Religions in America

Once we re-enter our flooded campus, we will be starting a unit about religious pluralism in the United States today. How did it happen? What does it mean? How widespread is it, and how important to American society and politics? Our book will be Diana Eck’s A New Religious America, which is now a decade old, so we can assess how well its argument holds up ten years on.

We will keep to the syllabus schedule except for altering the plans for this Friday, when we meet next:

Fri 11/16 – a BRIEF Friday Forum, but mostly a discussion of Eck Ch 2 (bring your book to class) and an overview of what we mean by “religious pluralism” today

Thanks, stay dry!
Prof. Hangen

At Friday’s exam, you will have all class period to write on the question posted below. You may bring one 3×5 index card with anything on it you please.

Describe an example of religion in the Civil Rights Movement (be specific – a song, a speech quote, a piece of writing) and identify the theology (themes, creed, values, ideas) in it.

Using this example, craft an argument about the role or significance of religion in the movement (with any other evidence you choose to include).

Please refer to/discuss Chappell’s book in some way in your answer!

Some links that may be helpful as you prepare:

People Get Ready: Music and the Civil Rights Movement (Brian Ward/Gilder Lehrman Center)

Classic Gospel Music Collection (NPR review/links including the Hamer “Go Tell It” we heard in class)

Fannie Lou Hamer speaking to the DNC in 1964

The first several chapters of David Chappell’s book introduce a broader cast of characters for the civil rights movement, including liberals who supported the movement but did not provide its motivating faith nor ensure its cohesiveness and intellectuals and thinkers who fit into the American “prophetic religion” tradition (which is long and fascinating – think about who might fall into that category today). Continue reading →

Reading: Charles H. Long, “African American Religion in the United States of America: An Interpretive Essay” (found on Blackboard PDF)

Relevant Links to Use in Class (not part of the pre-class readings):

The Ringshout and the Birth of African American Religion, PBS (6:51)
Georgia Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, Part II (10:13)
African American Spirituals, PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly 5/4/2012 (8:35)
A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology, NPR/ Barbara Bradley Hagerty 3/18/2008 (3:45)
Anthony Bradley, Black Liberation Theology, the One-Minute Apologist (1:44)
Mary, Did You Know? Black Nativity (Langston Hughes) (2:58)
Doing Black Liberation Theology in the Age of Obama, academic panel at the Schomburg Center with Howard Dodson, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Dr. Obery Hendricks, and Dr. Anthea Butler

This week we’re working on the Site Visit digital project. Everyone’s site visit should be done and you should be working on the write-up and the congregational profile. We will spend class time doing this on Monday and Wednesday; I would advise bringing laptops both days.

Also – for Monday 10/15, please glance through/read this report from the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) by J. Gordon Melton, “American Religion’s Mega-Trends” over the last 40 years. How many of these mega-trends do you think are at work in Worcester? Do you see evidence of them in your field research with a local congregation? How has the religious landscape changed in Worcester in the last several decades and how can our collective documentation efforts help not only our own understanding but that of other scholars who are interested in Worcester’s history and culture?

There’s a new Friday Forum open for 10/19 on Blackboard – please be checking your news feeds for interesting recent religion news and contributing to the forums, either online or in class by bringing something ready to discuss.

In this unit, we’re starting with a look at two cities where religious pluralism gains a toehold in the era of massive European immigration. On Wed 10/10 we glanced at Chicago in the 1890s, site of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the World Parliament of Religions. On Fri 10/12 we will look at Worcester around the same time period and consider the essential debates that such immigration caused in American cities like Worcester – and the effect of those arrivals on the religious landscape of our city.

Throughout this unit, you’ll be writing and preparing to post your analysis of a local religious organization or congregation on the Digital Worcester archive, and that will hopefully give us a better sense of the religious landscape of the early 21st century in our locality.

For Fri 10/12 – please READ and BRING Diana Eck’s article “In the Name of Religions” (posted to Blackboard in Unit 3) as well as adding to, or prepping for, our 4th Friday Forum.

As we finish up The Myth of American Religious Freedom, think about these questions –

Sehat paints the “moral establishment” as implicitly state-sanctioned, coercive, and relatively monolithic in the 19th century. Are all of those characteristics also true for the 20th century? What are the key features of the religious landscape today? Is there still a “moral establishment” in our time, and in what arenas might it be powerful or weak?

