Christian Unitarian Universalist Association
The Universalist Church of America was founded by John Murray in 1793. The American Unitarian Association was founded in 1825. While neither denomination was new when it arrived in the U.S., they merged in 1961and created the Unitarian Universalist Association, a non-creed movement with a liberal Christian background. However, modern Unitarian Universalists would not necessarily call themselves Christians, preferring to define themselves by their shared regard for intellectual freedom and spiritual seeking. Their seven "Principles and Purposes" explain their affirmation of human dignity, commitment to justice, equality, and compassion, acceptance of all people, the search for truth, the use of the democratic process, the goal of world peace, and respect for life. The UUA is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, which is the historical center of Unitarian Christianity in America. In 2011, the UUA comprised 19 Districts, 1,041 congregations with 162,796 certified members and 54,671 church school enrollees served by 1,623 ministers.
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The Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1930 by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad, who preached of the oneness of God and the importance of African-Americans embracing Islam as the religion of their African ancestors. The Nation of Islam believes in the Five Pillars of Islam, though it is not widely accepted as part of the Islamic faith. After Fard disappeared in June 1934, Elijah Muhammad succeeded Fard as the head of the movement, which subsequently ran into legal issues due to the attempt at founding separate schools for members and advocating against serving in the military during WWII. Muhammad also established places of worship, a school named Muhammad University of Islam, businesses, farms and real estate holdings in the United States and abroad. After Elijah Muhammad's death, his son Warith Deen Mohammed changed the name of the organization to "World Community of Islam in the West" and attempted to convert it to a mainstream Sunni Muslim ideology. However, in 1977, Louis Farrakhanrejected Warith Deen Mohammed's leadership and re-established the Nation of Islam on the original model. The Nation of Islam has been accused of being anti-Semitic, charges repeatedly denied by its leaders.
The Nation of Islam remains an important movement in the religious landscape of African-Americans. It does not publish its membership numbers. However, in 2007, the core membership was estimated between 20,000 and 50,000.
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Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization.It is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). It originated as a branch of Conservative Judaism before it splintered. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and his son-in-law, Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, were responsible for its spread from the1920s through the 1940s. Both rabbis believed that historical progress meant that modern Jews did not necessarily have to hold on to many traditional tenets of Judaism and they and their followers believed that Judaism can and should evolve. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan believed that, in light of advances in philosophy, scienceand history,it would be impossible for modern Jews to continue to adhere to many of Judaism's traditional theological claims. Kaplan affirmed that God is not anthropomorphic in any way. As such, all anthropomorphic descriptions of God are used metaphorically. Kaplan's theology went beyond this to claim that God is not personal, in that God is not a conscious being nor can God in any way relate to or communicate with humanity. In addition, Kaplan's theology defines God as the sum of all natural processes that allow people to become self-fulfilled. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College was established in 1968.
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Pentecostalism: 1906
The Pentecostal Movement is one of the largest and most significant religious movements of the twentieth century. It traces its origins back to 1901, when students at a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, concluded that speaking in tongues was a definitive sign of baptism by the Holy Spirit. The official beginning of the movement is usually considered to be the Azusa Street Revival, a historic and ecstatic meeting led by William J. Seymour. Participants experienced dramatic worship services, miracles, and speaking in tongues. Pentecostalism emphasizes the joy of worship and has grown drastically from its relatively recent beginnings.
Comprising over 700 denominations and a large number of independent churches, there is no central authority governing Pentecostalism; however, many denominations are affiliated with the Pentecostal World Fellowship. There are over 279 million Pentecostals worldwide, and the movement is growing in many parts of the world, especially the global South. Since the 1960s, Pentecostalism has increasingly gained acceptance by other Christian religions. And, Pentecostal beliefs concerning Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts have been embraced by non-Pentecostal Christians in Protestant and Catholic churches through the Charismatic Movement. A 2011 Pew survey showed that Pentecostal and other charismatic Christians make up over a quarter of all Christians in the U.S. Together, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity have over 500 million adherents world-wide.
