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11/29/2004 Archived Entry: "What makes the US a Christian nation"

Posted by steve @ 12:24 PM EST [Link]

AMERICA IS ABOUT AS RELIGIOUS AS I AM: (via Brothers Judd Blog) I love Brother Orrin over at Brothers Judd Blog but I have to question something he wrote this morning. Brother Orrin linked to an essay in the Asia Times which declares America to be a religious nation and concurs, arguing that, "It is the great peculiarity of America that John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards would easily recognize our society as one they helped to create, still struggling with the exact same questions that troubled them. Our greatness would seem to lie in the fact of the struggle itself."

I've wondered this myself but I have to respectfully disagree. In my travels through the world of debauchery on weekend nights, I bump into people who in the cold light of day tell me they are Christians and believe in God. That loose standard makes most Canadians and Americans Christians...but are they really? I have to admit that I hold the religious to a higher standard...if you proclaim yourself an adherent then you'd damn well better adhere. If the only thing that makes you a Christian is that you go to church on Easter and Christmas, well, I'd be handing your membership back. Living makes you a Christian, not saying.

Are Americans really living in a Christian society or are Christians mistaking their faith for the beliefs of wider society?

Twenty-two per cent of Americans identified "moral issues" as the reason they voted earlier this month. It's simultaneously a large number and a small one. I wonder if the body Americana is more ESR Steve then it is Brother Orrin these days. Conservative...but not in the same way that our grandparents used to be. We believe in the same things but for different reasons.

Bah, this post made no sense...that's what I get for stream of consciousness writing.

Replies: 4 comments

Hmmm. I think I understand what you are saying and that there is something to it, but...

It is unmistakably the case that the United States has a higher percentage of theologically conservative Christians, whether they are evangelical Protestants or traditionalist Catholics, than most of our European and European-descended (e.g., Canada and Australia) allies. Percentage-wise there are many people who take the Bible seriously and try to apply it their lives. Rock and roll conservatives are good to have and I'm definitely not knocking them, but without these kinds of people there is no Red America.

Indeed, I would argue that the presence of these people in large numbers explains why there is a mass movement behind conservatism in the U.S. and not one in, say, Great Britain and a much smaller one in Canada.

As far as religious people living out the teachings they profess to adhere to, I think you are onto something there too. But I think a lot of people try to, whether or not they fall short. You might not see all of them during weekend bar-hopping, though some of them no doubt like a drink.

The Christian faith of America is something some conservatives tend to exaggerate, but I think it is nevertheless to a large extent real.

Posted by W. James Antle III @ 11/29/2004 08:24 PM EST

You're probably right. Being here in Canada I think I'm too removed from ordinary American life to be able to judge accurately how deep religion runs in the U.S.

Posted by Steven Martinovich @ 11/29/2004 09:38 PM EST

I'd also add that "Christian" is not a synonym for "good."

Posted by Jeremy Lott @ 11/30/2004 06:58 AM EST

True enough.

Posted by Steve Martinovich @ 11/30/2004 04:00 PM EST