanic organization with millions of members performing horrific acts on children. The ensuing panic over "Satanic ritual abuse" did lasting damage to the daycare industry (which was hit hard by dozens of allegations of Satanic abuse) and social services (which jumped onto the Satanism bandwagon early, and saw a huge backlash once Satanic abuse became discredited), and even saw Procter & Gamble forced to change its logo following accusations that its original logo was Satanic (they would be awarded $19 million in damages from the people who spread the rumors, which had caused their stock to plummet).

* The '''Roman Catholic Church''' is the largest single denomination in not only the United States, but the world (although Sunni Islam is catching up with the second one). Historically, Catholicism was the religion of TheCity in general, and of [[UsefulNotes/MeltingPot immigrant ethnic groups]] ([[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish]], Italians, Poles, French-Canadians and, more recently, Latinos) in particular. The association with immigrants and the supposed decadence of big cities, combined with America's longstanding Protestant tradition, led to widespread anti-Catholic prejudice in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with many claiming that the Catholics were agents of UsefulNotes/ThePope who were trying to subvert American society. However, outside of a few die-hard fundamentalists (such as [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]), this attitude has mostly disappeared, the pivotal moment being the election of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy as America's first Catholic President in 1960.[[note]]And even then, this was a ''huge'' deal at the time; many Protestants were still concerned that Kennedy would be a puppet of Rome. He had to give [[http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-American-Society-of-Newspaper-Editors-Washington-DC-April-21-19.aspx a speech]] specifically affirming that his first loyalty was to the US Constitution, and that his actions as President would not, and should not, be bound by the dictates of the Church. This speech wound up becoming a major landmark in the aforementioned separation of church and state. Previously, Catholic Al Smith had lost the election of 1928 in large part due to anti-Catholic prejudices.[[/note]] Historically, Catholics have generally been concentrated in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Southwest,[[note]]By which we generally mean Texas, New Mexico, most of Arizona, and Southern California. Oklahoma, Utah, Colorado, and any part of Nevada not called Las Vegas need not apply.[[/note]] and Louisiana.[[note]]In the Northeast and most of the Midwest, this is pretty much entirely due to massive 19th-to-early-20th-century immigration from Ireland, Italy, and the Catholic lands of Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Lithuania, plus the Catholic parts of Germany, and even Ukraine when you count Eastern Catholics). In Louisiana and the Southwest, the Catholic presence is older, dating from the era of French or Spanish rule (both in the case of Louisiana, just Spanish in the Southwest). (By the same token, small but important communities of French Catholics survived in small pockets of the Northeast and Midwest that used to be part of New France; the most significant of these is probably in the Great Lakes region--Detroit in particular has had a Catholic presence since at least 1700 and a Catholic diocese since 1833, and up until the Irish started arriving in force in the 1840s this was mostly a French community--but there's also St. Genevieve in Missouri and the large French-speaking Catholic population of New England descended from Québecois and Acadians who either immigrated or who found themselves living in the United States after the border treaties were settled.) That said, Louisiana got a pretty massive hit of European Catholic immigration--particularly Irish and Italian--around the same time as the Northeast, since it was the main city of the South at the time and doing a lot of trade. (Hence all the Irish and Italian names among the characters of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces''.)[[/note]] More recently, a mix of Latino immigration and internal migration has made the Church more popular in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, the Southwest, and UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}.\\

