Slack Immigration

A Historical Look at the Status,
Engagement and Implications

of the Ta Ethne Immigration to
the United States from 1775 to
2006
A Version Developed for the
NAMB Leadership Celebration
Documentation of This Look At

Immigration from 1775 to 1950
Will Herbergs and Oscar Handlins works, along
with John Hansens work, stand today as the classic
works on immigration to the USA up to the 1950s.
through major research of their own, which included
Their research was based upon the work of
hundreds of other social researchers of their era.
That body of research when joined with research
from the 1960s to now provides clarity and vital
understanding of our situation today.
Exploring The Ta Ethne Migration

from 1775 to 2006 A.D.
An old proverb says: those who do not
consider and pay attention to history are
doomed to repeat it.
There is a more biblical focus. A look at
Israel in the Old Testament era tells us that
when Israel ignored God and history, God
warned them and instigated their downfall.
The Three Periods that Led to

Future-Altering Changes in the USA
The first of the three periods occurred between
1775 and 1924. We will extend this date to 1950 to
include the religious data parameters.
The second period of change occurred between
1945 and 1960. (This period is an overlap period.)
The third period of change occurred between 1960
and 2006 A.D. and will likely continue to the
extreme. Many Christians are unaware of issues.
A Look At 1775 to 1950--The

Main Historical, Social and
Religious Factors Related to
Immigration to the USA
Will Herbergs & Oscar Handlins

Basic Research Findings
Oscar Handlin said in the 1950s: Once I thought to
write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I
discovered that the immigrants were American
history The Uprooted, The Epic Story of the Great
Migrations that Made the American People. (p. 3.
Little Brown, 1957)
This is the most significant and critical reality for
America and American Christians to understand-then and now. We will explore the then followed
by a look at the now.
A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

Nation of Panta ta ethne Immigrants
America was founded, grew and flourished in terms of
ethnic peoples, population, religious adherents and
their churches. We will explore those categories.
Herberg described America following 1607 saying: The
colonists who came to these shores from the time of
the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the outbreak of
the Revolution were mostly of English and Scottish
stock, augmented by a considerable number of
settlers of Dutch, Swedish, German, and Irish origin.

Herberg and Handlin said in separate research
documents in the 1950s: At the time of the
Revolution, this British-Protestant element (usually,
though inaccurately, known as Anglo-Saxon)
constituted at least 75 per cent of the 3,000,000
whites who made up the new nation (in 1775).
In addition, there were about three quarters of a
million (750,000) negroes.
The great influx (of ethnics) came in the next century.
In three huge waves, stretching over something more
than a hundred years, over 35,000,000 men and
women left Europe to come to continental United
States.

By 1924 when the great migrations were past,
the British-Protestant element had been
reduced to less than half the population, and
Americans had become linguistically and
ethnically the most diverse people on
earth. (Herberg and Handlin) That situation
has continued to increase since 1924 to 2006.

The melding force from 1775 was a
combination of the frontier, economics and the
continuing waves of ethnic immigrant arrivals
from 1775 to 1924.
Immigrants found plenty of opportunities to
work on the Westward moving frontier and
came in waves seeking frontier jobs.
First generation immigrants rose from menial
jobs to middle class manager/business status
The Economics of Immigrants

From 1830 to 1930, Irish, Bohemians, Slovaks,
Hungarians, and many other peoples followed
each other in the service of the pick and shovel,
each earlier group, displaced by newcomers,
moving upward in the occupational and social
scaleIf successive waves of immigration
served as the push in this pattern of
occupational advancement, education and
acculturation to American ways provided the
immigrants with the opportunity of making
the most of it, (Herberg)

The second generation of immigrants assumed
the jobs of the vacated first generation
immigrants who moved up on job ladder.
As the frontier moved farther westward and as
new waves of immigrants came to America, the
movement from menial to managerial jobs
continued.
This kept immigrants from wholesale settlement
within ethnic enclaves, except in cities.

The Americanization process did produce in the
somewhat melded population a fairly common
English language among the ethnics.
However, pronounced (pun intended) regional,
and some sub-regional, dialectical accents,
worldview expressions and word choices
remained unmixed within the various ethnics.
Some immigrants stayed in cities and often
duplicated their ethnic status there.

Americanization of the various European ethnics:
even though they learned English for economic
reasons, this language melding did not erase
all of their ethnic identities.
As will be seen, this language melding did not
erase their religious identity from the old
country. Of all their ethnic qualities, their
religious identity came over from old country.

