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In reply to the discussion: Michael Flynn tonight says: we must have one religion under god [View all]Jim__
(14,074 posts)15. "One Nation Under God" - Kevin M Kruse
Were often told that the United States is, was, and always has been a Christian nation. But in One Nation Under God, historian Kevin M. Kruse reveals that the idea of Christian America is an inventionand a relatively recent one at that. As Kruse argues, the belief that America is fundamentally and formally a Christian nation originated in the 1930s when businessmen enlisted religious activists in their fight against FDRs New Deal. Corporations from General Motors to Hilton Hotels bankrolled conservative clergymen, encouraging them to attack the New Deal as a program of pagan statism that perverted the central principle of Christianity: the sanctity and salvation of the individual. Their campaign for freedom under God culminated in the election of their close ally Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.
But this apparent triumph had an ironic twist. In Eisenhowers hands, a religious movement born in opposition to the government was transformed into one that fused faith and the federal government as never before. During the 1950s, Eisenhower revolutionized the role of religion in American political culture, inventing new traditions from inaugural prayers to the National Prayer Breakfast. Meanwhile, Congress added the phrase under God to the Pledge of Allegiance and made In God We Trust the countrys first official motto. With private groups joining in, church membership soared to an all-time high of 69%. For the first time, Americans began to think of their country as an officially Christian nation.
During this moment, virtually all Americansacross the religious and political spectrumbelieved that their country was one nation under God. But as Americans moved from broad generalities to the details of issues such as school prayer, cracks began to appear. Religious leaders rejected this lowest common denomination public religion, leaving conservative political activists to champion it alone. In Richard Nixons hands, a politics that conflated piety and patriotism became sole property of the right.
Provocative and authoritative, One Nation Under God reveals how the unholy alliance of money, religion, and politics created a false origin story that continues to define and divide American politics to this day.
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What will they say/do when it is not their version of Christianity in charge?
keithbvadu2
Nov 2021
#27
flynn sure makes the military like a fucking joke ! not a poster child that's for sure ?
monkeyman1
Nov 2021
#87
Somebody tell the dumb fuck that if he says that on campus at West Point, he'll be asked to leave.
EarnestPutz
Nov 2021
#78
The Conservative War Hawk visiting a mega church style gathering has always made me nervous
PurgedVoter
Nov 2021
#94