American Catholics are often perceived as being more liberal than the American mainstream, dissenting from the Church in Rome on many social/cultural issues (such as gay rights, allowing priests to marry, birth control, and the ordination of women and gays) while supporting activism for social justice projects. However, the culturally conservative direction taken by the Church in the last few decades under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI means that many recent converts tend to have more conservative views on social issues than the stereotype suggests. The growing Latino contingent within American Catholicism also tends to hold more traditional values. Indeed, Catholics are considered part of the Democratic Party's historic base, but in recent years the Republican Party has been courting them with part of the GOP's 2012 post-election "autopsy" emphasizing a need to appeal to socially conservative Catholic Latinos which has since been largely abandoned with Donald Trump's swing towards a hardline immigration stance [[note]] There are two reasons most Latinos oppose this, one is the racial profiling and harassment it inevitably inflicts on them and the other is many may belong to mixed-status families where they themselves may be native or naturalized citizens but have loved ones who are undocumented[[/note]].
* '''Mainline Protestant churches''' include the Methodists, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians (the American branch of the Anglicans), the United Church of Christ and other well-established, or "heritage", churches. These churches are the more liberal of the two Protestant groups, and will often take moderate or liberal positions on social issues. They are generally concentrated in the Northeast and the Midwest. These churches have been seeing steep declines in membership as people gravitate to either the more conservative evangelical churches or toward more secular outlooks. At the same time, some of the churches have been battling conservative defections due to their liberal social positions, especially with regards to homosexuality. The Episcopal Church's election of an openly gay bishop, for example, caused some parishes to break away and align themselves with more conservative Anglican denominations in Africa.
* '''Evangelical churches''', as defined by Website/TheOtherWiki, are Protestant churches that are distinguished by four key traits -- a focus on personal conversion (becoming "born again"), spreading the message of Literature/TheBible (evangelizing), placing high stock in Biblical authority, and a focus on Jesus' death and resurrection. Examples of such churches include most subgroups of Baptists, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Presbyterian Church in America.[[note]]Not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is mainline Protestant.[[/note]] They usually adhere to conservative social values, and are very often [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]]. [[note]]As always, there are exceptions to every rule. A number of more liberal, mainline churches call themselves evangelical (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America), and a substantial minority of individual evangelicals, particularly younger ones, reject Biblical literalism.[[/note]]\\

They are the largest of the major Christian groups in America, and are most heavily concentrated in an area known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt "Bible Belt"]], consisting of the South, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} and parts of the Midwest. They have grown quite strongly in recent years, due to their focus on missionary activity. If a character is described as a "born-again Christian," then he or she is most likely an evangelical -- the two terms are largely seen as interchangeable in American usage. Eventually, they have become the stereotypical American churches.\\

They are also responsible for the growth of what are often called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachurch megachurches]]. While a more traditional church will have from a few dozen to a few hundred parishioners return every week, with "extracurricular" services largely limited to Sunday schools, bake sales and grade schools for some of the larger ones, a megachurch has a few thousand or even tens of thousands. and its services will often be more comparable to a rock concert than an old-time congregation. A large number of these churches have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-site_church multiple sites]]. In this model, the head pastor/minister usually preaches live at the main campus with the message transmitted via satellite or Internet to the other sites, although other campuses will have their own worship music, and most in-church announcements are tailored to each individual location. Megachurches are likely to have their own [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem K-12 schools]], fitness centers, day cares, shops selling Christian merchandise (some of it likely pertaining to, or created by, the head pastor/minister), and ministries targeting various UsefulNotes/{{subculture}}s,[[note]]though a surprising number of megachurches largely ignore singles as a targeted subculture[[/note]] making them one-stop shops for born-again suburbanites. The trend began in the middle of the twentieth century and is associated with the rise of the Religious Right and the growth of the evangelical and Pentecostal movements, as they tend to focus on conversion and personal morality/salvation. These churches have been the target of criticism by both Christians and non-Christians alike, for drawing parishioners away from traditional churches, for their "big box" feel and perceived focus on consumerism, their use of secular business models to bring in worshipers and dollars, and their tax-exempt status.[[note]]These churches bring in millions of dollars annually, tax free, and their leaders also get tax breaks. It has caused some friction. Think "money changers in the temple".[[/note]]
* Related to the Evangelical movement is '''Pentecostalism''', which writers often lump in with the evangelicals due to a lack of familiarity with either one. Pentecostalism is based around a direct experience with God, and often includes faith healing, speaking in tongues, and getting "imbued" with the Holy Spirit. Often associated with loud, charismatic preachers (indeed, a subset of Pentecostalism is called the "charismatic movement," although the word has a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_Christianity more specific meaning]] in this context), who many skeptics will claim are responsible for the activity that goes on during Pentecostal sermons due to their getting the crowd riled up.\\