Most of the regional dialectical and
worldview differences can be traced to ethnic
heritages that persisted. Consider the Cajuns
in Louisiana. German dairy communities
spotted the nation. For other examples see the
DVD package entitled The Appalachians and
the San Antonio, Texas Catholic Missions video
produced by the US Parks and Historical
Society.

American frontier history shaped and melded
only to a degree the European ta ethne
peoples.
Over a two-hundred year period these multiple
ethnic groups were melded mainly into an
Anglo Saxon or Anglo-Saxon-oriented
population, at least in terms of language. It is
out of this process that the WASP arose
White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

American religious denominations, beginning in 1775
and continuing until 1950, underwent classic
changes which were only minimally theological.
In the American religious landscape Protestantism
dominated from the 1700s to the 1900s.
American Indians, who were almost the only
Americans in the 1500s and 1600s, and who existed
in many ethnic groupings, are said by various
historians to have suffered the most between 1775
and 1924 as the European ethnics came and settled
the American frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The American Indian from 1600 to

1900
The first change was the overrunning of the
American Indians by the European
immigrants
Of an estimated 300 plus original languages
spoken within the American continent, 175
living languages remain (National Museum of
the American Indian, the Smithsonian Inst.)
Optimum estimates of pre-Columbian
population was 15,000,000 to 18,000,000 (R.
David Edmonds of UTDallas)
The American Indian from 1600 to

1900
By 1860 in the continental USA there were
official government counts or estimates of
339,421 American Indians (James Collins,
Native Americans in the Census, 1860-1890)
By 1880 the American Indian count was
305,543. (Collins)
Like all early US Census data, this was based
upon a projected sample. The issue is the
decline from 15,000,000 to 306,543.
Immigration from 1775 to 1924

The epic story of the great migrations that
made the American people came to an end
substantially with World War I and with the restrictive
legislation of the 1920s.
35,000,000 Europeans had reached these shores:
4,500,000 from Ireland,

4,000,000 from Great Britain,
6,000,000 from central Europe,
2,000,000 from the Scandinavian lands,
5,000,000 from Italy,
8,000,000 from eastern Europe,
and 3,000,000 from the Balkans.
(This was America. Much of Will Herbergs data

came from Handlins study cited earlier. See
Herberg, p. 8.)
The Religious Situation In The

USA from 1775 to 1950
The First Period of Change from

1775 to 1924
There was the status of Christianity in 1775
and the changes within the population in light of
Christianity during this period.
It was clear that the main reason that people
migrated to the New World was primarily for
religious freedom. There were other minor reasons.
The percent of Christians in the colonies in 1775
was about 12% and the majority were
Protestants
The Bill of Rights & the Western frontier resulted in
a marked change in religion in America
The Six (6) Leading Church

Groups in the Colonies in 1780
Congregational (745 churches)
Anglican/Episcopal (405 churches)
Presbyterian (490 churches)
Lutheran (235 churches)
Methodist (Less than 200 churches)
Baptist (About 200 churches)
Catholics are not included in this comparison

Groups in the USA in 1850
Methodist
Baptist
Presbyterian
Lutheran
Congregational
Episcopal
(See Neil Brauns Laity Mobilized Masters Thesis for
more discussion of this dynamic within US history.)

Groups in the USA in 1950
Baptist was first
Methodist
Lutheran
Presbyterian
Episcopal
Congregational was last
(See Jim Slacks and Jim Maroneys IMB study of the
principles and practices of church planting.)
Discerning The Lay of the Land

In fact, the seven in 1775 were exactly
reversed by 1950.
By 1850 Methodists were the largest
Protestant denomination in the USA and
Baptists were second.
By 1950 Southern Baptists were the largest
of the seven and Methodists were second.
Discerning The Lay of the Land

It is very informative from a historic
evangelization and missiological perspective to
follow and compare the growth dynamics among the
7 largest Protestant denominations in 1775 with the
7 largest Protestant denominations in 1950.
Baptists in 1775, who had not yet divided into
two major Baptist groups (Northern and Southern),
were the smallest of all seven Protestant
denominations. Methodists were next to last.
What happened that caused this turn-around?
Why Did These Groups Grow & Why

Did the Order End Up Reversed?
Congregationalists whose polity was thought to be
best fitted for the frontier went though an Old Lights
and New Lights theological controversy followed by a
comity agreement with Presbyterians. Neither of them
recovered from that missiological mistake.
Yet, it was Congregationalists who brought the initial
and major political and religious group with a manifesto
to the New Land. And, in 1900, Congregationalists
had 1,000 missionaries on foreign fields, only to see
them dwindle during the 1900s.

