The Churching of America, 1776-2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy

by Roger Finke

Perhaps the most celebrated European visitor of the early nineteenth century, Alexis de Tocqueville ([1835] 1969, pp. 295, 296, 298) made similar observations. Like other European visitors he immediately noticed the "innumerable multitude of sects" and the religious zeal of the clergy and their members. He commented that "the religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States." When he asked others to explain this atmosphere, he reported that "all agreed ... the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state." De Tocqueville added that the "facts convinced me that I had been told the truth" and he later concluded that "any alliance with any political power whatsoever is bound to be burdensome for religion." Like Reed, Grund, and many other European visitors, de Tocqueville traced his explanation for the multitude of sects, the religious zeal of the clergy, and the grassroots support for religion to the separation of church and state, or what was commonly called the new voluntary principle.