<P> The Christianity of the black population was grounded in evangelicalism . The Second Great Awakening has been called the "central and defining event in the development of Afro - Christianity ." During these revivals Baptists and Methodists converted large numbers of blacks . However, many were disappointed at the treatment they received from their fellow believers and at the backsliding in the commitment to abolish slavery that many white Baptists and Methodists had advocated immediately after the American Revolution . </P> <P> When their discontent could not be contained, forceful black leaders followed what was becoming an American habit--they formed new denominations . In 1787, Richard Allen and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and in 1815 founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church . </P> <P> After the Civil War, Black Baptists desiring to practice Christianity away from racial discrimination, rapidly set up several separate state Baptist conventions . In 1866, black Baptists of the South and West combined to form the Consolidated American Baptist Convention . This convention eventually collapsed but three national conventions formed in response . In 1895 the three conventions merged to create the National Baptist Convention . It is now the largest African - American religious organization in the United States . </P> <P> The "secularization of society" is attributed to the time of the Enlightenment . In the United States, religious observance is much higher than in Europe, and the United States' culture leans conservative in comparison to other western nations, in part due to the Christian element . </P>

Top 10 christian denominations in the united states