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Coming Out - American Style


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All the more ironic when you find out a lot of the founding fathers of the US were starkly anti-religious considering the era they lived in. The “founded as a Christian country” thing’s just bullshit propagated by the evangelical religious right.

The real truth’s closer to this…

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

All the 'in god we trust' and 'one nation under god' stuff materialised after World War II.

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All the 'in god we trust' and 'one nation under god' stuff materialised after World War II.

Not even then, it was really a reaction against the hippy movement in the 1960's.

Proof/source/link etc

No, seriously, I'd like to know this, I thought the Yanks were always gung ho for God & country, my recollection of American films - admittedly maybe not the best way to gauge these things - it was all God bless America & co., no matter in what era the films were produced, and what genre they were.

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Proof/source/link etc

No, seriously, I'd like to know this, I thought the Yanks were always gung ho for God & country, my recollection of American films - admittedly maybe not the best way to gauge these things - it was all God bless America & co., no matter in what era the films were produced, and what genre they were.

Well, there was always an underlying religious belief but it was small c christianity until the 1960s. Fundamentalist christianity wasn't a major part of public life like it is now.

The religious right basically mobilised into a political force after the rise of the hippy movement which they saw as a threat against their religious values. There was also opposition against civil rights and things like abortion laws which ran along a contemporary timescale.

Probably the major figure in that political mobilization was Jerry Falwell. That aim was basically to make sure every major political figure in the United States was a christian. It started with the election of Jimmy Carter but unfortunately while Jimmy Carter was a devote christian he was also a liberal. Afterwards they championed Ronald Reagan and played a bit part in his election. It has been suggested though that Ronald Reagan wasn't particularly religious and simply used the religious right to gain power.

Since then the religious right has gained more and more momentum and become more and more politicized.

There is a good documentary about it that I can't for the life of me remember and can't find but here is some interview archive of Jerry Falwell being interviewed about his history.

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Well, there was always an underlying religious belief but it was small c christianity until the 1960s. Fundamentalist christianity wasn't a major part of public life like it is now.

The religious right basically mobilised into a political force after the rise of the hippy movement which they saw as a threat against their religious values. There was also opposition against civil rights and things like abortion laws which ran along a contemporary timescale.

Probably the major figure in that political mobilization was Jerry Falwell. That aim was basically to make sure every major political figure in the United States was a christian. It started with the election of Jimmy Carter but unfortunately while Jimmy Carter was a devote christian he was also a liberal. Afterwards they championed Ronald Reagan and played a bit part in his election. It has been suggested though that Ronald Reagan wasn't particularly religious and simply used the religious right to gain power.

Since then the religious right has gained more and more momentum and become more and more politicized.

There is a good documentary about it that I can't for the life of me remember and can't find but here is some interview archive of Jerry Falwell being interviewed about his history.

Hmmm, still not convinced that this is a relatively new phenomenon, but I've nothing to contradict it, other than thinking that it was always that way.

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Well, the United States was probably slightly more but not significantly more religious than most other developed Western nations during the 20th century up until the post war period.

Today there is a huge disparity between not just the religious belief in the United States and other developed Western nations, but the fundamentalist nature of that belief and it's relationship to the state.

That transformation really started in the 1960's.

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Well, the United States was probably slightly more but not significantly more religious than most other developed Western nations during the 20th century up until the post war period.

Today there is a huge disparity between not just the religious belief in the United States and other developed Western nations, but the fundamentalist nature of that belief and it's relationship to the state.

That transformation really started in the 1960's.

O.K., I'm not going to argue about it - because I don't know :lol: - but you're certainly right (imo) with the bolded bit.

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In America, admitting you're an atheist is "coming out".

To be honest, it must be much more difficult to admit you are an atheist in the US where "God Loves America" is almost the national slogan. Given that P&B seems to have quite an atheist representation, would you be brave enough to come out knowing that you could be in line for retaliation from the rednecks? Or would you just go along with the rest of the atheist population, just saying the right things in the right places?

While I think everyone is entitled to believe in anything they want I could never just say the right things in the right places all the time.

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It's almost the reverse here (by here I mean P&B). Some of the atheists on here can be pretty harsh and judgemental on the religious minority. I'm much more of a "believe what you want to believe, it's nothing to do with me" kinda guy. Unless they're chapping at my door of course, then you can f**k right off.

Yep, it seems that on almost every thread someone comes along saying 'anyone that follows organised religion /sky fairies is a thick c**t'and gets half a dozen greenies for it.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I like the 'religion is like a penis' argument...

It's ok to have one, and if you do have one then by all means you should be proud of it.

Just don't wave it around in public, and DO NOT try to ram it down other peoples throats...

See also atheism.

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There's a massive difference between individual belief and organised religion.

If someone says to me they think that life is not a random event and there is some sort of 'greater power' responsible for us then I will disagree with them but respect their right to believe it; it's impossible to prove or disprove after all.

What pisses me off and makes me contemptuous of people's 'religious views' is when they refer to scriptures that were written centuries ago and suggest they should influence how people live. The US seems to be a particularly bad example of referring to the King James Bible as a font of all moral truth.

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