* '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jews]]''' are primarily concentrated on the East Coast (particularly the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC areas, where they make up a double-digit percentage of the population in some counties), South UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (where many of them go to retire), and UsefulNotes/{{California}}, with small enclaves elsewhere in the country. The US has the world's second biggest Jewish population, after only UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, with about 5-6 million. They tend to pull for the Democrats in large numbers [[note]] Jews are the second most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party, after only African Americans [[/note]] -- the only Democrat since [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]] who earned less than 70% of the Jewish vote was UsefulNotes/{{Adlai Stevenson|II}} in 1952 and 1956 -- and usually have social views more liberal than the American mainstream.[[note]]They were heavily involved in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, and it was a Jewish woman who wrote ''The Feminine Mystique'', the book often credited with kick-starting the second wave of feminism.[[/note]] In America, as in most other places, Jews were acceptable targets of prejudice -- anti-Semitism was prevalent in America as late as TheGreatDepression (during which time populist radio host Father Coughlin blamed the Jews for the stock market crash), but slowly began to fade after the atrocities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were brought to the surface. Today, anti-Semitism is significantly less common, and most Jews have turned to worrying about their children marrying non-Jews (which could result in their grandchildren not being considered Jewish, depending on the sect of Judaism they follow) and struggle over whether to preserve traditional Jewish culture or assimilate into American society. That said, antisemitism is still the most common form of religious hate crime, and certain anti-Semitic tropes have been incorporated into either paranoid conspiracy theories or radical anti-Israel rhetoric (in both cases, often by changing the word "Jews" to "Zionists" in claims that Jews drink blood, secretly control the world, etc. A new blood libel is also the claim that Jews/Zionists traffic black market organs taken from unwilling "donors"-some of whom are claimed as being murdered for it, like the original blood libel).
** Although American Jews as a whole are largely Democratic, this is not the case for Orthodox Jews. While Jews as a whole voted 72% Democratic in 2012, [[http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Washington-Watch-Are-Jewish-voting-patterns-changing the Orthodox voted 86% Republican]]. In 2020, the Jewish [[https://religionnews.com/2021/02/19/the-political-chasm-between-left-and-right-is-tearing-orthodox-jews-apart/ presidential vote as a whole was roughly 69% Democratic]], but the Modern Orthodox community (i.e., Orthodox who blend in more with general society) was roughly evenly split while Haredi Jews (aka ultra-Orthodox) have swung overwhelmingly Republican.

* '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jews]]''' are primarily concentrated on the East Coast (particularly the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC areas, where they make up a double-digit percentage of the population in some counties), South UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (where many of them go to retire), and UsefulNotes/{{California}}, with small enclaves elsewhere in the country. The US has the world's second biggest Jewish population, after only UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, with about 5-6 million. They tend to pull for the Democrats in large numbers [[note]] Jews are the second most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party, after only African Americans [[/note]] -- the only Democrat since [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]] who earned less than 70% of the Jewish vote was Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956 -- and usually have social views more liberal than the American mainstream.[[note]]They were heavily involved in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, and it was a Jewish woman who wrote ''The Feminine Mystique'', the book often credited with kick-starting the second wave of feminism.[[/note]] In America, as in most other places, Jews were acceptable targets of prejudice -- anti-Semitism was prevalent in America as late as TheGreatDepression (during which time populist radio host Father Coughlin blamed the Jews for the stock market crash), but slowly began to fade after the atrocities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were brought to the surface. Today, anti-Semitism is significantly less common, and most Jews have turned to worrying about their children marrying non-Jews (which could result in their grandchildren not being considered Jewish, depending on the sect of Judaism they follow) and struggle over whether to preserve traditional Jewish culture or assimilate into American society. That said, antisemitism is still the most common form of religious hate crime, and certain anti-Semitic tropes have been incorporated into either paranoid conspiracy theories or radical anti-Israel rhetoric (in both cases, often by changing the word "Jews" to "Zionists" in claims that Jews drink blood, secretly control the world, etc. A new blood libel is also the claim that Jews/Zionists traffic black market organs taken from unwilling "donors"-some of whom are claimed as being murdered for it, like the original blood libel).