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The Church of Christ, Scientist
The Christian Science faith was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1879, following a claimed personal healing in 1866 which she said resulted from reading the Bible. She was the author of Science and Health with Key to the Scripture, which emphasizes the power of theBibleas a source of physical and mental healing. Her text, along with theBible, are the primary sources of teachings for the Church of Christ, Scientist, which originally believed that members should not seek out modern medical care, though that practice is changing. The Church claims to have collected over 50,000 (anecdotal) testimonies of healing through Christian Science treatment alone. While most of these testimonies represent ailments neither diagnosed nor treated by medical professionals, the Church requires three other people to vouch for any testimony published in its official organ, the Christian Science Journal; verifiers say that they witnessed the healing or know the testifier well. The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the legal title of The Mother Church and administrative headquarters of the Christian Science Church. The complex is located in a 14-acre (57,000 m2) plaza in the Back Bayneighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
The church is also known for its Christian Science Reading Rooms, public bookstores focusing on spirituality, prayer, and healing, as well as the internationally regarded news organization, The Christian Science Monitor, which was founded by Baker Eddy herself. The ChristianScience Monitoris an international newspaper and has won seven Pulitzer Prizes.
In spite of its initial rapid rise, church membership has declined sharply over the past eight decades, according to the church's former treasurer, J. Edward Odegaard. Though the Church is prohibited from publishing membership figures, the number of branch churches in the United States has fallen steadily since World War II. In 2009, for the first time in church history, more new members came from Africa than the United States.
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Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian denomination which is perhaps best-known for its door-to-door evangelization efforts. They began as a Biblical study group in 1870 partly organized by Charles Taze Russell, who disputed many beliefs of mainstream Christianity such as the Trinity and the immortality of the soul. He began publishing the Watch Tower magazine in 1879, which led to the growth of the movement and the beginning of the distribution of religious material in earnest. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Armageddon is imminent and have predicted the end of the world several times. Other beliefs include an objection to military service and blood transfusions.
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Seventh-Day Adventist Church
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church grew out of the Millerite movement in 1840s New York. Named after William Miller, the movement predicted the end of the word and prophesied the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was formally established in 1863 in Michigan. The movement emphasizes the importance of keeping the Sabbath day (on Saturday and not Sunday) as holy and a day of rest. Although much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to common Protestant Christian teachings such as the Trinity and the infallibility of Scripture, its distinctive teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church is also known for its emphasis on diet and health, its "holistic" understanding of the person,[9] its promotion of religious liberty and its conservative principles and lifestyle. Through prophecy and Biblical study, the group set a specific date for Christ's literal return . It was to be in 1844- a time now known as The Great Disappointment.
The religion has expanded beyond America with significant missionary strategies to attract new converts. As of May 2007, it was the twelfth-largest religious body in the world. It has a missionary presence in over 200 countries and territories. The church also operates schools, hospitals, publishing houses,, and a humanitarian aid organization.
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Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints
Joseph Smith Jr. founded the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, in 1830. He claimed to have received several heavenly manifestations and these led him to discover gold plates buried near his New York home which contained a uniquely American religious story and later became known as the Book of Mormon. The Church now has over 15,000,000members worldwide, thanks in part to extensive missionary efforts. Their 13 Articles of Faith include the belief in salvation through Jesus, theBible and Book of Mormon as the word of God, and that Zion will be built upon the American continent.
From its inception, the church and its beliefs have been controversial. Among its beliefs are sacred underwear, polygamy, baptism of the dead and the notion that God lives on a distant planet. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian church in America. More than half of its 14 million members live outside the United States.
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Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing were known as Shakers due to their trembling style of dance which was intended to "shake" off sins during their vigorous worship. The Shaker movement was founded by Mother Ann Lee in 1772. She traveled from England to America in 1774 to find a place for the sect to grow. The community believed in celibacy, communal life, and confession of sin as their basic tenets, while also holding fast to the ideals of pacifism, equality of races and genders, and isolation from the world. A small but active Shaker community lives today at the Sabbathday Lake in Maine.
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Native Traditions: 9,000 BCE or Earlier
America's very first inhabitants have a rich religious history that goes all the way back to prehistoric times. Its beliefs, rituals and traditions are specific to each tribe. These religious beliefsinclude diverse origin myths, burial rituals, the existence of a Creator, and an afterlife. These beliefs are still held by many Native Americans and Native Hawaiians today. However, they often co-exist with tradition Christian religious beliefs and practices also.