"God is dead," said Nietzsche. Well, maybe somewhere, but not here, as the PBS special, God in America makes abundantly clear.
I recently interviewed the chief editorial consultant to this PBS special, airing this week, Dr. Stephen Prothero. As the distinguished professor of religion at Boston University, his research and books have been widely read and respected, and perhaps none more so than Religious Literacy. When I asked him about the point of the television series, Prothero responded, "To entertain, of course. But, more importantly, to educate on the role God has played in American history."
Given the recent survey that revealed that Atheists outperformed Protestants on their knowledge of major world religions, including Christianity, more education can only be a good thing. The cynic in me realizes that weary churchgoers might very well opt for Dancing with the Stars or The Biggest Loser this week instead of God in America -- but hopefully they'll join me in watching.
According to the PBS special, not only is God in America, but God, or belief in God, is woven into the very fabric of American culture and politics. So much so, observes Prothero, "we are no longer a country of two political parties but two political-religious parties." So, in this, the Pope must be wrong, unless his recent remarks about the marginalization of religion were meant to apply only to England or Europe. God is not becoming more marginalized in America. If anything, it is the various religions, and their followers, that are marginalizing themselves and none more so than Christians, Jews and Muslims.
The irony is this: America is religiously diverse. In Prothero's words, "In the supermarket of religion, America has a bigger store." It's the Walmart of religion. Instead of a strength, however, embraced by Americans as a distinction worth celebrating, many religious people in America are threatened by it, even react against it. But, in the words of the Hans Kung, "There will be no peace until there is peace among the religions." Nor will there be peace in America. While most Americans believe in God and regard themselves as spiritual people, my own feeling is millions of them are abandoning organized religion precisely because, instead of embracing and cultivating the diversity that is America, the major religions want to homogenize everyone and everything. It is this that causes division, even human destruction. What is supposed to bring sanity to this world is itself the cause of most insanity. It is madness.
If there's any one thing that's certain, God in America is a diverse God. And, if this experiment we affectionately call "America" is to survive, this diversity must remain. It cannot be otherwise. We've always had, in Prothero's words, "a prejudice against atheism." Yet, the atheist has a home in America. To others, God will be a Cosmic Intelligence. To still others, Messiah, or Savior, or Allah, or Yahweh, or Higher Power, and, yes, even a Democrat, a Republican, a Socialist, and, perhaps now, a Tea Party Independent.
Stephen Prothero is right: "What this country needs more than anything else is religious conversation that is civil and informed." But, listen to many religious leaders, and most conversation is neither civil nor informed. To make statements, for example, as did Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, that "yoga" -- and, by implication, religions like Hinduism and Buddhism --"is a threat to Christianity," is not only hurtful, but damaging. The bigger threat to all religions, including Christianity, is the madness of such remarks.
Should religious diversity be something to fear? Not at all. Rather, it is a cause for celebration, and as a very religious person myself I see this point in America history as a momentous opportunity for dialogue, discussion and bridge-building.
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This show would be like watching a documentary on santa Claus, Great Pumpkin, Witches, devils,
crop circles, the tooth fairy and other make believe stuff from chilhood.
I will say it again, it is 2010, isn't it time to put this stuff to pasture?
Yesterday I fell asleep about an hour into the broadcast. And I was not especially tired. But somehow the music or the tone of the whole thing put me to sleep. So it is not very entertaining and I am deeply interested in learning about the role religion played in American history. Of course the title of the series is completely wrong. You have to believe first that there is a god to believe that he played a role. People who believe in god played a role and not a very good one. Yesterday I started to think that the churches during slavery did not behave much better than most churches did during the Nazi-regime. And the intolerance against people who do not believe in the same variation of their belief is frightening. For me the incredible amount of different churches in this country seems like a huge joke. If there is only one true god, why does he need so many different churches to honor him? The only explanation I have is that having a church is obviously a good money-maker. Otherwise why not go back to the Olymp or any pre-christian religion who had hundreds of gods.
And obviously education in most schools does not encourage informed dialogue, how in the world shall anybody learn?
God and religion are two different things entirely. Duh!
God didn't create religion. People created religion.
With or without religion good people will do good and evil people will do evil; but for good people to do evil, that takes religion.
