Research On Religion » patriotism

John Wilsey on American Exceptionalism & Civil Religion.

tonygill — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 09:00:42 +0000

Ever since John Winthrop’s famous declaration that America was a “city on a hill,” the notion of “American exceptionalism” has been woven throughout U.S. history. Dr. John Wilsey, assistant professor of history and Christian apologetics at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, explores what this concept means and how it has changed over time, looking at some of the more challenging periods of US history that include the Civil War and race relations over the past century. Prof. Wilsey ties all of this together with a further examination of civil religion and the role of Christianity in defining what it means for our nation to be “exceptional.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries and finding out about how John came to write this book, we dive into the concept of “American exceptionalism.” Building upon the work of noted political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset, Dr. Wilsey lays out two distinct variants of exceptionalism — open and closed. The former views the nation in terms of an example for the rest of the world that attempts to expand freedom to all in the world by means of example. Closed exceptionalism, on the other hand, has a much more nationalistic overtone and is exclusionary. John discusses how the concept has changed over time, with special attention to the era of Westward Expansion and the US Civil War. Along the way, he highlights how several noted historical figures championed and presented the idea of American exceptionalism, including John L. O’Sullivan, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John Foster Dulles, Ronald Reagan, and (of course) Abraham Lincoln who had a very nuanced version of the concept.

Discussion then moves to the notion of “civil religion,” and John lays out the various sources of this blend of secular and religious ideas to craft a unique American ideology. He talks about Protestant theology, Enlightenment philosophy, and Roman civil religion and how each element plays out in our thinking of America’s place in history and the world. John acknowledges that there are many variants of civil religion and argues that it tends to be at its worth when borrowing explicitly from Christian theology. Our conversation then covers a number of key eras of American history with particular attention to the Civil War and Lincoln’s view of America, as well as providence. This leads us into a discussion of race relations following the Civil War and W.E.B. DuBois’s view of Lincoln and America’s reality lived against its ideals.

The interview closes with some of John’s thoughts on the future of American exceptionalism and his desire to see a more open version of that concept. He also discusses some of the main things he learned throughout the process of writing the book, including a sobering look at racial tension, all of which is leading him to undertake another research project on the thought of DuBois. Recorded: November 11, 2015.

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea, by John Wilsey.

One Nation Under God: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America, by John Wilsey.

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David Mislin on Embracing Religious Pluralism.

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Robert Delahunty on Alexis de Tocqueville and Religion.

Jim Papandrea on Christianity’s Seven Revolutions

tonygill — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 08:00:43 +0000

What difference does a religious tradition make? If it is Christianity, Prof. Jim Papandrea of the Garrett-Evangelical Seminary at Northwestern University says it matters a great deal. Jim returns to our show for the third time (hat trick) and discusses his new book Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again, coauthored with Mike Aquilina. The general thrust of the book is that Christian theology introduced to the world (at least) seven new ways to envision human society, starting with the individual person and proceeding up through the state.

Jim starts us off by listing the seven great revolutions introduced by Christian thought, including how we look at: the person, the home (and gender roles), work (and the laborer), religion, community, death, and (finally) the state. He also notes how Christianity promoted a “God of love” that opened the door to an inclusionary religion that shaped all of these critical areas. We then look into the fourth revolution — religion — more closely and Jim notes that although based upon a Judaic foundation, Christianity opens the door to proselytizing and including all peoples into one single religion. This has a major impact on how individuals and neighbors are conceived, and will impact the how early Christians opened the door to new thinking on government. We cover the reaction to this new message amongst the Romans of the day, which wasn’t always welcoming. Persecutions were common, yet Christianity kept growing culminating in its final acceptance under the Edict of Milan (313 CE). Jim discusses the role that Constantine played in this process and notes that the Edict of Milan, contrary to the notion that it established Christianity as the official church, was really the world’s first document on religious liberty. This springboards us into another one of Jim’s seven revolutions regarding the role of the state. Here we spend some time talking about how Christianity changed the notion of sovereignty by not placing the “person at the top of the governing pyramid” as the ultimate authority, but rather noting that God is a separate authority. Jim discusses how this translates into the role of citizen sovereignty and how it relates to the foundation of the US government some 230 years ago. We also take time to cover the revolutions of community (“love thy neighbor”) as well as how Christianity developed the concept of human dignity for all and how this helped change views on labor and family roles, not to mention the topics of euthanasia, abortion, and infanticide (practices common in the Roman Empire).

