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Note: This essay first appeared in the
September 2006 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
Rather than one nation under God, America is one nation under four
Gods
according to a newly-released, hallmark study of religious beliefs and
attitudes throughout the nation, conducted by Baylor University
and the Gallup organization and entitled, “American Piety in the 21st
Century: New Insights into the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the
United States.” The study, although intriguing, offers little context
in the way of today’s Baptist scene or in regard to the history of
Christianity in America, a shortcoming which I have taken it upon
myself to remedy.
The God of the South, for example, is the Authoritarian
God, a deity who is personally involved in the lives of individuals
and the nation, but is ever ready to unleash thunderbolts of judgment
on the unfaithful and the ungodly. This God, worshipped by 43.5% of
all southerners from Kentucky to Texas, is the God for which Jerry
Falwell, Pat Robertson, Richard Land and Albert Mohler act as
spokespersons. 9/11?
God’s wrath on America because of homosexuals and liberals,
according to Falwell and Robertson. A war against Iraq based on
lies? The lies don’t matter, according to Land,
as the southern God is a God of war. Should America be a
democracy or a theocracy?
How about a 20% theocracy, Mohler suggests. In short, in this
land of revivalism, biblical inerrancy, gender hierarchy, poverty,
racial tensions and political and social conservatism, the
Authoritarian God allows no (sexual) sin to go unpunished and no other
Gods to have even half as many followers as He. (As if to prove the
point about the South's judgmental God, a separate study has
determined that
American life expectancy is lowest in the South.)
Speaking of New England, according to the Baylor/Gallup
survey, today’s Easterners from West Virginia to Maine have the most
balanced view of the American Gods. All four of these Gods –
Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical and Distant – are nearly equally
represented in the East. The one-fourth who pay homage to the
Authoritarian God represent the remnants of 17th century
New England Puritanism and the First Great Awakening; the one-fourth
who believe in the Distant God (an indifferent cosmic force) reflect
the influence of 18th century Deism, itself a product of
the Enlightenment; the one-fifth who worship a Benevolent God (a
forgiving God who is quick to forgive and expects his followers to
lend a helping hand to the oppressed and needy) have roots in the
social conscious movements of the 19th century and the the Social
Gospel of the early 19th century; and the one-fifth who
believe in the Critical God (a somewhat judgmental yet very distant
God) likely reflect the world of academia that characterizes Ivy
League New England.
In the Midwest, on the other hand, the Authoritarian and
Benevolent Gods dominate, vying for allegiance in a region that
stretches from Ohio to the Dakotas. Here was the birthplace of
fundamentalism in Baptist life in the early 20th century,
yet here also is the industrial heart of America that symbolized the
promise and perils of capitalism in the late 19th and 20th
centuries. Headquarters (until recent years) of the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, Midwestern religion is nonetheless rooted
more in the faiths transplanted by 19th century European
immigrants than traditional Baptist views North or South. In the
“heartland of America,” the tug-o-war between the Authoritarian and
Benevolent Gods has yet to be resolved.
Finally, the far West embraces a God that seems befitting
of the wide open spaces of the lower West and eastern Montana, Wyoming
and Colorado, the progressive views and technological savvy of the
West Coast, and the independent mindset of the Rocky Mountain region –
the Distant God. Nearly one-third of Westerners prefer this cosmic
force of a deity who is otherwise disengaged with the world he
created. Just over a fourth of westerners embrace the Benevolent God,
perhaps reflecting the rural western understanding of the need of
community in order to survive the harsh elements and loneliness that
marks much of the region. Ironically, Mormon theology contributes to
both understandings of God – although founded upon a belief in
multiple gods hovering over far-away planets, Mormonism places great
emphasis upon community here on earth. Finally, the Authoritarian and
Critical Gods have much smaller followings, although the former
presumably claims many adherents in the Colorado Springs region under
the guidance of prophet James Dobson.
So there you have it: one nation under four Gods. And if
you don’t like the God of your region, you can always pack up the
U-Haul and relocate to the land of one of those other Gods. |