Anglican churches were identified with the
English colonizers, with the causes of the
Revolution and never overcame that image
until they changed their name. Few realize that
many of the Puritans and what today are Low
Church Anglicans had gone with Wesley,
forming the foundations of the Methodist church
in both England and the Colonies/USA.

Presbyterians suffered from the comity
agreement between them and the Congregationalists,
and like the Episcopal churches, their institutional
preference of land and building, and requirements for
a theologically degreed, denominationally chosen and
installed pastor kept them off the edges of the frontier.
The institutional denominations lagged an average
of 200 miles behind the frontier where more settled
communities were like them and could afford them.

Lutherans seem to be the strange
anomaly among the six denominations.
Lutherans did make it to the frontier and
did grow. However, persecution and lack
of a colony base in New England pushed
Lutherans to Missouri territory and
northward into Canada where they settled
& grew some distance from persecution.
How did Methodists become First in

1850 and Remain Second in 1950?
Methodists had a strategy, a carefully
defined and carefully managed geographic
circuit plan that fitted the frontier. Their plan
was the method found in Methodist. The
plan, designed by Wesley for England, which
was never accepted there fit the US frontier
beautifully. (This is in quotes for a reason.)

When the rigors of circuit riding in the early days, as
the Church moved over the country, are brought
before the mind and imagination, the question is
frequently asked, How did they stand it? The answer
is: They didnt. They died under it. No group of men
ever lived up more fully to the truth, He that looseth
his life shall find it. (pp. 42-43, Halford E. Luccock,
Endless Line of Splendor. The Advance for Christ and
His Church of The Methodist Church publisher,
Chicago, Illinois, 1950)

They died, most of them, before their careers
were much more than begun. Of the 650
preachers who had joined the Methodist
itinerancy by the opening of the 19th century,
about 500 had to locate, a term that was used
for those too worn-out to travel further. Many of
the rest had to take periods for recuperation.
Others located not because of health, but by
reason of lack of support and the desire to
marry and establish a home. (Luccock)

Of the first 737 circuit riders of the Conferences
to diethat is, all who died up to 1847
203 were between 25 and 35 years of age
121 between 35 and 45.
Nearly half died before they were 30 years old.
Of 672 of those first preachers whose records we have
in full,
two-thirds died before they had been able to render
12 years of service.
Just one less than 200 died within the first five years.
(Luccock)

Many circuits were from 300 to 600 miles in lengthFor instance,
in 1791, Freeborn Garrettson was assigned to a circuit which
included almost half of what is now the state of New YorkIn
1814 James B. Finley, on the Cross Creek Circuit, Ohio, had a
circuit covering more than two counties, and preached 32 times
on every round. The salary schedule has an eloquence of its
own. Cash was almost unknown. In 1821 Benjamin T. Crouch
records receiving only $38 toward his years allowance. The
same year Peter Cartwright received the highest salary in the
Kentucky Conference--$238. But when he moved, with his wife
and six children, to the Sangamon Circuit, Illinois, he received
$40, all told, for the year. (pp. 44-45, Luccock)
How did Baptists become Second in

1850 and Grow to First by 1950?
Methodism grew faster until after 1850,
but Baptist growth from 1800 to 1960 is
unparalleled. From a little over 100,000 in
1800, they were approaching 20 million by
1960. (Gaustad: 1962 as quoted by Braun)
The basic reason is that Baptist theology
and polity fitted them better for the frontier
than any other denomination of churches.
Growth Characteristics of Baptists

Each local church was autonomous
Churches were congregational in polity
Baptist church members going west
were encouraged to plant a church if no
Baptist church existed where they settled
Churches that emerged met in homes,
saloons, hardware stores, barns,
stables, school rooms, under trees, etc.