Our conversation ends with some reflection on Christianity in the “post-Christian era.” Jim qualifies that term by noting that there have been moments in history that have looked dire for the demise of the Christian faith, but he raises concern about a secular ethos that may be returning our culture towards the mindset of the pre-Christian era. We ruminate about the role that violent sport and reality TV (a form of entertainment that relishes in humiliation) and what role Christianity can play in addressing the contemporary culture. Jim ends on an optimistic note by asserting that Christianity is always primed for a revival and that by joining together across denominational lines, Christianity can remain highly relevant in the world. Recorded: March 17, 2015.

Jim Papandrea’s personal website including a picture of him pointing at stuff in Rome and his YouTube channel (with music videos).

Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again, by Mike Aquilina and James Papandrea.

Reading the Early Church Fathers, by James Papandrea.

The Wedding of the Lamb, by James Papandrea.

Trinity 101: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by James Papandrea.

Jim Papandrea’s Amazon.com page with more books and a video of Jim.

Still Quiet Voice, a music CD by James Papandrea.

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Jim Papandrea on the Church Fathers & Patristic Exegesis.

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Sarah Bond on the Church and Funerals in Late Antiquity.

David Campbell & Quin Monson on Mormons & Politics in America

tonygill — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 09:00:58 +0000

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Are Mormons a “peculiar people,” particularly as it pertains to politics? Two LDS political scientists — David E Campbell of Notre Dame and J Quin Monson of Brigham Young University — join us in our first-ever dual guest appearance to discuss this topic. We examine a variety of research findings recently published in their book Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics, also written with John C Green (who is not a Mormon).

After a bit of personal revelations by our two guests, we jump first into a bit of sociology of religion and explore the unique distinctiveness of the Latter Day Saints. Prof. Monson elaborates on what the authors call the “paradox of Mormonism,” wherein the LDS are a quintessentially American faith, but also “outside” of American culture. We examine whether Mormons can be called a distinct religio-ethnic group, perhaps akin to Jews. Both Dave and Quin share some personal experiences growing up and being educated outside of the Mormon heartland of Utah, and they school Tony in what it means to “speak Mormon.” In respect to this “paradox of Mormonism,” Tony wonders why the LDS remain one of the most devoutly patriotic subgroups in America despite having faced enormous persecution throughout their history.

We then turn to the political identify of Mormons and Tony points out that few, if any, presidential candidates ever make a whistle stop in Utah. Prof. Campbell explains that Mormons are remarkably cohesive in their Republican affiliation (much like African-American Protestants and Jews when it comes to the Democrat Party), but it wasn’t always this way. Dave covers the Mormon partisan re-alignment that has occurred over the past half century or so and in the process we review one of our favorite topics — the God gap, an increasing cross-denominational tendency for those who are deeply religious to prefer the GOP, while secular society has trended Democrat. (See our list of additional podcasts on this topic below.) We also cover a series of specific issues to note that Mormons are not necessarily monolithic in their views and often have political preferences that are a bit at odds with the Republican base, particularly when it comes to immigration. We discuss the reasons for this more pro-immigrant stance and how it might relate to the missionary goals of the LDS. Tony also brings up the issue of school choice vouchers, a GOP-favored policy, and how it went down to a resounding defeat in Utah several years back. Both Quin and Dave offer their explanations.

We follow the discussion on political preferences with an examination of whether or not religious leaders influence the voting behavior of the LDS laity. We talk a bit about the organizational structure of the church. Quin points out that there is virtually no politicking that goes on from the pulpit, but there are numerous conversations in the hallways of the ward (i.e., the LDS version of a parish or congregation). Tony brings up the recent case of Mormon involvement supporting Proposition 8, a California initiative that was designed to reverse a state supreme court ruling and define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. The LDS Church and many of its individual members took a great deal of heat for their support of Proposition 8, and this leads us to a discussion of the efficacy of religious groups becoming closely involved in political causes.

We finish with some reflections on whether or not Mormons have broken the political “glass ceiling” with the recent presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012. Dave brings up some thoughts about how this campaign both affected the perception of Mormons in politics — with Republicans becoming more friendly to the denomination while Democrats became a bit more negative on it — and how Mitt affected Mormonism itself. We close with the two authors giving their personal reflections on what they learned throughout the process of writing their book. Recorded: October 31, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics, by David E Campbell, John C Green, and J Quin Monson.

David E Campbell’s bio at University of Notre Dame’s political science department.

J Quin Monson’s bio at Brigham Young University’s political science department.

