Religion and identity construction are closely intertwined since the expression of individual faith encourages a sense of identity. This notion is discussed in José Casanova's paper 'Immigrant Religions in Secular Europe and in Christian America' and in Will Herberg's analysis on religion and immigration from 1955. [1] More specifically, both scholars argue that the interaction between identity construction and religion is one of the central themes in American history, especially with regard to expressing one's ethnicity and level of assimilation in American society.
Being an immigration society, the United States puts a lot of emphasis on ethnicity, mostly because it separates an individual from some classes and identifies him or her with others. [2] For example, the Chicano background of an immigrant excludes him or her from 'mainstream' or White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) American identity, yet it is used as an inclusion factor for the Chicano identity, consequently creating a sense of self with the help of ethnic group identification. Ethnicity may also be used as a response to the pressure of assimilation as Herberg explains with immigrants' process of becoming American. [3] During this process, many immigrants balance their original roots with their Americanness, ultimately creating ethnic-American identities such as Irish-American, Italian-American and German-American. These identities are strongly influenced by religion as Herberg further argues. [4] Marcus Lee Hansen also discusses this in 'The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant' [5] , a problem which will be addressed in more detail later on.
By analyzing immigration narratives, ranging from European to African narratives [6] , this essay will demonstrate religion's vital role in coming to terms with one's ethnic-American identity, as religion is the stage upon which ethnicity and assimilation is played out. Overall, understanding this stage is crucial for understanding the formation of American society.
The narrative of the early European immigrants supports the idea that religious identity is the same as ethnic identity, because a majority of identities was constructed with religion as a foundation. [7] This is clearly visible in the identity construction of Polish immigrants as they paid much attention to their Roman Catholic background. This background helped them form a group ethnic identity and sense of belonging, but this group identity was also a base for criticism. A Roman Catholic orientation was not considered to be part of successful assimilation in American society, because the WASP identity reigned in early America. As a result, the immigrants' level of assimilation was measured according to their religion. This certainly hurt their American identity formation as they would never become 'mainstream' Americans because they practiced Catholicism. Thus, their religion was used as a factor of exclusion from American society. However, it is important to take into account that the role religion plays in ethnic identity construction differs among the generations of immigrants. Later immigration narratives show how religion is treated more as an addition to ethnic identity. In other words, religious identity cannot be seen as similar to ethnic identity.
For second and third generation European immigrants religion played a different role in identity construction. Herberg explains that for second generation immigrants the ties with the first generation religion were never really broken, but they were put under a lot of stress because of Americanization. [8] This supports the idea that religion continues to be an important factor in ethnic-American identity formation. The importance of religion in ethnic identity construction becomes especially apparent in Marcus Lee Hansen's "principle of the third generation interest." [9] Hansen argues that what the second generation tries to forget, the third generation tries to remember. [10] He explains how one of the most used ways to remember is the studying of the first generation' religion [11] . For example, it is possible for a third generation Jewish-American to reconnect strongly with first generation or traditional Judaism, however, the Jewish-American also continues to honor his or her American identity. Based on this notion, one could argue that religion is also a marker for the balancing of identities among ethnic minorities in the United States. On the one hand, the Jewish-American lives in an American reality, dominated by Christian beliefs and values. On the other hand, the Jewish-American lives in a Jewish reality, dominated by Jewish beliefs and values. Nevertheless, Hansen's argumentation suggests that the Jewish-American's belief in Judaism eventually allows him or her to come to grips with one's multiple identities, consequently labeling religion as an essential factor in ethnic-American identity formation.
The search for identity and a sense of belonging in relation to religion is also apparent in the African narrative in American society, because the development of African-American identity and sense of self was supported by Christian religion. Dating back before the Civil War, slaves succeeded in creating their own characteristic religious beliefs and practices to endure the horrors of slavery. [12] This allowed them to manage a certain extent of autonomy by finding practice in their faith. After the abolition of slavery, own religious institutions were set up which gave them even more space to practice their faith in the way that they chose for themselves. [13] Moreover, the new black churches became the backbone of African-American communities. These churches provided the opportunity for the expression of individual faith in a way which focused on a sense of identity. African-American preachers played an important role in this as they also advocated for a better place of African-Americans in American society. The Civil Rights Movement is of course the best example of this, as the African-American religion provided the organizational structure for the movement, as exemplified by the fact that clergyman Martin Luther King jr. was the movement's leader. Moreover, with this structure, support for the movement could be mobilized without the intrusion of white society, thus African-Americans were able to continue to focus on the construction of their own African-American identity with the help of religion.
Christianity has been vital to the African-American experience, but is seems to have been challenged over the last decades by the rise of Black Islam as an another form of religious behavior. An essential argument connected to this is the idea that the Black Islam was the original religion of those Africans who were captured and shipped to America as slaves. While, the black Christian tradition puts forward the role it played in allowing the African-Americans a sense of identity and function in American society, the Black Muslim argue that theirs was the true faith, which fitted with acknowledging one's African background. Malcolm X is naturally the most well-known voice who supported this argument, especially with regard to his membership of the Nation of Islam. He constructed a new identity for himself by focusing on the notion that his true identity had been stripped from him by white Americans.
On the whole, taking both Christianity and Islam into account when dealing with African-American identity construction it seems that Christianity addresses the assimilation aspect or Americanization process of the immigrant experience, while the Islam deals with the notion of distancing oneself from mainstream society by focusing on one's otherness. Still, it is possible to conclude that on the one hand, African-American religion acts as a marker for ethnicity, consequently using it as an exclusion from WASP American identity. On the other hand, African-American religion acts as a marker for assimilation in American society, because it is derived from American Protestant Christianity.
To conclude, a strong ethnic identity often overlaps with a religious identity in America. As seen in the ethnic-identity construction of the first generation European immigrants, and the changes made to those identities by the second and third generation. Especially the third generation finds a place of belonging in the first generation church, thus creating a balance between one's ethnicity and Americanness. In the case of African-Americans, an ethnic-American identity based on religion also helps to cope with the sense of exclusion from mainstream society. I.e. slaves were able to create a sense of self by creating their own religious practices and beliefs, eventually also realizing that complete assimilation in American society would never be possible due to race issues. A strong religious ethnic identity certainly helped them deal with this, as seen in the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, with the rise of religious pluralism in America, one could argue that religion has become even more important in the construction of ethnic-American identities, since members of the second and third generation often try to find their place in American society by focusing on ethnic religious identities. [14]