Local churches found their pastor within the
maturing believers in their emerging church
Local churches called, recognized and
ordained their own pastors
Experienced pastors tended to itinerate,
pastoring 2-4 other churches
As frontier towns settled in and grew, some
churches sought pastors from more settled
frontier towns to the east

By the mid to late 1800s, in settled
territory behind the frontiers leading
edge, as churches there increased in
number, in membership size and
stability, with pastors of longer tenure in
the pastorate, requests arose for training
This led to Baptist schools being started
The Most Common Growth Reason

Sweet, Herberg, Latourete, Braun and
multiple other historians said that the
most common growth factors were: 1)
the starting of churches in homes where
land and building for a church was not a
condition for having and being a church;
and 2) lay preachers and pastors, most
of whom were bi-vocational.
The Lay of the Land Discerned

Over time, for sure by the early 1900s, as religious
status became the leading characteristic of an
American, the Bible Belt was forming. The American
culture was developing a stronger Christian ethic, with
Christian values as its base. This base was in
practice for some, and only in the awareness or
conscience-ought to stage for others. It is out of
this base that the terms WASP (White Anglo-Saxon
Protestant) and Judeo-Christian emerged in the
mid-1900s.
The Major Concern of the Immigrants

by the 1900s
Their big concern was the preservation of
their way of life; above all, the transplanting of
their churches. (pp. 10-11, Herberg.)
In his footnotes Herberg quotes Marcus L.
Hansens research in The Problem of the Third
Generation Immigrant (Augustana Historical Society,
Rock Island, Ill., 1938, p. 15 who said: The church
was the first, the most important, and the most
significant institution that the immigrants
established.
By 1950, Who Was an American?

By the early 1900s being an American came
out of a degree of melding of three generations
of ethnic groups into being Americans.
Herbergs research discovered that by the
1930s, A Triple Melting Pot situation in the US
had developed as the norm. Ethnic migration
saw their language and some of their culture
receded somewhat to the background. English
had become a practical acquisition of most
ethnics, but their religion persisted to
become the ethnics major identity.

The singular most identifying characteristic
among most ethnics who migrated to the USA
from 1775 to 1924 was their religious status.
As their language became mostly English and
as they gave up some of their cultural identity,
the sum of their status as Americans settled
into three acceptable identifying religious
markersProtestant, Catholic or Jew.

So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification of
an American was according to one of these three
categoriesProtestant, Catholic or Jew.
A Look At Culture and Religion

in the USA:1945 to 1960
Again, the three primary researchers and
authors of what have become classic works
concerning American immigration were Handlin,
Hansen & Herberg.

In review of what went before, the singular most
identifying characteristic among most ethnics who
migrated to the USA from 1775 to 1924 was their
religious status. As their language became mostly
English and as they gave up some of their cultural
identity, the sum of their status as Americans settled
into three acceptable identifying religious markers
Protestant, Catholic or Jew.
So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification of an
American was according to one of these three categories
Protestant, Catholic or Jew.
The USA Religious Scene in 1950

In 1775 church members were only 10 to 12%
of the US population
By 1910 church members had grown to 43%
By 1960 church members had grown to 60%
(pp.33-34, Herberg)
The USA Religious Scene in 1950:

A Consideration of Conversions
Conversions from one community to the other take
place, but they seem to be very small and do not
appreciably affect the over-all picture. (Herberg, p.
160) (Herberg quotes the Yearbook of American
Churches, edition for 1960, pp. 261-262 for his data.
In the research Herberg quotes 140,414 as the
Catholics record of conversions to Catholicism from
Protestantism and he used The 1959 National Catholic
Almanac, p. 407 for this information. This data is for
the year 1957. For a more in-depth study, see Thomas
J.M. Burkes Did Four Million Catholics Become
Protestants?, America, April 10, 1954.
Religion in USA in the 1950s: A

Consideration of Conversions
Burkes article, a survey by the American Institute of
Public Opinion (a Gallup poll) in 1955 indicated that of
an adult population of 96,000,000, only about 4 per
cent no longer belonged to the religious
community of their birth; of these: 1,400,000 were
Protestants who had originally been Catholics, and
1,400,000 were Catholics who had originally been
Protestants, about 1,000,000 had made changes of
some other kind. See also John A. OBrien, You Too
Can Win Souls (Macmillan, 1955). (Herbergs
footnotes on pages 170-171.)
A Study of Marriage Patterns from

1870 to 1940
In the early 1940s, Ruby Jo Kennedy undertook an
investigation of intermarriage trends in New Haven from 1870
to 1940. She published her findings in the American Journal of
Sociology for January 1944 under the significant title, Single or
Triple Melting Pot?The years 1870, 1900, 1930, and 1940
were isolated for detailed examinationThe large nationality
groups in New Haven, Mrs. Kennedy found, represent a
triple division on religious grounds: Jewish, Protestant
(British-American, German, and Scandinavian), and
Catholic (Irish, Italian, and Polish) In its early immigrant
days, each of these ethnic groups tended to be endogamous;
with the years, however, people began to marry outside the
group. (Herbergs quote of Kennedy data on page 33)

