> So why is the US an outlier on religion, compared to other rich countries?
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Good question, lots of theories, none of them very satisfying, including
what seems to the most currently fashionable - a "market-based" explanation
which seeks the answer in the lack of an established church and an abundant
supply of competitive denominational sects agressively seeking adherents.
The US is also an "outlier" in politics - no mass socialist tradition to speak of. Maybe there's a relationship between the two - individualistic Americans have evidently channeled their suppressed collective human striving for community and salvation into religious rather than political institutions. Americans more alienated because of a more demanding form of capitalism, and religion - especially the messianic type -always a major comfort for alienated souls?
MG