> I had a similar experience in 1979, when I was teaching 20th century
> American lit to undergrads. None of them recognized the original
> biblical reference for The Sun Also Rises, though most were Southern
> Christians. Me, the godless Yankee pinko, knew the bible better than
> they did.
>
> I think Dan Lazare was right to say that Americans aren't religious so
> much as they are pious.
>
Perhaps they are simply more conformist than anything else. Just like American patriotism these days: a mile wide and an inch deep.
I hope that these anecdotes are true. My gut feeling is that they are true, because I've been saying for a long time that the religious right is just a toothless old bogeyman. The problem is that the religious right uses polls that say that most Americans are "religious" to justify their campaigns. All signs point to the the fact that the views of the religious right have little support in the general population. For all their fire and brimstone about liberals and homosexuals, the people who hold these heretical views are the same people who say they are religous.
By the way, loved the trashing of the Anne Coulter book in the Post yesterday. It's rare that Book World has me on the floor in laughter.
Chuck0