填空题

The fast immigrants who came to New England in the 1600s left their own countries for religious masons. They had religious beliefs different from the (36) beliefs of their country, and they wanted to live in a place where they could be free to have their own beliefs. When tiffs new country (37) its independence from Britain in 1776, the (38) of church and state was one of the basic laws for the United States. This (39) of an official national religion and the resultant freedom to believe in whatever one wants has (40) many new immigrants. In the United States, there are examples of every kind of world religion--Buddhist, Islamic, Bahai, to name only a few. But most of the people in the United States fall into one of two (41) --Christian or Jewish. The majority of people in the United States were (42) as Christians. They believe in Christ, or Jesus. They think of Sunday as a holy day and (43) in major groups: Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. A third group, Orthodoxy, is not as common in the United States. (44) . Because the majority of early Americans were Protestant, there has sometimes been discrimination against new immigrants, such as those who were Roman Catholic. Protestants were reluctant to share their traditional power with members of other churches or religions. (45) The second half of the 20th century has been a decline in the strength of traditional religion in the USA. (46) .