religious crackpots in public life, was Re: The heart of a leftist

nathan.newman at yale.edu nathan.newman at yale.edu
Sat Jul 8 07:45:24 PDT 2000



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Carrol Cox
>
> Any hypotheses as to why the U.S. should be so uniquely plagued by
> religiosity? One can understand it in Iran and some other Islamic
> nations as
> a reaction to western imperialism. But why in the U.S.?

Actually the best answer is the 1st Amendment's ban on establishment of religion. Canada and Mexico both had state religions for most of their history (Church of England and Catholicism respectively) and nothing like the association of the Church with the state to discredit religion among the population.

It was deeply religious folks who had watched the discrediting of religion in Europe by its corruption by power who promoted the Establishment Clause. And the result that the US is one of the most religious countries in the world is testament to their vision, whether for good or for bad.

-- Nathan Newman



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