February 22, 2003
STAND BESIDE US AND GUIDE US:
A Nation Bound by Faith: Of all its national traits, America's religiosity is probably the most baffling-and infuriating-for the rest of the world. Where does it come from? Why do Americans think they're on the side of right? And why it will not go away (Dirk Johnson, 2/24/03, NEWSWEEK)When it comes to matters of might and right, Americans look to the heavens in a way that bewilders much of the rest of the world-especially Europe. A majority of Americans say religion shapes their lives, and it clearly shapes politics. Regular churchgoers are far more likely to vote Republican than Democratic, according to polls, and it's well known that the religious right is the Bush administration's political base. The president himself sometimes sounds like the nation's commander in the pulpit. His State of the Union address last month repeatedly invoked divine power, declaring confidence in "the loving God behind all of life and all of history." "May He guide us now," George W. Bush beseeched. [...]According to polls, 80 percent of Americans say a belief in God shapes their views. Conservative, evangelical churches have seen strong growth across the country in recent years, while more liberal denominations struggle to fill their pews. A popular wristband reads wwjd, or "What would Jesus do?" Many Americans today want prayer in schools and sex-education campaigns to consist solely of teaching abstinence. The Boy Scouts of America excludes gays and atheists. Pro-football players point to the heavens in gratitude for scoring a touchdown, then praise Jesus in post game television interviews. [...]
Americans tend to see their country as being on the side of mercy and righteousness. What is good for America, the thinking goes, is good for the rest of the world, whether it realizes it or not.
This notion of American exceptionalism was the underpinning of Manifest Destiny, the mid-19th-century idea that America had a right and duty to extend its reach of power. The self-image of benevolence, with regard to international affairs, was burnished by America's role in the two world wars of the 20th century. Given that -Americans sent millions of men to fight tyranny in Europe, and then helped rebuild war-ravaged nations, the voices of pacifism coming from the Continent ring painfully hollow.
Many Americans agree with the White House that the looming war with Iraq is a battle against tyranny, a righteous act of liberating an oppressed people. "When Americans see a picture of a woman who is suffering, they say simply, `I want to help'," says Zainab Salbi, a 33-year-old Iraqi immigrant who founded Women for Women in Washington. "This is not something I see in the rest of the world." The flip side of that generosity, she adds, is the sometimes naive view that America "can fix everything-and always knows what's best." Benevolent or arrogant, perhaps some of both, Americans are praying for peace in the eleventh hour. But their faith may also bring them war.
Perhaps this is a case where arrogance and benevolence are intertwined. Confucius said: To see the right and not to do it is cowardice. Maybe it's just American self-confidence, even overweening self-confidence, that gives us a foolhardy courage to at least try and do the right thing? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 22, 2003 11:38 AM
What Americans have which European Christians never had is Gnosticism. European Christianity failed when the theologians could no longer defend scriptural authority from the predations of modern science. American religion was never very dependent on theology, we all have our personal revelation (gnosis) to guide us. American Christians, for all their talk of objective truth, have raised subjective morality to the highest level imaginable, for believing that your own view of the world is the revealed truth of God is the ultimate accomplishment of the self. Read Harold Bloom's "The American Religion"
Posted by: Robert D at February 22, 2003 1:06 PMI believe that this American quality goes beyond religion, as we commonly think about it. Our religion is idealism. I am an atheist, but I feel the same as the Iraqi immigrant about wanting to help the oppressed. It is what any good humanist would feel. European "realism" is not merely a function of lowered religiosity. There are many historically religious justifications for such a detached, uncommited attitude, especially in Catholic and Calvinist fatalism.
Posted by: Robert D at February 22, 2003 1:55 PMWhat Robert has put his finger on is the essential protestantism (small "p", as OJ says) of American society: we are not willing to accept that any of our relationships, with each other, with G-d, with society or with the state, are subject to mediation by any third party. I understand entirely why this attitude is annoying to the rest of the world -- I find it annoying when it slips into solipcism, as it does on a regular basis -- but it is the essence of Americanism.
Posted by: David Cohen at February 22, 2003 2:29 PMBut I wonder if the "good humanism" of Robert's atheism is highly influenced by the very religiosity of America. I suspect the idealism is there because of our religion not vice versa.
Posted by: Buttercup at February 22, 2003 8:19 PMHarold Bloom's conception of a gnostic "American Religion" does not apply to the fundies who are Bush's most frenetic supporters. He points out that the American Baptist theologians he admires are out of fashion at present - and he was writing in 1990. Fundies support this war because they think it's the start of the cataclysm that will herald the return of Christ. I suppose you could call that 'idealism'.
Posted by: Buss Slate at February 23, 2003 4:17 AMMr. Slate:
If these are the End Times the anti-Christ should be among us and there seems no one equal to the calling. Our evil figures are rather clownish--Saddam, Osama, Qaddafi, Castro, Chirac....
Americans can be self-righteous about our ways, for good reason - we've proven it works. "Our way" provides a ridiculously high standard of living, and freedom in spades (one might say too much). People born in this country can succeed with fewer obstacles than in any other nation. This is all anybody really needs.
Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at February 23, 2003 10:07 AMButtercup
There is no doubt that American idealism is highly influenced by religion. But idealism and religiosity are not mutually inclusive, as I tried to say. Religious traditions can lead in different directions. Much of the opposition to the liberation of Iraq are coming from religious quarters, such as the Pope and the World Council of Churches. Had I stayed a Catholic, I may be opposing war with Iraq right now, for that is where the religious influence of my native religion may have led me.