Religious America

My European friends have often said that America is a religious country. It always sounded like an odd statement to me, and not quite accurate. For one thing, I associated a religious country with some amount of religious intolerance, and the America I experienced in my early years in this country appeared anything but intolerant. Other religions were highly respected, and there seemed a true separation of Church and State as enshrined in the constitution. Secondly, there were hardly any signs of overt expressions of religious fervor, at least compared to India.

This election season, I think I am beginning to understand what my friends mean. Following the Republican primary I am taken aback by how important Jesus Christ is. It appears as though a candidate can only win if he/she declares that he/she believes in God and believes in Jesus Christ (I doubt now that a candidate who is an atheist can win even the democratic primary). The Republican candidates are all falling over themselves to appear to be the most sincere follower of the Christian faith. Fred Thompson says people get their rights from God, not from the government. (One only needs to think for a few moments to realize how dangerous that statement is - a government can be changed, argued with, discussed. What God says cannot be changed - so if God says someone is inferior then it must be so!) And Mitt Romey says in New Hampshire, "The values of my faith are much like, or are identical to, the values of other faiths that have a Judeo-Christian philosophical background. They are American values if you will". American values ??!! I thought American values were equality, freedom, democracy and had nothing do with religion.

People's stances on issues like abortion, gay marriage, etc. seem to be because the Bible says so. It is not as though many of them had a real discussion and arrived at their opinions - they are just following their religious text. India, for all its external trappings of religion, is so much more flexible - people's thoughts are influenced by so much more than religion. Even if we assumed that these thoughts are limited to Republican primary voters, that is a significant part of the population - Republican voters in New Hampshire are 30+%.

Yes, indeed, the US is a religious country!