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Religion (Social Change ((George Marsden - Although militant opposition to…
Religion
Social Change
Mark A Smith - secular culture has shaped religious culture, not the other way round.
George Marsden - Although militant opposition to modernity did set fundamental christianity apart from its close neighbours, it was still ultimately more concerned with doctrine than it was with reforming society Fundamentalism - John Roach Straton of NY - preached about the sin rife in the inter-war years, but stressed more than anything that the 'bible' was the foundation of everything that was decent and right. Concerned above all with doctrinal observation.
Jack Butler - 'jack in the box' history. Focuses on fundamentalism and then doesn't recognise the importance of religion again until the rise of the evangelical right in the 1970s/80s
We can't construct a binary between 'religion' and 'society'. Religious groups themselves have encouraged greater acceptance of tolerance - Tolerance Trio in 1933 . Inter-faith cooperation in the suburbs around route 128. Set up of 'Universal Fellowship of Met. Community Churches' in 1968 - gay churches
Modernity - Robert Orsi, St. Jude in Catholic immigrant communities from 1940 onwards. Use of modern comms technologies: Father Charles Fuller's 'Old Fashioned Revival Hour', 20 mil weekly listeners by 1943
Religions actively being shaped by trends in American society: Mormons, 1978 blacks, 1890 banned polygamy
Culture wars in 1990s: 'battle for the soul of America'. Stemmed from Jerry Falwell's 'Moral Majority'
Secularization question
David Hollinger - 'De-Christianisation'. Look at what is left, not what has been lost. What is 'religion' in America and how does an expansion of our definition influence out understanding of 'secularization'? Assumes an international historical perspective which posits the American experience of religion as exceptional
Michael O'Brien - Need to stop assuming that religion in America has always been trying to take over the apparatus of the state. The story of religion has been more about the negotiation of boundaries. If religious groups took over the state, they wouldn't be able to offer themselves up as an answer to the ills of citizens
Mark A Smith - Secular culture has consistently shaped religious culture more than religious culture has shaped secular culture. Even the most conservative religious groups have all come round to changes in American society, albeit on a different time line
David Sehat - Myth of religious freedom. The 'moral establishment' were established as the foundation of public good at least until 1940/. But - what about everyday experiences and the way in which minority religions have been able to carve out a space for themselves which might have acted in defiance of this predominantly protestant notion of 'public good'
Constitutional development of 'secularization' - 1st amendment, 1791
Minnersvile School Distrcit vs Gobitis, 1940: Prayers. Overtunred in 1943. Important as had originally been defended on the basis that it was central to national unity
Everson vs Board of Ed, 1947 - funding of catholic school buses not found to violate the first amend, but applied the due process clause to 14th amend. Laws applying to the states
Engel vs Vitale - outlawed school prayers, 1962
Us vs Seeger - 1965 - non-theistic religions without deities. Recognition of religious plurality in American society
During the years of the 'culture wars' and conservative ascendancy, there have been some concessions which have blurred the boundary again:
- Bowen vs Kendrick, 1988: religious groups can participate in federally funded family life and sex counselling
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Civil religion
Robert Bellah - first articulated the idea of the civil religion. Made a indispensable contribution to the unity of the American nation
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Race
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Civil rights - language of the bible was a language which MLK could speak to white-middle classes in
But black churches had been a key strength of the civil rights movement - George Freeman Bragg in 1922, a black minister, wrote how enlightenment, conversion and negro churches had been the positives of slavery
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Religious Plurality
Pew Forum report, 2009 - 24% attended services of faiths other than their own. 23% doing Yoga, 2012 1/3 of under 30s had no religious affiliation (not just about plurality, but a plurality that clearly divides along generational lines?)
Regional Variation
Charles Reagan Wilson - Civil religion in the south. Keep the bible that Jefferson Davis was sworn in with. United Daughters of the Confederacy