* The '''Roman Catholic Church''' is the largest single denomination in not only the United States, but the world (although Sunni Islam is catching up with the second one). Historically, Catholicism was the religion of TheCity in general, and of [[UsefulNotes/MeltingPot immigrant ethnic groups]] ([[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish]], Italians, Poles, French-Canadians and, more recently, Latinos) in particular. The association with immigrants and the supposed decadence of big cities, combined with America's longstanding Protestant tradition, led to widespread anti-Catholic prejudice in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with many claiming that the Catholics were agents of UsefulNotes/ThePope who were trying to subvert American society. However, outside of a few die-hard fundamentalists (such as [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]), this attitude has mostly disappeared, the pivotal moment being the election of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy as America's first Catholic President in 1960.[[note]]And even then, this was a ''huge'' deal at the time; many Protestants were still concerned that Kennedy would be a puppet of Rome. He had to give [[http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-American-Society-of-Newspaper-Editors-Washington-DC-April-21-19.aspx a speech]] specifically affirming that his first loyalty was to the US Constitution, and that his actions as President would not, and should not, be bound by the dictates of the Church. This speech wound up becoming a major landmark in the aforementioned separation of church and state. Previously, Catholic Al Smith had lost the election of 1928 in large part due to anti-Catholic prejudices.[[/note]] Historically, Catholics have generally been concentrated in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Southwest,[[note]]By which we generally mean Texas, New Mexico, most of Arizona, and Southern California. Utah, Colorado, and any part of Nevada not called Las Vegas need not apply.[[/note]] and Louisiana.[[note]]In the Northeast and most of the Midwest, this is pretty much entirely due to massive 19th-to-early-20th-century immigration from Ireland, Italy, and the Catholic lands of Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Lithuania, plus the Catholic parts of Germany, and even Ukraine when you count Eastern Catholics). In Louisiana and the Southwest, the Catholic presence is older, dating from the era of French or Spanish rule (both in the case of Louisiana, just Spanish in the Southwest). (By the same token, small but important communities of French Catholics survived in small pockets of the Northeast and Midwest that used to be part of New France; the most significant of these is probably in the Great Lakes region--Detroit in particular has had a Catholic presence since at least 1700 and a Catholic diocese since 1833, and up until the Irish started arriving in force in the 1840s this was mostly a French community--but there's also St. Genevieve in Missouri and the large French-speaking Catholic population of New England descended from Québecois and Acadians who either immigrated or who found themselves living in the United States after the border treaties were settled.) That said, Louisiana got a pretty massive hit of European Catholic immigration--particularly Irish and Italian--around the same time as the Northeast, since it was the main city of the South at the time and doing a lot of trade. (Hence all the Irish and Italian names among the characters of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces''.)[[/note]] More recently, a mix of Latino immigration and internal migration has made the Church more popular in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, the Southwest, and UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}.\\

* The '''[[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox churches]]''' include the Eastern Orthodox (Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, etc.) and Oriental Orthodox (Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Ethiopian Orthodox, etc). [[note]]The two are separate because the Eastern Orthodox Church accepts all seven ecumenical councils while the Oriental Orthodox only accept the first three; they're known as the Non-Chalcedonian churches because they rejected the Council of Chalcedon.[[/note]] They are both descended from the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire, which split with the Roman Catholic Church in the 11th century following disputes over the respective authority of the Pope versus the Eastern Roman Emperor and Patriarch of Constantinople, doctrinal disputes over liturgy and the use of icons, and just plain West vs. East bigotry. The two, Pope and Patriarch, mutually excommunicated each others' followers around 1055. It would not be until 1965 that the then-current Pope and Patriarch formally undid this, and the churches have begun to reconcile since then.\\

* '''Evangelical churches''', as defined by Website/TheOtherWiki, are Protestant churches that are distinguished by four key traits -- a focus on personal conversion (becoming "born again"), spreading the message of Literature/TheBible (evangelizing), placing high stock in Biblical authority, and a focus on Jesus' death and resurrection. Examples of such churches include most subgroups of Baptists, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Presbyterian Church in America [[note]]Not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is mainline Protestant.[[/note]]. They usually adhere to conservative social values, and are very often [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]]. [[note]]As always, there are exceptions to every rule. A number of more liberal, mainline churches call themselves evangelical (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America), and a substantial minority of individual evangelicals, particularly younger ones, reject Biblical literalism.[[/note]]\\

Their religious beliefs often conflict with those of mainstream Christianity, particularly with regard to their belief in Literature/TheBookOfMormon, which they believe to be a holy text on par with and corroborative of the Biblical Gospels. This, combined with their past practice of polygamy (which is not helped by the existence of breakaway sects that ''still'' practice it, in violation of both the law and current LDS Church doctrine), means that they are still an [[AcceptableTargets acceptable target]] in many parts of the country. Both from other Christians who view them as heretics, and non-Christians who view them as a {{cult}}. Many secularists also associate them with the rest of the Christian Right, in spite of the latter’s issues with their beliefs. This became evident in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries, when UsefulNotes/MittRomney's Mormon faith caused issue with some Christian conservatives,[[note]]Most notably, in the '08 primary Mike Huckabee, a competing candidate who was running as a social conservative, caused controversy after making some derisive comments about Romney's Mormonism.[[/note]] and in the California Proposition 8 debate in 2008, going by some of the reactions from the anti-Prop 8 side to their influence over the gay-rights debate in California.