1870 to 1940
Kennedy found: Irish marriage was 93.05 per
cent in 1870; 74.75 per cent in 1900, 74.25 per cent
in 1930, and 45.06 per cent in 1940; German inmarriage was 86.67 per cent in 1870, 55.26 per
cent in 1900, 39.84 per cent in 1930, and 27.19 per
cent in 1940; for the Italians and the Poles, the
comparable figures were 97.71 per cent and 100
per cent respectively in 1900, 86.71 and 68.04 per
cent in 1930, and 81.89 per cent and 52.78 per cent
in 1940. But, while strict ethnic endogamy is
loosening, religious endogamy is persisting
(Herbergs quote of Kennedy data on page 33)
The USA Religious Scene in 1950: A

Consideration of Inter-Marriage
By the 1950s, religion not only divided into
the three pools; but those in each religious
category tended to marry only within their
pool. Hollingshead found in a study that:
97.1% of Jewish pool married only Jewish spouses
93.8% of Catholics married only Catholic spouses
74.4% of Protestants married only Protestant
spouses (pp.33-34, Herberg. He is quoting the
study of Hollingshead.)

1870 to 1940
Members of Catholic stocks married Catholics in 95.35 per cent of the cases in
1870, 85.78 per cent in 1900, 82.05 per cent in 1930, and 83.71 in 1940; members of
Protestant stocks married Protestants in 99.11 per cent of the cases in 1870, 90.66
per cent in 1900, 78.19 per cent in 1930, and 79.72 per cent in 1940; Jews married
Jews in 100 per cent of the cases in 1870, 98.82 per cent in 1900, 97.01 per cent in
1930, and 94.32 per cent in 1940. Future cleavages, in Mrs. Kennedys opinion, will
therefore be along religious lines rather than along nationality lines as in the
past.Cultural [i.e. ethnic] lines may fade, but religious barriers are holding
fast.When marriage crosses religious barriers, as it often does, religion still plays a
prominent role, especially among Catholics, in that such marriages are often
conditioned upon, and result in, one of the partners being brought into the religious
community of the other. The traditional single melting pot idea must be
abandoned, and a new conception, which we term the triple melting pot theory of
American assimilation, will take its place, as the true expression of what is happening
to the various nationality groups in the United States.The triple melting pot type of
assimilation is occurring through intermarriage, with Catholicism, Protestantism, and
Judaism serving as the three fundamental bulwarksThe different nationalities are
merging, but within three religious compartments rather than indiscriminatelyA
triple religious cleavage, rather than a multilinear nationality cleavage, therefore
seems likely to characterize American society in the future. (pp. 32-33, Herberg)
The Breadth and Depth (Evidences) of

these Religious Characteristics
By 1950, ones personal identity, political
qualification, social status, marriage, and a
few other functional American categories
were primarily determined by their identify
with one of the three that was most
appropriate for ethnic background and
geographic location in the USA.
(See Will Herbergs Protestant-Catholic-Jew.)
The Consequences of this

Religious Environment
It was beginning to be true in the late 1930s,
increased as being true in the 1940s, throughout the
1950s and into the early1960s that, to be elected to
a significant state and national office in the USA,
the candidate had to represent, or make the
public think they represented, Judeo-Christian
values or he or she was seldom elected to a
major offices.
This was especially true in the Bible Belt of the USA.
However, except in pervasively Catholic areas, it was
difficult for a Roman Catholic to be elected to a
national office.

These Judeo-Christian values that can be seen in
the background of the US Constitution, had emerged
as the broad American ideal by the mid-1800s and
were commonly taught and nourished in the US public
schools from the 1800s to the 1970s.
It was the 1960s before the USA elected a Catholic
as president for fear that a Catholic president would
allow the Pope in Rome to influence American political
decisions in ways unfavorable to Protestants and
Protestant values. Until Reagan, no divorcee had
every been elected as President of the USA.

Southern Baptists, by 1950, not only emerged as
the largest and most influential Protestant denomination
in the USA, they existed predominantly in the Bible
Belt.
Methodists and Southern Baptists were the major
denominations that produced the Bible Belt.
The people who produced the Methodist and Baptist
denominations and the Bible Belt were migrant peoples,
mostly from Europe, mostly northern Europe.
Most of these had fled Europe looking for religious
freedom, while the others came to the colonies looking
for decent work, land, a better lifestyle and freedom.

