Religion and Politics

A Pew Research study finds Americans are uneasy with mix of religion and politics. However, there is one group that is totally comfortable with religion and politics mixing: White Evangelicals. 60% of White Evangelicals believe the bible should have more influence on U.S. Laws than the will of the American people. This contrasts with 16% of White mainline respondents and 7% of Secular respondents. These numbers coincide with a Rasmussen study stating 75% of Alabama and Arkansas believe the bible is literally true.

As a white male from Alabama I fit into those groups above but I believe in democracy and at best see Jesus as a philosopher on morality and ethics. I’ve been reading a book on Southern Identity and was surprised to learn that the in the early 19th century the North looked down on the South for a lack of piety and a certain hedonism. In the 1820s only one in ten people in the South attended church. By the 1860s that had almost completely flipped as Southerners flocked to Southern Baptist and Methodist churches. Religious leaders provided a moral sanctuary from the degradations of the South’s “peculiar institution” in exchange for substantial tithes from the South’s wealthy plantation owners. Those same religions were used to preach a different message about slavery in the churches of the North.

Religion’s ability to salve one’s emotional and mental wounds is amazing on a personal level, but its effects on groups can turn toxic.