Despite the fact that Hollywood screenwriters often lump Pentecostals and evangelicals together (most likely due to their shared social conservatism), the two groups differ on a great number of theological issues, which has led to some friction between them. Pentecostals and Charismatics believe in faith healing, speaking in tongues, and a continuing tradition/gift of prophecy (think mystics). Evangelicals believe in personal revelation and experience. Both believe in biblical inerrancy/literalism and baptism/rebirth in Christ. Pat Robertson (Charismatic) made doomsday predictions and believed he spoke with the voice of God. Evangelicals confine themselves to agreeing with him when, ex post facto, he says a certain city was punished for not punishing homosexuality. To confuse things further, there are [[http://www.ancient-future.net/charismatic.html charismatic Catholics]], too. One group of Pentecostals diverges from mainstream Christianity with its rejection of the Trinity. They are known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneness_Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostals]], after their view that God is one. As a consequence, they believe in "Jesus' name baptism", baptizing people in the name of Jesus only. Many also enforce "holiness" standards, i.e. a strict dress code (particularly with women).

* Much less common than the above, but still prevalent in America, are '''Anabaptists'''. They are the descendants of the Radical Reformation, alongside UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation, who believe that being baptized and joining a church should be a choice, offered [[UsefulNotes/{{Consent}} only to adults who had the knowledge to make such a decision]]. This sounds sensible now, but was pretty revolutionary in the 16th century. In fact, this was the origin of their name: anabaptists literally means "re-baptizers," a pejorative term used by the Catholics for their practice of baptizing adults who had formerly been baptized Catholics as infants. \\

Despite the fact that Hollywood screenwriters often lump Pentecostals and evangelicals together (most likely due to their shared social conservatism), the two groups differ on a great number of theological issues, which has led to some friction between them. Pentecostals and Charismatics believe in faith healing, speaking in tongues, and a continuing tradition/gift of prophecy (think mystics). Evangelicals believe in personal revelation and experience. Both believe in biblical inerrancy/literalism and baptism/rebirth in Christ. Pat Robertson (Charismatic) makes doomsday predictions and believes he speaks with the voice of God. Evangelicals confine themselves to agreeing with him when, ex post facto, he says a certain city was punished for not punishing homosexuality. To confuse things further, there are [[http://www.ancient-future.net/charismatic.html charismatic Catholics]], too. One group of Pentecostals diverges from mainstream Christianity with its rejection of the Trinity. They are known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneness_Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostals]], after their view that God is one. As a consequence, they believe in "Jesus' name baptism", baptizing people in the name of Jesus only. Many also enforce "holiness" standards, i.e. a strict dress code (particularly with women).

Oriental Orthodox aren't as common in America as they are in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} (America's little brother). The main Oriental Orthodox communities are from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}, UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} (which spreads out into UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}...[[note]]The Armenians complicate this situation a lot because historical Armenia is much larger than the modern state. Much of the world's Armenian Diaspora comes from the part of historic Armenia that fell under Turkish rule and was subjected to the horrific [[UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide Armenian Genocide]] in the early 20th century. But even that aside, the Armenians were a well-traveled people with established communities in Lebanon and even Egypt long before the Genocide. Finally, a small part of historic Armenia is included in modern Iran, which recognizes the Armenian community and gives it special rights even under the Islamic Republic.[[/note]]). There are purportedly 700,000 to 1 million Oriental Orthodox Christians in America, but in very clustered communities.[[note]]Mostly in UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}. If the last one sounds weird, Michigan has a large population of Arabic-speakers — for the Egyptian Copts — and Armenians.[[/note]] The most common denominations of Oriental Orthodox in America are the Armenian Apostolic (mostly in California and to a lesser extent the Midwest, especially Detroit), Ethiopian Orthodox (mostly in Greater DC, Greater Philadelphia, and the Midwest), and Coptic Orthodox (mostly in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, and California) churches.