Southern Baptist evangelism and church
planting methods, or approaches, developed in
the midst of this history and upon this base of
Judeo-Christian values. They were assumed to
exist by most citizens in the USA.
These Judeo-Christian values permeated
the justice and legal system of the USA and
were assumed to be the best rules to live and
do business by in the USA. (See Herbergs
book Protestant, Catholic, and Jew.)
The Lay of the Land Discerned

Consequently, Southern Baptists, and other
evangelical denominations, and Para-church
agencies such as Post-WWII Navigators,
Campus Crusades, Inter-Varsity, and others,
understood the assumptions and aspirations
of typical Americans in the USA during this
era. Thus, this was the situation just prior to
the next stage of immigration and history.
Looking Back on this Period from

1945 to 1960
We now look back on the period from 1945 to
1960 as Americas most formative and
significant religious ingathering period in
American history. This does not minimize the
affects and the magnitude of the Great
Awakenings in the 1700s, or the Great Prayer
Revival in 1850. However, the growth of
religious denominationsProtestants, Catholics
and Jewswithin this period speaks for itself.
Southern Baptists grew by 100% in this period.
A Troubling Reality of the Most

Homogeneous and Religious Era
This is at least part of the picture presented by religion in
contemporary America. Christians flocking to church, yet
forgetting all about Christ when it comes to naming the most
significant events in history; men and women valuing the Bible
as revelation, purchasing and distributing it by the millions, yet
apparently seldom reading it themselves. Every aspect of
contemporary religious life reflects this paradoxpervasive
secularism amid mounting religiosity, the strengthening of the
religious structure in spite of increasing secularismAmerica
seems to be at once the most religious and the most secular of
nationscan there be much doubt that, by and large, the
religion which actually prevails among Americans today has lost
much of its authentic Christian (or Jewish) content. (p. 2-3,
Herberg)
Major Missiological Issues to Notice

As the American population became
sociologically more homogeneously Anglo and
as most of the American population had come
to see itself as either Protestant, Catholic or
Jew a number of things occurred:
Most any kind of evangelism program that a
Christian worked tended to work (meaning
produced fruit);
Programs and methods tended to work across
minor cultural boundaries

Programs, methods, approaches, whatever one
wants to call them, became more and more
generic. This was especially the case with
Southern Baptists who were mainly in the Bible
Belt;
Consequently Southern Baptists came to
believe that one size, meaning one model, fits
all, and they did to a great degree then,
especially in the Bible Belt;

However, when Baptists hit the road and took
their evangelism teams to the Northeast, to the
Midwest and to the Northwest, they tended to
attract primarily transplanted Southerners who
had a firm Christian base.
And, when the Baptists were out of the
Protestant Bible Belt and in Catholic territories
of the 1950s they met the we dont swap
religions ethnic identify that created America
and Americans of the 1950s.

Those transplanted churches were soon sealed off
those churches from the locals. For, when the few
locals who did come to see what church was all
about, they saw foreign southern folks, heard
sermons that assumed evangelical, Christian values
& assumptions with southern Bible Belt terms.
Most locals did not stay and join those non-local,
southern churches, for they did not engage the
locals worldview. Fifty years later, most of those
churches are as they were then, or smaller.
The Third Period of American History:

1965-Present
The most homogeneous era and the most
religious period in US history soon:
eroded into the most secular period the US has
ever known;
entered, became and continues to escalate into
a separation of church and state era that
never existed in previous US history and that is
totally out of character with the intentions of the
founding fathers;

1965-Present
The most homogeneous era in US history and
the most religious period in US history soon:
saw a renewed influx of ethnic immigrants who
are on their way to surpassing the numbers
which occurred from 1775 to 1924;
began experiencing ethnic immigration that,
except for ethnics coming from Latin America,
come from very different cultural, worldview,
and religious stock;

1965-Present
was faced with a large percentage of ethnics
from many different ethnic groups who want to
keep not only their religion as did those of the
1800s, but who in addition want to keep their
own language and their own culture as well;
had ethnics, some of whom are compromising
enough to learn English at a work level;

1965-Present
experienced immigrant ethnics who want the
American dream but who do not want to
assimilate into American culture to the point of
giving up language, culture and religion; yet,
who want all of the rights of any traditional
American citizen; and who soon
met Christians who do not see them as, or
relate to them as, Jesus panta ta ethne.
Missiological Issues This Generation

Faces
Attempts to revive and repackage methods and
approaches used during the most
homogeneous and religious period in US
history, that of the 1950s;
Following the lead of secular, market-driven,
demographic, sociological categories, that
adequately locate and define ethnic Anglos, an
ever-shrinking pool within the American
population as very diverse ethnics increase;
Missiological Issues This Generation

