1. F ind some information in the reading that surprises you. Discuss it with your classmates.

2. Find a synonym for the word given in the paragraph indicated.

Paragraph 1

1. traditional

2. build

3. sactioned by government

4. division

5. essential

6. lack

7. interested

Paragraph 2

8. greatest number

9. brought up

Paragraph 3

10. power and control

11. leader

12. power structure

3. Circle the letter of the choice that best completes each sentence.

1. Most people in the United States have ___ backgrounds.

   1. Protestant

   2. Roman Catholic

   3. Jewish

2. The early Americans were ___.

   1. Protestant

   2. Roman Catholic

   3. Jewish

3. Many Jewish people came to the United States ___.

1. in the 1600s

2. before 1950

3. in the 1950s

4. According to the author, ___ is more hierarchal than other religions.

1. the Jewish religion

2. Protestantism

3. Roman Catholicism

5. According to the author, in the second half of the twentieth century, traditional religion has ___ power.

1. gained

2. lost

3. no

6. According to the author, there ___ religious discrimination in the United States.

1. is now no

2. has sometimes been

3. never used to be

7. Protestants belong to ___.

1. many different churches

2. the Roman Catholic church

3. similar churches

8. The United States has ___ religion.

1. an official

2. no

3. no official

9. The ___ people came to the United States because of religious freedom.

1. Jewish

2. Irish

3. Buddhist

10. In the Protestant church, there is ___ control on the local level.

1. no

2. a lot of

3. rarely

Text 2 Religion in the u.S. A

• Before you read the text study the following vocabulary

denomination	зд. вероисповедание
to hinder	препятствовать, быть помехой
toleration	терпимость
orthodox	1. ортодоксальный; 2. православный
to forbid	запрещать

1. Pre-reading task

Discuss with your partner(s) what you have read or heard about religion in the United States. Think of the following questions:

• Are the Americans a religious nation?

• What is the state religion in the US?

• What are the main religious holidays in the US?

2 . Reading for specific information

Read the text quickly to answer the following:

1. What are the largest churches in the US nowadays?

2. How can you comment on relations between church, religion and government in the United States?

3. What prevented religion from gaining much influence on politics in the USA?

Americans have been extremely careful to separate church, state, religion and government. The Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, forbids the government to give special favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice of any religion. As a result, there are no church taxes in the United States, nor is there an official state church or a state-supported religion. There are no legal or official religious holidays.

There are no political parties in the United States that have "Christian" in their names. Yet surveys show that religion continues to be quite important to many Americans, especially when compared with people in other countries. Throughout American history, there have been periods of religious revivals which come and go. If there is a "return to religion" at present, then it is associated with the more "fundamentalist" denominations. These church groups are usually more conservative and orthodox in their religious beliefs and practices.

Since Americans are free to form and follow any religious belief or religion they wish, there are a great many beliefs, denominations and churches in the United States. The Roman Catholic church is by far the single largest, with about 52 million members. Although, there are approximately 78 million Americans -who might call themselves "Protestants", they are distributed among many different, independent churches. There is no one church or church group that speaks for all Protestants or would be listened to by all.

Although religion plays an important role in the personal lives of many Americans, it has relatively little real influence on political matters. The size of America, the tradition of religious toleration, and the separation of Church and state by law, as well as the extreme variety of religious backgrounds of Americans have prevented religion from gaining much influence on politics.