Their religious beliefs often conflict with those of mainstream Christianity, particularly with regard to their belief in Literature/TheBookOfMormon, which they believe to be a holy text on par with and corroborative of the Biblical Gospels. This, combined with their past practice of polygamy (which is not helped by the existence of breakaway sects that ''still'' practice it, in violation of both the law and current LDS Church doctrine), means that they are still an [[AcceptableTargets acceptable target]] in many parts of the country-from both conservatives who view them as heretics, and secularists who view them as a {{cult}} and associate them with the rest of the Christian Right. This became evident in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries, when UsefulNotes/MittRomney's Mormon faith caused issue with some Christian conservatives,[[note]]Most notably, in the '08 primary Mike Huckabee, a competing candidate who was running as a social conservative, caused controversy after making some derisive comments about Romney's Mormonism.[[/note]] and in the California Proposition 8 debate in 2008, going by some of the reactions from the anti-Prop 8 side to their influence over the gay-rights debate in California.

* The '''Roman Catholic Church''' is the largest single denomination in not only the United States, but the world (although Sunni Islam is catching up with the second one). Historically, Catholicism was the religion of TheCity in general, and of [[UsefulNotes/MeltingPot immigrant ethnic groups]] ([[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish]], Italians, Poles, French-Canadians and, more recently, Latinos) in particular. The association with immigrants and the supposed decadence of big cities, combined with America's longstanding Protestant tradition, led to widespread anti-Catholic prejudice in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with many claiming that the Catholics were agents of UsefulNotes/ThePope who were trying to subvert American society. However, outside of a few die-hard fundamentalists (such as [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]), this attitude has mostly disappeared, the pivotal moment being the election of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy as America's first Catholic President in 1960.[[note]]And even then, this was a ''huge'' deal at the time; many Protestants were still concerned that Kennedy would be a puppet of Rome. He had to give [[http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-American-Society-of-Newspaper-Editors-Washington-DC-April-21-19.aspx a speech]] specifically affirming that his first loyalty was to the US Constitution, and that his actions as President would not, and should not, be bound by the dictates of the Church. This speech wound up becoming a major landmark in the aforementioned separation of church and state. Previously, Catholic Al Smith had lost the election of 1928 in large part due to anti-Catholic prejudices.[[/note]] Historically, Catholics have generally been concentrated in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Southwest,[[note]]By which we generally mean Texas, New Mexico, most of Arizona, and Southern California. Utah, Colorado, and any part of Nevada not called Las Vegas need not apply.[[/note]] and Louisiana.[[note]]In the Northeast and most of the Midwest, this is pretty much entirely due to massive 19th-to-early-20th-century immigration from Ireland, Italy, and the Catholic lands of Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Lithuania, plus the Catholic parts of Germany, and even Ukraine when you count Eastern Catholics). In Louisiana and the Southwest, the Catholic presence is older, dating from the era of French or Spanish rule (both in the case of Louisiana, just Spanish in the Southwest). (By the same token, small but important communities of French Catholics survived in small pockets of the Northeast and Midwest that used to be part of New France; the most significant of these is probably in the Great Lakes region (Detroit in particular has had a Catholic presence for over 300 years and a Catholic diocese for almost 200, and up until the Irish started arriving in force in the 1840s this was mostly a French community), but there's also St. Genevieve in Missouri and the large French-speaking Catholic population of New England descended from Québecois and Acadians who either immigrated or who found themselves living in the United States after the border treaties were settled.) That said, Louisiana got a pretty massive hit of European Catholic immigration--particularly Irish and Italian--around the same time as the Northeast, since it was the main city of the South at the time and doing a lot of trade. (Hence all the Irish and Italian names among the characters of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces''.)[[/note]] More recently, a mix of Latino immigration and internal migration has made the Church more popular in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, the Southwest, and UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}.\\

** '''The Worldwide Satanic Church of Evil''', which is ''not'' a real church -- although that hasn't stopped thousands of UrbanLegends. Since time immemorial, many religious groups have claimed that there is an evil cult that performs occult rituals, human sacrifice, and other evil acts.[[note]]The Church of Satan actually did perform Black Masses during their heyday, but they were purely for show and to spark controversy.[[/note]] Fear of Satanism turned into a moral panic back in TheEighties following the publication of ''Michelle Remembers'', a now thoroughly discredited book purporting to be an expose of an underground, worldwide Satanic organization with millions of members performing horrific acts on children. The ensuing panic over "[[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories Satanic ritual abuse]]" did lasting damage to the daycare industry (which was hit hard by dozens of allegations of Satanic abuse) and social services (which jumped onto the Satanism bandwagon early, and saw a huge backlash once Satanic abuse became discredited), and even saw Procter & Gamble forced to change its logo following accusations that its original logo was Satanic (they would be awarded $19 million in damages from the people who spread the rumors, which had caused their stock to plummet).