History has also proven, at the pinnacle of monotheistic influence, saw the darkest moments in human history. Only when people turned away from those beliefs did we arrive at the Renaissance and later the Age of Enlightenment. If anyone doubts it, take a look at the Bush years. We had an administration who's religiosity was quite literally dripping from them. (As was the case with John Ashcroft who smothered himself in anointed oil when he was sworn into office.) That administration proved beyond a shadow of doubt, religious self-righteousness kills. Just ask an Iraqi.
Tellingly, there's a lot of people like in empty landscapes and empty rooms with cheerleader narration, ...even the Scopes monkey trial was made out to be like, 'We were only trying to gag and imprison this schoolteacher for teaching actual science, then this mean Evolutionist came along with an agenda! '
Pretty awful if you want to call it history. Interesting if you want to see in depth what Evangelicals seem to think has been going on, here, though.
There's value in it, however, as I pointed out in a comment on a related thread:
I'm certain the point of this series is not to expose the divisions and separations that religion has created throughout the history of the US. But that is what I get from it. Belief against belief -- each claiming to be righteous yet neither being that. State-sponsored (with taxes) churches feared the loss of their financial backing and demanded the government make any other viewpoint illegal and punishable by imprisonment. Both sides of the slavery issue using biblical texts to support their arguments. The north and south calling on the same god to take sides in war. Protestant churches against catholics. The arrest and prosecution of science teachers because they taught science. An evangelical call to a set of morals they feel is superior regardless of the fact that the founders were against such influence of religion on law.
Thanks for your input. F&F!
Prothero is no Foote, and Marilyn Mellowes is no Ken Burns.
Maybe a god created the world, and the world is an expression of that god's nature. To me, that is a frightening thing in itself, when you consider the world as a whole. But, aside from that, if the world is an expression of God's nature, none of us can escape pondering it, can we, even the atheist? Aren't we all in the business of exploring God's nature, regardless of religion or lack thereof? What makes a religious person's musings superior to that of a non-religious person?
It also ignores Thomas Paine, the unsung hero of the revolution, who was once a hero...but after penning "age of reason" in the 1790's whoch offended the ignorant,bigoted, hypocritical christian masses...he was basically conspired against and ignored and demonized and all but forgotten[except to be quoted by many presidents, without usually attributing the quotes to him]..except by deists, some atheists and agnostics, freethinkers and some progressives{like Paine was}. Paine and his "age of reason" and it's deism caused a huge stir in America{and across the western world actually} and yet...all of them...compltely omitted.
Why? This is historical innacuracy, injustice, and revisionism.
What a joke!!!
Like there was a causal relationship there beyond what's in some ways almost *criminally-incompetent if not openly-insubordinate* Union generalship early in the war. To draw a parallel with Dubya, just saying, "God must will this" doesn't mean you have a good *plan.* It didn't have to be that kind of meat-grinder. Freeing the slaves was great, but really we out-produced em, in the end, thanks to the navy, some folks like the Irish, and winning New Orleans. Otherwise, European powers would have made an antipasti platter of the Union.
Thank you! Last year it was "Global Warming". I am glad that some of us are returning to the usual criticisms that have been around for a few thousand years.
Yes,God has already, judged us all, worthy of eternal salvation, why Christ came, died on the cross, paid all our crimes of sin. Christ has made us Righteous, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
If God did not think us worthy to be saved from eternal damnation, God would of never sent Christ into the world. Christ did not come to suffer die the most horrible death, great persecution for nothing. No, Christ did not die in vain. To deny this as truth, is to deny also God's gift of Grace to all. Love all, pray for all and let no one steal your Righteousness.
Why Christ said to the devil on the cross, before He died. Oh, death Oh, death, where is thy sting? Meaning where oh devil is your sting, now, to destroy God's children, tempt and steal their very souls, to eternal damnation.
The devil seeing Christ on the cross, was deceived into thinking Christ loss. The great deceiver was deceived, the great deceiver thought He won. But God said: I Am Victorious. Oh death Oh death where is your sting? Now?
I think that religion has drifted away from contemplation to reconstruction. We think that we must reconstruct the government and others in our image rather than focus inward and express compassion and peace to the world around us.
Bonhoeffer talked about a need for a "religionless Christianity." Sounds nice...not sure that we will accomplish it as a whole but there are some of use who are attempting to in our communities of faith.
Great documentary.
I was put of in the first few min. by the angelic music.But realized that maybe this is the music a priest hears as he flees across the sand escaping justice from a people he had mistreated.
