z56\doc\web\2002\05\wasp.txt
From: knelson10##cfl.rr.com 
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 4:50 AM
To: arthurhu
Subject: Religion Index


Arthur,


Glad to see your site back online.  You have a great site with invaluable 
information so I don't want to nitpick, but you note Lutherans, Presbyterians, 
and Episcopalians as being "traditionally defined as dominant WASP group" under 
your 2001 UPDATE: SATs and Religion.  Most Lutherans in the U.S. are of 
Scandinavian or Northern/Eastern German ancestry because the Lutheran religion 
originated in and spread from this area.  So Lutherans are white Protestants 
and most are of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, but Lutherans are not WASPs in the Digby 
Baltzell sense of the term. When Digby coined the term WASP he was talking 
about the U.S. ruling elite (i.e., Protestant Establishment) who happened to be 
Anglo-Saxon Protestants, not about people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.
(http://www.sas.upenn.edu/sasalum/newsltr/spring2001/dean.html)
 
The "WASPs" are the Episcopalians (English), Presbyterians (Scots), and the 
Congregationalists (English) who are now the United Church of Christ.  Members 
of these religious denominations were the first ones to America and 
consequently rose to the top of society.  Interestingly, most Scottish 
Presbyterians are not even of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.  They are Celtic, like the 
Irish.  The majority of Scandinavian and German Lutherans came over later 
between 1850 and 1910 and became farmers or craftsmen; my Lutheran ancestors 

came over from Sweden and Norway in the 1880s.  Lutherans have as a general 
rule gravitated to the middle classes in American society and still maintain to 
some degree an ethnic flavor.  Lutherans are definitely not WASPs in the Digby 
Baltzell sense.


Again.  I am not giving you a hard time; you have a great site.  I am just 
trying to set the record straight.


Regards,
Kent
Nelson