* '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jews]]''' are primarily concentrated on the East Coast (particularly the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC areas, where they make up a double-digit percentage of the population in some counties), South UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (where many of them go to retire), and UsefulNotes/{{California}}, with small enclaves elsewhere in the country. The US has the world's second biggest Jewish population, after only UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, with about 5-6 million. They tend to pull for the Democrats in large numbers [[note]] Jews are the second most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party, after only African Americans [[/note]] -- the only Democrat since [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]] who earned less than 70% of the Jewish vote was Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956 -- and usually have social views more liberal than the American mainstream.[[note]]They were heavily involved in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, and it was a Jewish woman who wrote ''The Feminine Mystique'', the book often credited with kick-starting the second wave of feminism.[[/note]] In America, as in most other places, Jews are OnceAcceptableTargets -- antisemitism was prevalent in America as late as TheGreatDepression (during which time populist radio host Father Coughlin blamed the Jews for the stock market crash), but slowly began to fade after the atrocities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were brought to the surface. Today, antisemitism is significantly less common, and most Jews have turned to worrying about their children marrying non-Jews (which could result in their grandchildren not being considered Jewish, depending on the sect of Judaism they follow) and struggle over whether to preserve traditional Jewish culture or assimilate into American society. That said, antisemitism is still the most common form of religious hate crime, and certain antisemitic tropes have been incorporated into either paranoid conspiracy theories or radical anti-Israel rhetoric (in both cases, often by changing the word "Jews" to "Zionists" in claims that Jews drink blood, secretly control the world, etc. A new blood libel is also the claim that Jews/Zionists traffic black market organs taken from unwilling "donors"-some of whom are claimed as being murdered for it, like the original blood libel).

Oriental Orthodox aren't as common in America as they are in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} (America's little brother). The main Oriental Orthodox communities are from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}, UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}}, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaCaucasus Georgia]] (the country), and UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} (which spreads out into UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}...[[note]]The Armenians complicate this situation a lot because historical Armenia is much larger than the modern state. Much of the world's Armenian Diaspora comes from the part of historic Armenia that fell under Turkish rule and was subjected to the horrific [[UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide Armenian Genocide]] in the early 20th century. But even that aside, the Armenians were a well-traveled people with established communities in Lebanon and even Egypt long before the Genocide. Finally, a small part of historic Armenia is included in modern Iran, which recognizes the Armenian community and gives it special rights even under the Islamic Republic.[[/note]]). There are purportedly 700,000 to 1 million Oriental Orthodox Christians in America, but in very clustered communities.[[note]]Mostly in UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}. If the last one sounds weird, Michigan has a large population of Arabic-speakers — for the Egyptian Copts — and Armenians.[[/note]] The most common denominations of Oriental Orthodox in America are the Armenian Apostolic (mostly in California and to a lesser extent the Midwest, especially Detroit), Ethiopian Orthodox (mostly in Greater DC, Greater Philadelphia, and the Midwest), and Coptic Orthodox (mostly in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, and California) churches.

Oriental Orthodox aren't as common in America as they are in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} (America's little brother). The main Oriental Orthodox communities are from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}, UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}}, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaCaucasus Georgia]] (the country), and UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} (which spreads out into UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}...[[note]]The Armenians complicate this situation a lot because historical Armenia is much larger than the modern state. Much of the world's Armenian Diaspora comes from the part of historic Armenia that fell under Turkish rule and was subjected to the horrific Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century. But even that aside, the Armenians were a well-traveled people with established communities in Lebanon and even Egypt long before the Genocide. Finally, a small part of historic Armenia is included in modern Iran, which recognizes the Armenian community and gives it special rights even under the Islamic Republic.[[/note]]). There are purportedly 700,000 to 1 million Oriental Orthodox Christians in America, but in very clustered communities.[[note]]Mostly in UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}. If the last one sounds weird, Michigan has a large population of Arabic-speakers — for the Egyptian Copts — and Armenians.[[/note]] The most common denominations of Oriental Orthodox in America are the Armenian Apostolic (mostly in California and to a lesser extent the Midwest, especially Detroit), Ethiopian Orthodox (mostly in Greater DC, Greater Philadelphia, and the Midwest), and Coptic Orthodox (mostly in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, and California) churches.