American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert Putnam and David E Campbell.

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Lynita Newswander on Mormons in America

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Jeremy Lott on Mormons, Pope Francis, and Ugly Churches

Ken Wald on the Puzzling Politics of American Jews

Corwin Smidt on Religion, Elections and the God Gap

Gerald De Maio on the Electoral Religion Gap

Sean Scott on Religious Rhetoric in the US Civil War

tonygill — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 08:00:57 +0000

As we approach the sesquicentennial mark of the cessation of hostilities in the US Civil War, Prof. Sean Scott — visiting assistant professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University — joins us to talk about the religious views of the “common folk” in the “Old Northwest” and his book A Visitation of God: Northern Civilians Interpret the Civil War. His research dives into the personal letters, diaries, sermons, and other forms of correspondence of individuals living in the Great Lakes states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.

The conversation begins with Prof. Scott describing one of his previous jobs, namely searching for “lost” documents related to President Abraham Lincoln. We find out that he had success in finding a few pieces of correspondence that were not yet documented and he received a special reward for doing so! This then sends us into a discussion about how Scott became interested in the Civil War era and the more specific topic of religious rhetoric in the mid-1800s. While much of his interest in the subject was generated in graduate school, he does note that he wrote a paper on the Civil War in junior high school which may have prompted his current interest.

We then look at his recent research on how Northerners tended to use religious imagery and language to correspond with one another during this tumultuous era in American history. Tony asks a number of methodological questions about who was included in the study, how were documents tracked down, what was the nature of those documents, and whether Sean ever had a “chill up his spine” when reading these sometimes very emotional documents. We talk about Sean’s emphasis on “common folk” who included everyone from individual soldiers, to farmers, housewives, preachers, and even a prominent banker or two. Prof. Scott also notes that few scholars have studied the area of the Old Northwest, favoring instead the South, mid-Atlantic states, or New England. Sean makes the case that his region of focus represented an interesting melting pot of different people as many of these states had just been settled in the few decades before the Civil War and were still attracting a wide range of individuals from across the country. Many of these folks were not necessarily in favor of the abolition of slavery or shared the same views of secession that other Yankees might.

We then examine some of the first bits of rhetoric to come out in the months immediately leading up to the war and the first few months of fighting. Sean notes that there was a strong sense of Providence that ran through much of the rhetoric, seeing the US as the New Israel and/or individuals understanding the war in terms of payment for a variety of sins including slavery. The view that God’s hand was running through, or directing, the conflict was reflected a number of different ways. And given the diverse population of the Old Northwest at the time, some of the preaching from the pulpit about the Civil War led to divisions among congregation members, with some individuals deciding to up and leave their church.

Following our discussion of the first few months of the war, our conversation turns to a more thematic approach to the use of religion to understand the conflict. We cover whether or not Christians advocated picking up the sword to do battle or preferred more pacifistic methods. We also discuss how family members who remained at home used religion to cope with their loved ones going off to war. This includes both wives who sent their husbands and often faced the difficult challenge of raising a family on their own, and fathers who had to impart the wisdom of Christian manhood to their sons who were placed in difficult situations. As the war comes to an end, the theme of whether northern Christians would follow the path of forgiveness or mete out revenge on the South. Sean finds that there was a great deal of the latter, including towards “copperheads” (traitors to the Union cause that lived in the North). We finish with how religious rhetoric was used as a lens to view the Lincoln assassination. The image that Lincoln was a “providential” figure in American history was bolstered by the fact that he was killed on Good Friday, shortly after the end of the war. Sean concludes with a few thoughts on what he learned from his study of this era and how it might apply to our world today. He argues about the danger of religion becoming too closely connected to political causes and how the study of the past brings a much needed humility towards how we live our lives today. Recorded: October 16, 2014

A Visitation of God: Northern Civilians Interpret the Civil War, by Sean A. Scott.

While God Is Marching, by Steven Woodworth (mentioned in podcast).

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Tracy McKenzie on the First Thanksgiving.

Lynita Newswander on Mormons in America

tonygill — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:00:18 +0000

Greetings to the new visitors to our website. We hope you enjoy this interview and invite you to visit our archives for over 100 other great episodes on a wide variety of topics, all free to the public. And please sign up for our Facebook fan page to get regular updates on future topics and guests. Help us get to 300 fans by September 1.