Sehat tells much of the story of the last 50 years through the lens of Supreme Court cases. Could you discuss his argument for the fragmentation of a Protestant moral establishment and the mis-use of history by both sides in the culture wars using some other lens?

After having read the book, do you agree (based on what evidence) that American religious freedom is a myth? Remember, myths can have powerful functions in culture – labeling something a myth may not make it “wrong” or worth dismissing, but might instead help us explain its staying power and coherence. Myths reflect and even shape reality and give narrative structure to history.

To what extent do you, personally, experience degrees of religious freedom and unfreedom? Which of the people, events, court cases, or themes in this book connected with your own identity as an American?

Important Reminders:

The Unit 2 exam on Friday will be a take-home test. You will receive it by email on Thursday 10/4 by 9pm and it will also be posted to Blackboard. It will be due by 10 am on Monday 10/8 (Columbus Day, no class). The next time we meet will be Wed 10/10 and the reading is Diana Eck, “In the Name of Religions,” which is posted to Blackboard. Please make sure to complete your site visit by Mon 10/8.

Monday’s discussion on Sehat Chs 9-12 will take us through a grand sweep of the 20th century, covering these topics:

the rise of the corporation and “rival systems of authority,” particularly in the modern university

the challenge of socialism and labor radicalism to the moral order and to jurisprudence

competing “moral visions” in the 1910s and the limits of free speech and civil liberties

the context of growing American diversity and what that means for states, courts, churches, and governments

the development of distinct Protestant factions (evangelical, liberal, and fundamentalist, among others)

a cultural context of anti-Communism that begins, really, in the 1930s and lasts for something like six decades

social upheaval of the 1960s, as seen through the lens of the Warren court

a profound conservative realignment that ignited “culture wars” at the end of the 20th century

…it’s a lot. Don’t get mired in the details so much as look for the overarching argument. What are the broad brushstrokes that Sehat is painting here about American thought, society and religion in the modern age? If this is cultural fragmentation, where (and when) were the fault lines? Who emerges in your reading as the heroes, key cultural figures, or important inflection points in twentieth century American religious history?

Sehat has introduced us to challengers to the Protestant moral establishment’s cultural hegemony, including radical abolitionists and female suffrage advocates. For Wednesday’s class, read and respond to some documents from two other groups who affronted Protestant moral sensibilities in antebellum America: the Oneida community and the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

The documents are posted on Blackboard under “Unit 2.” I’ve also opened up a new Friday Forum on Blackboard.

There is a 2-3 page response paper due Wednesday. Respond to some or all of these questions, or use your own sparked by the reading –

What kinds of “challengers” to the moral establishment were the Oneida “free lovers” and Mormon polygamists? And how did each of these groups represent themselves as moral, virtuous, and utterly American?

And/or

Why did both of these groups have roots in upstate New York (not coincidentally, the site of the Seneca Falls women’s rights convention) – i.e. what is so religiously generative about that part of the country in the mid-19th century?

In this unit, we’re using David Sehat’s ambitious and provocative new book to talk about the concepts of religious freedom and pluralism in American history. We’ll read the entire book over the course of this unit and get to know its argument well. This is not a “textbook” in the conventional sense, so you shouldn’t read it only for historical content but also for scholarly argument and interpretation.

For Wed 9/19 – read the introduction (pp. 1-10) and Mark Douglas McGarvie’s review of Sehat’s book, published in the October 2011 issue of the American Historical Review. (Both of these are also posted on Blackboard in the Unit 2 section). Write a response paper (2-3 typed double-spaced pages, due in class) addressing one or more of these discussion questions, and be prepared to discuss them on Wed (bring the book with you to class, obviously).

How does Sehat define American religious freedom as a “threefold myth”?

With whom (or what) is Sehat arguing? In other words, why does he claim this book matters?

Describe the dominant narrative of American religious liberty. How does Sehat propose to dismantle this stubbornly persistent, and in fact rather important, set of claims about the past?

What purpose do these myths serve, according to Sehat? Do you agree or not? Based on what evidence?

Characterize McGarvie’s response to this book. How does he see it fitting into other recent scholarship on religion and law?

What are your initial responses to these readings? Where do you hope this book goes, or what are your guesses about what is (or should be) in it?