One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

[Quixote1818]

Here is an article as well: http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/03/how-corporate-america-invented-christian-america-to-fight-the-new-deal/?fbclid=IwAR16CsTz_CQUGB2eJH1oBV04DnNufCRFy6kv2lGHmV6W1Izt21tD2ZmSdk4

[Midnight Writer]

1. Am reading this book right now. Very informative. Another is Jane Mayers Dark Money.

What used to be Corporate America is now Oligarch America, where the folk with the most money have the most sway.

[Botany]

2. It is no mistake that the GOP, the Religious Right, and the message from the media are linked ....

... Free Market Capitalism = I love Jesus

Religion is the opiate of the masses.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. That's why the religious have become allies as 'people of faith.'

They're allied because they share a common interest, just as corporations ally with one another to support their interest, which is free-market capitalism.

We've seen all these megachurches sprouting up which have no real doctrines to anchor themselves to particular beliefs. They teach the Prosperity Gospel and their goal is to make money and grow their churches, just like the capitalist goal to grow companies and expand markets.

But like the man said, some of the more doctrinaire types are beginning to butt heads with the ones who practice the more watered-down version of religion. The alliance is beginning to unravel because their markets are trying to expand into one another's territory. Old time religions versus the generalized believers, it's going to be interesting to see who comes out on top.

I think Pete Buttigieg sees the conflict clearly, which is why he has made some of the statements he has. I don't know if we'll have a hot religious war, but a war over the soul of the nation is coming. And the atheists and nones will have a major role to play as well.

[Botany]

4. This is also why the evangelicals still support Trump despite the hookers, porn stars, sex workers,

and hush money pay offs because he is giving them what they want. Do you have any doubt that
Trump has paid for multiple abortions? No doubt many on the religious right are fine with that.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. Yes, it's quid pro quo.

They wouldn’t care if he was a serial killer, so long as he’s killing liberals.

[notdarkyet]

5. Where did Jesus go? You know, the Christ in Christian.

[Major Nikon]

6. There was a significant religious uprising in the late 40's and 50's

It was basically an extension of the 2nd Red Scare which posits the answer to godless communism is religion. This is when the whitewashing of American secular history began.

It should also be noted that deism was born out of the Age of Enlightenment as an alternative to what we now know as atheism. Many deists were irreligious and effectively atheists if not philosophically so.

[Quixote1818]

8. He talks about the Red Scare and says it was important but secondary.

The fact that so many of the founders were products of the Age of Enlightenment is the only reason we got a pretty decent Constitution.

[rurallib]

9. Thanks so much for this - it answers a lot of questions I have had

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. K & R

Very important discussion, which should be had in every history classroom across the country.

[Quixote1818]

11. Kick