I was surprized that they left the Spainish/Catholics as the victims of an Indian massacree.They left out the part where the soldiers/priest returned a few years later and brutely enslaved the native people again.
The most positive thing I saw was the founding fathers recognizing that we were a country of so many varried beliefs that it demands an impartial government. They had just broke free from the Church/King,Bank of England. They weren't going to form another one.
I liked the part when they said that America was the first country to break the concept of Government sharing power with a Church.
Church/State supported with taxes.With an elite ruling class of superiors over the inferior common people. If we deviated from this there would result Chaos. Of course they were proven wrong.
Diversity and freedom brought strength not chaos.
I think they may have gotten their point across w/o enraging the Xtians with the whole truth.
What whole truth? Are you claiming that it is even possible for a television show to possess or portray the whole truth?
Or are you suggesting the producers deliberately withheld the whole truth specifically so as not to enrage whatever are "Xtians"?
For the record, I do not believe any person possesses the whole truth. Whole truth must necessarily encompass *every* detail -- the sound, sight, smell, feel, temperature of an event and goes vastly beyond "holographic" in detail. Whole truth includes what every participant was thinking, why they were there at all, which in turns sucks in an awareness of each participant's environment and personal history back through their ancestors at least three generations.
So you see, when I see someone claim "whole truth" or even hint at it, your credibility takes a nosedive.
PBS is ultimately entertainment. Most Americans are religious. What did you expect? PBS is not going to ignore its contributers. Truth is not the issue. The issue is contributions.
Yes I am suggesting that in order not to enrage the majority of americans (who control funding ) they told a story of why it is inadvisable to mix church and state. But Yes they left out the returning Spanish soldiers/priest to conquer the New Mexican Indians.
They left out how badly it worked for the victims in Salem Mass. How badly the American Indians were treated when their prophet of hope emerged. I'm sure the list could go on and on but they didn't think it was needed. Neither do I.
I spent the first thirty years of my life in Europe and other countries around the world and I have to admit that one of the great mysteries in the U.S. is still religion to me. Over the last decades I did not miss any opportunity to visit different religious gatherings starting from native American ceremonies, yoga, holy rollers, TV preachers , Amish, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and some of the hundreds of variations of protestant churches. I was raised in the Catholic faith, so I skipped that one. All my discussions with the members of these churches left me deeply frustrated as a main requirement seemed to be that you have to believe without questioning. I was flabbergasted by the fact how important religious affiliation was in this country (though people seemed to change their religion like their wardrobe).
In Europe I do not think that I knew the religious affiliation of any of my friends ,colleges or of any politician.
I came to the conclusion that this religious obsession must be a leftover from the extremist sects which flew from Europe because they were not accepted there. And the second reason is probably that churches are big business and the source of nearly unlimited earnings for the savvy.
If a religious institution requires a person to leave their mind at the door when the person comes to worship service, then I would be suspect, too. The more beneficial approach would be to "take the best and leave the rest." Every religion has some beneficial truths, and in studying them a person does well to sift through and find what speaks to them in the most positive way.
Ultimately, the measure of a good religion is one which helps a human lead a more productive life...which includes respecting the choice others make in terms of choosing a religion...or not.
I find organic gardening to be a wonderful religious experience and regular practice which leaves me open to receiving priceless spiritual benefits.
And I have found that the people who claim the loudest to be Christians , have no problems in lying, cheating and stealing in their personal and business relationships. But they are always ready to condemn others who are being caught in the same game. Though people in Europe were so much less concerned about religion they at least followed one law of the church better than people do here. They did not work on Sundays. Here money always comes first before every other consideration.
How about "love your neighbor"? That's a traditional religious message, the ancestor of your message, found in different religions around the world. Indoctrination is not confined to religion. If you want to end it, try changing the military, all oath takers, and the pledge of alliegiance.
That the 'Christian Soldier' version of our present military would not bow to the laws of the American people if we choose to change things ?
The point is not wheather or not religion is true, but that many people seem to believe it is true.
Truth or Myth notwithstanding you and I have to get along in the same country as the believing people
T.Jefferson, T.Paine and the gang gave us a way to make it work.
At least this is what I saw in the show.
Of course. Does this really need explaining?
"Religion" is neither true nor false. It is a descriptive word for what people believe and how they organize that belief with regard to eternal life and the possibility of a God, or resurrection; that sort of thing. It's a bit hard to describe but by itself it can be neither true nor false -- it just "is".