Faces
Assuming and search for generic, silver-bullet,
models that will work among each and every
one of the ethnic groups throughout the USA;
And, this is when the old 1950s methods do not
even work today among a very different pool of
Anglos from those of the 1950s;
Post-modern Anglos of today do not resemble
nor respond to programs of homogeneous and
religious Anglos of the 1950s;
Missiological Issues of Today

The American population continues to move
away from Judeo-Christian values
Two entire generations of school kids have not
been introduced to Judeo-Christian values
and worldview assumptions
This is very much the truth in the cities and on
college & university campuses

The political landscape has changed
drastically. The attempt is to move Christianity
out of the market place and out of public view
into the privacy of homes or church buildings.
Political campaigns are not friendly to up-front
declarations of Christian truth and obvious
Christian positions.

Based upon biblical and pedagogical evidence,
each ethnic group should be engaged in the
idiom of its heart language. (See the Acts 2
miracle of the Pentecost visitors hearing in their
own heart language.)
Worldview is at the heart of ta ethne
engagement, yet is a hardly understood and
followed concept today;
Worldview is laid down in the life of each
person in the idiom of their heart language;

What is beneath the issue of heart language
and worldview?
Pedagogy, psychology, psychiatry and
anthropology tells us that by the time a child is
4-5 years old, he or she, has accrued from 4560% of his or her worldview. These same
researchers tell us that by 11-12 years of age,
80% of a persons worldview is formed.
To engage and influence a persons worldview
in favor of a Christian worldview it should be
engaged in the persons heart language idiom;

and worldview?
Generic approaches and generic content that
does not work in a persons heart language and
that does not address a persons specific
worldview issues has little opportunity of
influencing that persons worldview;
To not engage a persons worldview is to face
syncretism in that persons life;

and worldview?
Even if an ethnic learns English, the worldview,
to be engaged, should be engaged in the
persons heart language for that is the
language in which worldview beliefs, values
and habits reside;
Today, a large number of the ethnics are
coming from Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist,
Animistic, Catholic and Post-Modern cultures;

and worldview?
Copying materials developed for one ethnic
group and translating them into the language of
another ethnic group will not address the
second groups worldview unless they have the
same language and worldview. The IMB did it
for years and reaped syncretism from it.
The setting ethnics live in, such as urban or
rural, has less to do with evangelizing ethnics
than does their language and worldview;

As the US experiences the entry of record
numbers of different ethnic peoples with their
own individual languages that produced their
own peculiar ethnic worldview beliefs, values
and lifestyles, there is the high priority need to:
Segment society according to each and every
ethnic group within the USA
Encourage, learn about and assist in the People
Groups Info partnership between the IMB and
NAMB research departments
The Paramount Ta Ethne

Facing America Today
Americas Most Critical Hour

Multiple ethnic groups are migrating to the
US and Canada today who have various heart
languages, and various ethnic worldviews, yet
who embrace the same religionIslam.
Even though they have their own individual
languages and worldviews, they share the aim
of living permanently in the US, along with their
aim of being the dominant religion in
America. They aim for it to be the only
religion in America.
Americas Most Critical Hour

Islam is already on its way to becoming the
dominant religion in Europe. Scholars who
seldom ever agree on any one issue, political
or religious or secular agree that Islam has
Europe in its grasp and will soon have Canada,
followed soon after by Islams possession of the
US. Possession to Islam means socially,
religiously, politically and economically without
any rivals.
Document prepared by:

Dr. James B. Slack
IMB, SBC
August 2006
For: NAMB-SBC Leadership Meeting
End of Presentation
No one who attempts to see the contemporary religious situation in

