THE AMERICAN RELIGION

Do all the great religions teach brotherhood
and tolerance? Yes, of course. "He whose
heart is in the smallest degree set upon
goodness will dislike no one." So said Confu-
cius, 550 years before Christ. He also said:
"Do not do unto others what you don't want
done unto you." Muhammad and the Buddha
made similar statements. (If you have questions
about Islam in this regard, see Reza Aslan's
excellent book: No God but God).

What does brotherhood mean? If it means any-
thing at all, it means feed the hungry, care for
the sick, clothe the naked, house the homeless,
and so on. Doesn't it? How are we doing here in
America? Pretty good? Could we do better? If
so, what keeps us from doing better? Some
people think it's our religion! Isn't that strange?
Or is it? What is our religion?

Will Herberg wrote an influential book (back in
the 50's) about our national religion. It's
entitled: Protestant, Catholic, Jew. In it he
argued that the real religion of the country is
none of the above, but something he called
"the American Way of Life." I will be referring
to it as "the Amer. way" or "the Amer. religion."
Herberg noted that some 95% of us believe in
God, and about 85% identify ourselves as
"Christian." 70 - 75% claim to be members of a
religious community (although church and
synagogue rolls show that only 65% actually are.


But, he says, "when asked 'would you say your
religious beliefs have any effect on your ideas
of politics and business?' A majority (60%) of
the same folks for whom religion is something
'very important' said their religious beliefs had
no real effect on their ideas and conduct in these
decisive areas of our every day life.

Clearly, said Herberg, that's not Christianity in
any way, shape or form. So what is it? To find
out, we have to ask what it is that we are
intolerant of. That will reveal what we really
value. We are tolerant of different religious
beliefs, so they must not matter much. We're
tolerant of atheists: Tom Paine, Clarence
Darrow, Robert Ingersol, H. L. Menken, were
all famous atheists with big followings. You
can curse God, if you want to. That's okay.
But not the flag! If you burn a flag you can
be in a lot of trouble. The flag is sacred to a lot
of people, and is honored in many American
churches along side the cross and other holy
symbols. Hillary wants a constitutional
amendment banning flag burning.

We are, the Pledge says, "one nation under God."
What does that mean? If we are under someone,
doesn't that mean we obey them? That they rule?
Are we, as a nation, under God's rule? Obey and
follow his laws? If so, why do our biggest
consumer bucks go to gambling, pornography,
and illegal drugs?

Herberg says the way we live is our religion. It
shows our values. One of our core values
(besides nationalism) is individualism. The
Amer. way is highly personal and individual.
"In this kind of religion," writes Herberg, it is
not man who serves God, but God who is
mobilized and made to serve man and his
purposes -- whether these purposes be economic
prosperity, free enterprise, social reform, demo-
cracy, happiness, security, or 'peace of mind.'
God is conceived as man's 'omnipotent servant.'
Faith is a sure-fire device to get what we want.
The American is a religious man, and in many
cases personally humble and conscientious.
But religion as he understands it is not some-
thing that makes for humility or the uneasy
conscience: it is something that reassures him
about the essential rightness of everything
American, his nation, his culture, and himself;
something that validates his goals and ideals
instead of calling them into question; something
that enhances his self-regard instead of chal-
lenging it; something that feeds his self-
sufficiency instead of shattering it; something
that offers him salvation on easy terms instead
of demanding repentance and a 'broken heart.'
Because it does all these things, his religion,
however sincere and well-meant, is ultimately
vitiated by a strong and pervasive idolatrous
element."

Harold Bloom, in his 1992 book, The American
Religion, echoes and amplifies much of what
Will Herberg wrote on that subject. Bloom
refers to the "linked emblems of national re-
ligion: the flag and the fetus," which he sees
as substitutes for the cross and the divine child.
"They symbolize the American religion, the partly
concealed but scarcely repressed national faith,"
he says. Court actions to remove Bible reading
and prayer from public schools are bitterly fought
by those who see such actions as repressing, and
hence attacking, our national religion.

"The largest paradox concerning the Amer. religion"
writes Bloom, "is that it is truly a Biblical religion,
whereas Judaism and Christianity never were
that, despite all their passionate protestations.
Normative Judaism is the religion of the Oral Law,
set out by the Rabbis of the 2nd century. Chris-
tianity is the religion of the Church Fathers . . .
their definitive interpretations displaced Scrip-
ture. The American Religion, unlike Christianity
and Judaism, is actually Biblical." He means by
that, its interpretation is literal. We (the majority)
support capitol punishment, for instance, because
Deuteronomy demands it, even though the two
greatest heroes of the Old Testament, Moses and
David, were both murderers who were not put
to death, but went on to become God's favorites.
Cain, the first murderer on record, was not
punished by death either, so it's not really an
unbending divine requirement. But it is part
of the American religion!

Bloom spends a lot of time describing what he
sees as the two crucial branches of the Amer.
religion, both culturally dominant in their
region of the country. These are the Mormons
and the Southern Baptists. The former are
now the fastest growing church in the U. S.
while the latter is the largest Protestant group,
and was the fastest growing one during the
last half of the 20th century. He notes that
while these two are "violent opponents of
one another, yet each is American to the core,
neither having anything accurately in common
with what historically has been considered
Christianity."

(This is getting lengthy, so I'll plan on con-
tuing it later.)

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net