I'm fascinated with Americans who discover Catholicism though. Suddenly the religious parts of Europe become what Japan is to anime enthusiasts - a mythical land of perfection.
Catholicism is the largest single denomination in the United States.
> Suddenly the religious parts of Europe become what Japan is to anime enthusiasts - a mythical land of perfection.
Not really; very few American Catholics, cradle or convert, mainstream or “trad”, idealize “the religious parts of Europe”. American Trads idealize a fairy-tale vision of pre-Vatican II Catholicism which they are very aware does not reflect the present of Europe, and most American Catholics don’t idealize any particular alternative time and/or place in human history, current or past, real or imagined.
By affiliation, Protestants make up 66% of Christianity-derived religions in the US. 29% are Roman Catholic. Evangelical Protestants alone are 36%. (Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-stu...)
Religious affiliation is also highly geographically variable in the US, so many places would have relatively little cultural awareness of Roman Catholicism.