the United States in perspective can fail to be struck by the
extraordinary pervasiveness of religious identification among
present-day Americans. Almost everybody in the United States
today locates himself in one or another of the three great religious
communities. Asked to identify themselves in terms of religious
preference, 95 per cent of the American people, according to a
recent public opinion survey, declared themselves to be either
Protestants, Catholics, or Jews (68 percent Protestants, 23 per cent
Catholics, 4 per cent Jews); only 5 per cent admitted to no
preference. (p. 46, Herberg. Herberg gained this data from the
Catholic Digest, January 1953. The survey was conducted by Ben
Gaffin and Associates. Only adults over 18 are considered.)
1950s
Much the same may be said about the high and growing repute of religion in the
American public mind. Religion is given continued public and political
approvalGodless is a powerful epithetAt least nominal public acceptance of
religion tends to be a prerequisite to political success (Herberg quotes Williams
American Society, pp. 326, 336.).It was not always so; there was a time when an
atheist or agnostic like Robert C. Ingersoll, who went around the country defying God
and making anti-religious speeches, could nevertheless occupy a respected and
influential position in American politics. Today that would be quite inconceivable, a
professed unbeliever would be anathema to either of the big parties and would
have no chance whatever in political life. (p. 51, Herberg)
Congressional Religious Affiliations-1957
The contrast between the days of Ingersoll and our day, when every candidate for
public office is virtually required to testify to his high esteem for religion, measures the
position that religion as a value or institution, has acquired in the American public
mind. Of the 528 members of the two houses of the 85th Congress, only 4 gave no
religious affiliation; 416 registered as Protestants, 95 as Roman Catholics, 12 as
Jews, and one as a Sikh. (p. 52, Herberg. Herberg quotes the Report of the
Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, released April 6, 1957.)
1950s
The figures for church membership tell the same story but in greater detail.
Religious statistics in this country are notoriously inaccurate, but the trend is so well
marked that it overrides all margins of error. In the quarter of a century between 1926
and 1950 the population of continental United States increased 28.6 per cent,
membership of religious bodies increased 59.8 per cent; in other words, church
membership grew more than twice as fast as population. Protestants increased 63.7
per cent, Catholics 53.9 per cent, Jews 22.5 per cent. Among Protestants, however,
the increase varied considerably as between denominations; Baptist increase was
well over 100 per cent, some holiness sects grew even more rapidly, while the figure
for the Episcopal Church was only 36.7 per cent, for the Methodist Church 32.2 per
cent, for the Northern Presbyterians 22.4 per cent, and for the Congregationalists
21.1 per cent. (p. 47, Herberg. Herberg found in Information Service, March 8, 1952
that The trend continues. In the thirty-two years between 1926 and 1957, the
population of continental United States increased about 45 per cent while the
membership of religious bodies increased nearly 92 per cent, more than twice as fast.
(Yearbook of American Churches, edition for 1959, p. 294.)
In 1950 total church membership was reckoned at 85,319,000, or about 57 per cent
of the total population. In 1958 it was 109,557,741, or about 63 per cent, marking an
all-time high in the nations history. (p. 47, Herberg. Data taken from Yearbook of
American Churches, edition for 1960, pp. 258, 279.)
The First Period of Change from

1775 to 1924
There were some noble human events during
this period of unprecedented migration, but
there were also so many ignoble events when
viewed from the perspective of the American
Indians.
San Antonio as an illustration of Catholic mistakes
Jonesborough and the Free State of Franklin as an
illustration of Baptist ethics and church planting
There never has been a significant period of
evangelization of American Indians in US/Canada

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A Historical Look at the Status,

Engagement and Implications

Documentation of This Look At

Exploring The Ta Ethne Migration

The Three Periods that Led to

A Look At 1775 to 1950--The

Will Herbergs & Oscar Handlins

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

The Economics of Immigrants

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

A Look At 1775 to 1950America, A

The American Indian from 1600 to

The American Indian from 1600 to

Immigration from 1775 to 1924

4,500,000 from Ireland,

(This was America. Much of Will Herbergs data

The Religious Situation In The

The First Period of Change from

The Six (6) Leading Church

The Six (6) Leading Church

The Six (6) Leading Church

Discerning The Lay of the Land

Discerning The Lay of the Land

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why

How did Methodists become First in

How did Methodists become First in

How did Methodists become First in

How did Methodists become First in

How did Methodists become First in

How did Baptists become Second in

Growth Characteristics of Baptists

Growth Characteristics of Baptists

Growth Characteristics of Baptists

The Most Common Growth Reason

The Lay of the Land Discerned

The Major Concern of the Immigrants

By 1950, Who Was an American?

By 1950, Who Was an American?

markersProtestant, Catholic or Jew.

A Look At Culture and Religion

By 1950, Who Was an American?

The USA Religious Scene in 1950

The USA Religious Scene in 1950:

Religion in USA in the 1950s: A

A Study of Marriage Patterns from

A Study of Marriage Patterns from

The USA Religious Scene in 1950: A

A Study of Marriage Patterns from

The Breadth and Depth (Evidences) of

The Consequences of this

The Consequences of this

The Consequences of this

The Consequences of this

The Lay of the Land Discerned