With Mitt Romney running for president of the United States, there has been a heightened interest to learn about the Mormon faith. We tackle this subject once again on our show by examining the historical legacy and contemporary impact that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has had on US culture and politics. Prof. Lynita Newswander, and adjunct professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, joins us to discuss her recent book, LDS in the USA, co-authored with Lee Trepanier. The book itself is interesting given that it represents a collaboration between a scholar who is Mormon (Newswander) and one who is not (Trepanier). We discuss the reasons for this interesting collaboration as well as for why the book ended up with the title that it did. Tony proposes the book should have its own theme song based upon the popular Bruce Springsteen song “Born in the USA” and actually sings a few lines from what he thinks that song should sound like — a very special treat for our regular listeners. We then dive into a brief history of Mormonism with Lynita pointing out that Mormons, due to persecution, became emigrants from their own country only to have that country catch up with them in the midst of Westward expansion, making them immigrants in a nation which they still retained citizenship in. This creates a certain tenor to LDS history, wherein members have seen themselves as both outsiders and insiders in American history making them what Brigham Young called “a peculiar people.” Our discussion covers how Mormons have conformed to and shaped “core American values” including the notions of diversity, tolerance, and family. Prof. Newswander shares her unique perspective on Mormon identity growing up outside of Utah and as a member of a religious minority group in Texas and why she found her recent trip to Salt Lake City to be rather interesting. She notes that there is a strong tendency within the LDS Church for members to want to group together, which in effect continues to make the religion rather distinct, a feeling that she experienced when she went to school at BYU. We continue with the interview noting how Mormon influences have made their way into American culture, from Donny and Marie Osmond in the 1970s to the best-selling author Stephenie Meyer (the “Twighlight” series) and to their appearance on reality TV shows more recently. The conversation then turns to the controversial topic of Jell-O consumption and whether Utah or Iowa holds the title for highest per capita consumption of that convenient snack food. We also discuss how the non-Mormon media has recently portrayed the LDS faith through such shows as Big Love and Sister Wives. This brings up the issue of polygamy and Lynita clarifies how the main branch of the LDS Church has long ago renounced this practice even though some offshoot sects of the faith still practice it. We discuss how shows such as Big Love often give a skewed view of what Mormons actually believe and do. All of this is within the context of the American ideal of religious tolerance, which we note that Americans sometimes have a hard time living up to. Our podcast finishes with a discussion of Mitt Romney and the role that he is playing in making Mormonism a more accepted faith within American society. Recorded: August 22, 2012.

RELATED LINKS

LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture, by Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander.

Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” speech at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library (December 6, 2007).

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Michael McBride on Religious Free-Riding and the Mormon Church.

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Patrick Mason on Anti-Mormonism and Mitt Romney

tonygill — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:00:31 +0000

With Mitt Romney making waves as a presidential candidate frontrunner for the Republican Party, we visit with Prof. Patrick Mason — the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Momon Studies at the Claremont Graduate University — to discuss the history of anti-Mormon bigotry in the United States tracing it back to the founding of the faith in the 1820s. We start be examining the diaspora of Mormons westward and into the postbellum South, the latter which is the focus of Prof. Mason’s most recent book. Patrick provides a detailed description of the Cane Creek Massacre, which exemplifies some of the violent hostility faced by Mormons in the 19th century. Our conversation covers Mormon relations with Native Americans and African Americans, and then moves on to cover one of the most controversial aspects of Mormon history — polygamy — which served to animate a great deal of the animosity that the LDS Church faced. Prof. Mason explains the historical aspect of that practice, how it was viewed by non-Mormons, and why it was eventually abandoned by the main church. Tony then raises two interesting questions about why Mormons have become one of the most patriotic segments of American society, and why anti-Mormonism has persisted even though many of the issues that gave rise to bigotry have been resolved for over a century, namely the polygamy question. As to the former question, we speculate about why a persecuted religious minority would strongly embrace the patriotic norms of a nation that once excluded them. The latter question leads us into a discussion of whether lingering bias against Mormons will affect the presidential aspirations of Mitt Romney, and we make comparisons to the cultural obstacles that Catholics and Jews had to overcome to be accepted into the mainstream of American political life. Recorded: September 19, 2011

RELATED LINKS

Patrick Q. Mason’s website at the Claremont Graduate University.

The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South, by Patrick Q. Mason.

Claremont Mormon Studies website.

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Michael McBride on Religious Free-Riding and the Mormon Church.

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Louis Bolce on the Media and Anti-Fundamentalism.

Bradley R.E. Wright on Christian Stereotypes.

William Donohue on Secular Sabotage.