Religion in America

I generally like the "Opposing Viewpoints" series. You get to see all sorts of points of view. The book starts with articles that discuss how religious American society is. After that is an article claiming that Protestant Christianity is basically America's religion. And one claiming that our cultural heritage is really America's religion. And we see a opposing articles on whether America's identity is religious or secular. Now, do religious values preserve democracy or undermine it? Barbara Ehrenreich argues that they undermine it. I agree: I think religious values can preclude useful debate. Should religious leaders challenge public policy? We see arguments on both sides of this issue. And we see some interesting arguments on the reverse question, namely whether politicians ought to promote their religious values. On the latter issue, I think we need to promote our personal values, and be careful to avoid implying that we will take moral direction from spiritual leaders. If we want to support human rights, we ought to say so as individuals. Is it religious discrimination to ban public prayer in schools? Well, as a Polytheist, I would say no. A school is supposed to be a secular place. I think school prayer makes the state a partner in evangelizing for monotheism. There are articles about the extent to which government ought to interfere with personal religious beliefs. Well, my reaction is simple. There are secular laws. If your personal beliefs are such that you break them, you should and will face the consequences. Is television evangelism legitimate? There are articles on both sides of this. But while I'm not so sure that the television medium is special in this regard, I think there is a serious issue with sincerity. Some evangelists are simply untruthful hypocrites. And I wouldn't dream of calling them legitimate. Will religious faith of Americans increase or decline? We see articles on both sides, of course. Finally, what about non-monotheist religions? Well, there are a couple of articles about the New Age movement. I hoped there would be something a little better than that. But at least it gives one a chance to discuss the problems of religious authoritarianism. Too many people look to others for spiritual advice when they ought to be making up their own minds about who they are and what they want to do. I recommend this book.