Religion(s) in the US

On Friday, the 18th of May, the native speaker of our school, Ms. Lucia Petty, was invited to our lesson in religious education to give us a view of religion(s) in the United States, especially in New York City, which is her hometown.

At the beginning our teacher, Mr. Peherstorfer, welcomed her and reminded us, that teaching religion generally means to widen the horizon of the pupils – for the reality behind the visible things, for our own dignity and for the needs of our neighbours – and that a lesson about religion in the US is another chance to get to know some more facts about a different country and a different continent.

First of all, our guest told us, that in contrast to Austria, which is a Catholic country, the USA are dominated mostly by Protestants.

We were talking about gospel songs and got the information that they were sung by the black slaves and till now they are spread among the Afroamerican churches. One of the first topics was Martin Luther King, an American Baptist minister and one of the most famous speakers of the Civil Rights Movement.

We asked several questions, a few of them are listed below:

Is there a difference between a church service in Austria and in the USA? How were the slaves treated? Were they allowed to go to church? Are gospel choirs like the choir in “Sister Act”? How do people in New York City live more than 15 years after 9/11?

This lesson was really interesting and we got some more insight in the USA.  We thank Ms. Petty for her visit and for answering our questions! 😊

Bianca Steiner and Laura Höfler, 2FSB