On 7/23/2015 2:37 AM, Janet B wrote:
America is a deeply religious country." Yeah. So we get told over and
over. We're a god fearing bunch of folks with an attendant set of values
derived from a so-called xian cultural matrix.

We've prided ourselves on our religiosity ever since the first Puritan
bigot stepped ashore. America even spawned an important worldwide
religion -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mormonism.

Mormonism arose in a time of chiliastic ferment. The end of days,
foretold in Revelation, would at last come to pass. The U.S. has coursed
through one wave of faith finding after another. As it is doing today.

An Age of Anxiety has returned. What could the mindless mantra
'religious country' mean? Depending on who utters it, the phrase can
take on any number of meanings. It's a cliche with cachet. Among many
fill in the blanks: "America is . . .

1. a christian state
2. a christian country
3. a nation which adds christian prejudices to race and ethnic ones as
'means tests'
4. a secular state most of whose citizens are nominally christian
5. a secular state most of whose citizens nominally believe in a supreme
being
6. a nation in which christian precepts are practiced by a great majority

Some of these are clearly false, others true, others neither. Generally,
the word 'religious' covers up the no longer PC precision of
'christian.' But everybody understands the code. (Jews and Muslims need
not apply.)