Orthodox Christians make up less than 1% of the American population, and are associated with particular ethnic groups even more than the Catholics. Basically, if someone is from Eastern Europe or the Balkans, they're more likely than not Eastern Orthodox, and vice versa. The main exception is UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}, a former Russian colony where Russian missionaries heavily evangelized among the natives. (Significantly, the only Member of the 118th Congress (2023-24) who identifies with the Russian Orthodox Church is Mary Peltola (D-AK), who reports no ethnic Russian ancestry but is Alaska Native.) Oriental Orthodox aren't as common in America as they are in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} (America's little brother). The main Oriental Orthodox communities are from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}, UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}}, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaCaucasus Georgia]] (the country), and UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} (which spreads out into UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}...[[note]]The Armenians complicate this situation a lot because historical Armenia is much larger than the modern state. Much of the world's Armenian Diaspora comes from the part of historic Armenia that fell under Turkish rule and was subjected to the horrific Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century. But even that aside, the Armenians were a well-traveled people with established communities in Lebanon and even Egypt long before the Genocide. Finally, a small part of historic Armenia is included in modern Iran, which recognizes the Armenian community and gives it special rights even under the Islamic Republic.[[/note]]). There are purportedly 700,000 to 1 million Oriental Orthodox Christians in America, but in very clustered communities. [[note]]Mostly in UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}. If the last one sounds weird, Michigan has a large population of Arabic-speakers — for the Egyptian Copts — and Armenians.[[/note]] The most common denominations of Oriental Orthodox in America are the Armenian Apostolic (mostly in California and to a lesser extent the Midwest, especially Detroit) and Ethiopian Orthodox (mostly in Greater DC, Greater Philadelphia, and the Midwest) churches.
* The '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]''' (or the LDS Church, "saints" among themselves, or simply the Mormons) is a Nontrinitarian orientation (which means they reject the concept of the Holy Trinity as it is defined by others), and is based mostly in the state of UsefulNotes/{{Utah}} (despite originating in New York), although there are also significant populations in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, UsefulNotes/{{Idaho}}, UsefulNotes/{{Nevada}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}. They are stereotyped as having deeply conservative social views — a view that is usually TruthInTelevision. Owing to their history of persecution and hard life on [[TheWildWest the frontier]], they also believe in self-sufficiency — the Church recommends that all Mormons keep a few months of supplies on hand, and the Church itself has a massive stockpile of food and supplies in the event of a disaster. They operate a significant charity effort around the world through [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDS_Humanitarian_Services LDS Humanitarian Services]]. Mormon charity tends to put more emphasis on helping people find jobs and become self-sufficient; examples include significant efforts to dig clean wells in parts of the world that lack clean water supplies, and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_Education_Fund Perpetual Education Fund]] which makes low-interest loans to people in third-world countries pursuing education.\\

Orthodox Christians make up less than 1% of the American population, and are associated with particular ethnic groups even more than the Catholics. Basically, if someone is from Eastern Europe or the Balkans, they're more likely than not Eastern Orthodox, and vice versa. The main exception is UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}, a former Russian colony where Russian missionaries heavily evangelized among the natives. (Significantly, the only Member of the 118th Congress (2023-24) who identifies with the Russian Orthodox Church is Mary Peltola (D-AL), who reports no ethnic Russian ancestry but is Alaska Native.) Oriental Orthodox aren't as common in America as they are in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} (America's little brother). The main Oriental Orthodox communities are from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}, UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}}, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaCaucasus Georgia]] (the country), and UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} (which spreads out into UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}...[[note]]The Armenians complicate this situation a lot because historical Armenia is much larger than the modern state. Much of the world's Armenian Diaspora comes from the part of historic Armenia that fell under Turkish rule and was subjected to the horrific Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century. But even that aside, the Armenians were a well-traveled people with established communities in Lebanon and even Egypt long before the Genocide. Finally, a small part of historic Armenia is included in modern Iran, which recognizes the Armenian community and gives it special rights even under the Islamic Republic.[[/note]]). There are purportedly 700,000 to 1 million Oriental Orthodox Christians in America, but in very clustered communities. [[note]]Mostly in UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}. If the last one sounds weird, Michigan has a large population of Arabic-speakers — for the Egyptian Copts — and Armenians.[[/note]] The most common denominations of Oriental Orthodox in America are the Armenian Apostolic (mostly in California and to a lesser extent the Midwest, especially Detroit) and Ethiopian Orthodox (mostly in Greater DC, Greater Philadelphia, and the Midwest) churches.