【双语阅读】同一个国家不同的信仰_英美文化

【双语阅读】同一个国家不同的信仰

The unifying impact of religion would not be so puzzling in a country where people were pious but where there was only one dominant religion―Catholic Poland, say. Americans, by contrast, hold intense religious beliefs but belong to many different faiths and denominations. That should in theory produce an explosive combination. So why doesn't it?

若是国民都虔诚信教，国内主导宗教也莫非一种(比如说，波兰的天主教)的话，这个国家定能团结和谐。但是美国却正好相反，美国人宗教信仰情结热切，但是公民的宗教信仰，皈依的教派却又庞杂各异。这在理论上来说，会促使国内纷争频发，斗争不绝，但是美国为什么却又安然无恙，幸免于难了呢?

There are the protections of the constitution, of course. But the authors put much of it down to Aunt Susan. Such is America's churning diversity that most Americans are intimately acquainted with people of other faiths. Aunt Susan may be a Methodist, and you a Jew, but you know that Aunt Susan deserves a place in heaven anyway. In fact, Susan does not have to be your aunt, because in addition to the Aunt Susan principle the authors have invented the My Friend Al principle. In this case you befriend Al because, say, of a shared interest in beekeeping, and later learn that he is an evangelical Christian. Having an evangelical Christian in your circle of friends makes you warmer than you were before to evangelical Christians. Not only that, befriending someone from another faith makes you warmer to other religions in general.