In my on-going search to find out why current Americans are so much more religious than Europeans, Western that is, or at least why religion is such a large topic here and not there, I came upon a possible thread that may lead to an answer in one of my “Teaching Company” courses; I listen to a 30 minute lecture while exercising every morning.
The course is “Science and Religion” taught by Professor Lawrence M. Principe of Johns Hopkins University.
In his lectures, he points out that science and religion have coexisted mostly amicably throughout the ages. St. Augustine, all the way back in 354-430 A.D. declared the indispensability of both faith and reason and that statement has been reaffirmed by the Catholic Church as well as other Christian denominations to this very day.
So why here, in America, right now, are we having so much turmoil between faith and reason, science and religion, church and state?
Well it seems it is a relatively recent phenomenon, born in America and called the American Christian Fundamentalist Movement.
To properly examine this issue, I may have to spend a few blogs discussing it.
I cannot discuss every detail that factored into the rise and spread of the movement but I can touch on what I feel are the important reasons.
It started in the late 1800s and in its first phase went on strong until the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
It was the turn of the century and just like in 1999, the kooks were out in force especially the MILLENARIANS, those who took the Book of Revelation in the Bible literally to predict the end times with the second coming of Jesus.
This particular movement brought on the belief in BIBLICAL INERRANCY where the Bible cannot be wrong and what we call NAÏVE LITERALISM where every phrase and every word in the Bible is believed to be directly from God and means exactly what it says.
This could also be viewed as a direct reaction to HIGHER CRITICISM of the Bible, a method developed in Germany where words and ideas in the Bible are looked at in the historical and cultural context of the time they were written in and the audience they were intended for; in other words not us.
This higher criticism method of Bible study is accepted and used today by many Christian scholars and has been accepted by the Roman Catholic Church as an “indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts”. They call the method the “HISTORICAL – CRITICAL METHOD”.
The Fundamentalist movement was also a social movement. At the turn of the century America was changing from rural to urban. Immigrants were streaming in bringing with them new religions and new ideas. WWI also broke our isolationism with American troops back from the war telling about all they have seen and experienced over there!
Fundamentalism was a reactionary movement against MODERNITY and all it brought with it. They wanted the old days back.
Fundamentalist preachers held revival meetings all over the country warning all to keep those wicked new ideas out of their lives and to do God’s bidding the way the Bible tells them to. Prohibition was enacted because of fundamentalism.
One other factor that I think is very important is the fact that as people left their farms for towns and cities, high school attendance sky rocketed and with that came exposure to modern science including evolution.
Fundamentalists like William Jennings Bryan attacked evolution with a passion. He took that passion to the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 in Tennessee and a challenge to a state law banning the teaching of evolution by the ACLU.
The trial itself was a circus (see the movie INHERIT THE WIND) and was widely reported on. Clarence Darrow for the defense made Bryan look like an anti-intellectual baboon. Bryan died shortly after the trial and fundamentalism quieted down and was more or less dormant for 30 years, why?
Here is the kicker; evolution disappeared from textbooks because the people in charge of ordering textbooks for schools demanded its removal. Publishers not wanting to endanger the sales of their textbooks complied. Can you believe this?
See you on the flip side in the 1960s.
The course is “Science and Religion” taught by Professor Lawrence M. Principe of Johns Hopkins University.
In his lectures, he points out that science and religion have coexisted mostly amicably throughout the ages. St. Augustine, all the way back in 354-430 A.D. declared the indispensability of both faith and reason and that statement has been reaffirmed by the Catholic Church as well as other Christian denominations to this very day.
So why here, in America, right now, are we having so much turmoil between faith and reason, science and religion, church and state?
Well it seems it is a relatively recent phenomenon, born in America and called the American Christian Fundamentalist Movement.
To properly examine this issue, I may have to spend a few blogs discussing it.
I cannot discuss every detail that factored into the rise and spread of the movement but I can touch on what I feel are the important reasons.
It started in the late 1800s and in its first phase went on strong until the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
It was the turn of the century and just like in 1999, the kooks were out in force especially the MILLENARIANS, those who took the Book of Revelation in the Bible literally to predict the end times with the second coming of Jesus.
This particular movement brought on the belief in BIBLICAL INERRANCY where the Bible cannot be wrong and what we call NAÏVE LITERALISM where every phrase and every word in the Bible is believed to be directly from God and means exactly what it says.
This could also be viewed as a direct reaction to HIGHER CRITICISM of the Bible, a method developed in Germany where words and ideas in the Bible are looked at in the historical and cultural context of the time they were written in and the audience they were intended for; in other words not us.
This higher criticism method of Bible study is accepted and used today by many Christian scholars and has been accepted by the Roman Catholic Church as an “indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts”. They call the method the “HISTORICAL – CRITICAL METHOD”.
The Fundamentalist movement was also a social movement. At the turn of the century America was changing from rural to urban. Immigrants were streaming in bringing with them new religions and new ideas. WWI also broke our isolationism with American troops back from the war telling about all they have seen and experienced over there!
Fundamentalism was a reactionary movement against MODERNITY and all it brought with it. They wanted the old days back.
Fundamentalist preachers held revival meetings all over the country warning all to keep those wicked new ideas out of their lives and to do God’s bidding the way the Bible tells them to. Prohibition was enacted because of fundamentalism.
One other factor that I think is very important is the fact that as people left their farms for towns and cities, high school attendance sky rocketed and with that came exposure to modern science including evolution.
Fundamentalists like William Jennings Bryan attacked evolution with a passion. He took that passion to the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 in Tennessee and a challenge to a state law banning the teaching of evolution by the ACLU.
The trial itself was a circus (see the movie INHERIT THE WIND) and was widely reported on. Clarence Darrow for the defense made Bryan look like an anti-intellectual baboon. Bryan died shortly after the trial and fundamentalism quieted down and was more or less dormant for 30 years, why?
Here is the kicker; evolution disappeared from textbooks because the people in charge of ordering textbooks for schools demanded its removal. Publishers not wanting to endanger the sales of their textbooks complied. Can you believe this?
See you on the flip side in the 1960s.
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