Religion and Politics in the US 1600-2024 Notes PDF

**Religion and politics in the United States 1600-2024** 19 September 2024\ I. Introduction and the « hidden » Colonies **Introduction** One Nation under God -- The American Way of Life - God bless America, by the Russian & Jewish immigrant Iiving Berlin 1918/1938 - While the storm...

**Religion and politics in the United States 1600-2024** 19 September 2024\ I. Introduction and the « hidden » Colonies **Introduction** One Nation under God -- The American Way of Life - God bless America, by the Russian & Jewish immigrant Iiving Berlin 1918/1938 - While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that\'s free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer: God bless America, land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her Through the night with a light from above; From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans white with foam, God bless America, my home, sweet home. God bless America, my home, sweet home. - Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy 1892 - "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." (1892) - \"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, andto the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." (1954) Politics -- European and American Perspectives A diagram of the congress Description automatically generatedA group of people standing in front of a flag Description automatically generated - Today's challenges - Trump & Pence as guardians of Christian values in their presidency - Trump's abstinence (from alcohol) - Replacing three supreme court judges & dozens of federal judges - Courting and financial support of Evangelical ministries - As "the chosen one" (2019) / assassination attempt of July 13 2024 - For the QAnon conspiracy theory & culture wars - Trump as the world savior against the children slaughtering, capitalist, Jewish (Islamic), LGBTQ threat of the Christian American people (great replacement narrative) - MAGA Bible / God Bless America Bible - Trump sells this 60,- \$ edition of King James Bible - With text of the constitution, bill of rights (ten amendments to the constitution), "God bless the USA" lyrics by Lee Greenwood (1984) **Religion, politics and history** Politics and Religion - Definitions - „Politik ist das Streben nach Machtanteil oder nach Beeinflussung der Machtverteilung..." (Politics is the pursuit of power or influence over the distribution of power.) (Max Weber) - Politics as a means to establish peace and a social consensus(Rousseau, Thomas Meyer) - As a process of regulating peacefully social conflicts which are characteristic for all modern, diversified societies (Ralf Dahrendorf) - What do people do with "religlion"? - Relational perspective: Reciprocity of politics and religion - No essentialization (as Eric Voeglin: „political religions") - Power dependencies of both segments 1. How does politics become religious? - Political participation of religious actors - Religious rhethorics / ideologies in politics - Civil religion 2. How does religion become political? - When public topics are considered to touch religious authority or competence: from bedroom (sodomy laws) to outer space (Gagarin and the Apollo 8 crew) 3. Is the dichotomy of religion and politics as a theoretical conceptjustified? - Large ingnorance in social sciences/history of religion towardsuniqueness of the American Way - Assumption of the overall validity of the model of the separationbetween church and state by French Revolution and French & Scottishphilosophers (Voltaire, Hume, Smith) - What does "History" do? - Reinhart Koselleck (1979): - History is always made up by OUR contemporaries - It is never a neutral / objective account of facts - By our interests, selections and evaluation - History as a set of „histories" from different social and temporal perspectives - Master narratives (Claude Lévi-Strauss) - As accounts of the dominant perspective vs. the slave narratives - Written documents usually reflect only the „master narrative" - „Slave narratives" as oral history: invisible in later accounts - Qualities of master narratives - Serial, linear, one-dimensional, teleological (Thomas Haye) - Master narratives mainly as means to establish national identity - Obscuring alternate perspectives (of minorities) - Defining the end / the aim of the nation's future - Subaltern studies contesting this master perspective = Dipesh Chakrabarty (Provincializing Europe, 2000) - Only within the last 30 years American historiography began to include minority perspectives (Native & Afro-Americans) - Master narrative of US as a Christian nation ("Pilgrim Fathers...") - Why does history matter?  A graph of a number of people Description automatically generated with medium confidence - Culture wars at school - 25 conservative states passed more than 70 laws reshaping what students can learn and do at schools - History classes as a specific target - Rejecting teachings of critical race theory („marxist indoctrination") - Restrictions on what students can learn, read and do - Establishment of library lists of books (so parents can object) Christian Nationalism - *The long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has cometo pass. The federal government is a behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The key to a good life is found primarily in family---marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners and the like, and, above all, in religious devotion and spirituality. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation* - The Heritage Foundation - Conservative think tank founded in 1973 (Washington D.C.) - Major role during Reagan's presidency (1981-1989) - Project 2025: policy goals for the transition of power to Trump in 2025 - Partisan control of all federal executive branches (Dep. of Justice, FBI etc.) - Abolishing the Department of Education, overcoming the common core - Tax cuts, support of oil industry, no funding for climate research - Removing protections against discrimination (sexual orientation/gender identity) - Fighting "radical gender identity ideology" and "maintain a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family" - Fighting right for abortion and contraception **Religion and politics** Spanish Colonies - Spanish and Catholic colonization - 1535 establishment of the vice-kingdom of New Spain (virreinato Nueva España) with Central America / Mexico / West/Southern US - 1513 landfall on „Florida" coast by Juan Ponce de Leon (1474-1521) - New engagement after the war against the Emirate of Muslim Granada 1492 - 1565 founding of San Augustin in Northern Florida by Menendez de Avilés: first permanent (colonial!) settlement in the US - 1738 attraction of Caribian Africans from British rule for freedom (legal slavery was prohibited under Catholic rule) - After British intermezzo (1763-1783) the Spanish Crown ruled again untill 1821; again a haven for runaway slaves - In 1821 incorporated to the US, foundation of great cotton farms and expansion of slavery, fight against the native tribes - California - 16th to 19th century: sparely populated, no economic interests, Jesuit and later Dominican & Franciscan mission; genocide of native Californians - 1821-1848 under Mexican rule - 1848 incorporated in the US (after the Mexican-American War) - Gold rush since 1848 lead population size from 8000 to 300.000 in 10 years  Spanish and French Colonies - Spanish & Catholic colonization - 1718 foundation of San Antonio in Texas - Catholic missions in 18th century lead to conversion of most natives tribes in Texas - 1821 part of the new republic of Mexico - 1845 part of the US (after Republic of Texas 1836-1845) - Untill 19th century only few colonial settlers due to resistence of the native Americans - 1682 exploration of the Mississippi river and foundation of Louisiana by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687) - Extension of slavery under French rule with strict racial regime (« Code Noir ») and Catholic education of natives and slaves - Louisiana is divided between Spain (West) and Britain (East) after the French-Indian War in 1763 - Louisiana is given to France (1800) and purchased by the US (1803) A map of the united states Description automatically generated A map of the united states Description automatically generated A map of the state of virginia Description automatically generated 1 % of African slaves in 1770 A map of the united states Description automatically generated 26 September 2024\ I. The Colonies (1) **COLONIAL UTOPIAS AND THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA** **European Visions of the New World -- framing the New World** - Thomas Morus (1478-1535): Utopia, 1516 - Thomaso Campanella (1568-1639): La città del Sole / Sonnenstaat, 1602 - Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654): Christianopolis, 1619 - Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Nova Atlantis, 1626 **History - Historical construction and the facts...** - History depends on the interests and perspectives of the historians and his social and cultural contexts: R. Kosselleck - Construction of history starts with a selection of perspectives - Serial, linear, one-dimensional, teleological (Thomas Haye) - The popular American perspective is the WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (E. Digby Baltzell, 1964) - Spanish & English colonial history is usually excluded or marginalized (as well as the Native & African-American perspective) **Virginia Colony - Jamestown and the Church of England** - 1607 Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement was founded in Virginia - Settlers focused on economics (not on religion) - Poor religious control and care in the 17th century - 1619 the Church of England was made the officially established and solely supported church in Virginia - Presbyterian Church: originally the Scottish and Irish form of Calvinism, established by John Knox (1505-1572) and others - Methodism: began with the evangelical awakening around 1730, John Wesley (1703-1791) - Baptists: reformed movement within Puritanism in 1639 in Rhode Island **PLYMOUTH, THE PILGRIM FATHERS AND PURITAN NEW ENGLAND**  **Plymouth Colony -- English Puritans** - Religious prosecution of all "dissenters under the reign of King Henry VIII. (1509-1547) Maria I. Tudor (Catherine of Aragon) (1553-1558) Elizabeth I. Tudor (1558-1603), James I (1603-1625) - 1593 Conventicle Act - Secret meetings of English Puritans/ separatists since the 1580s - Immigration to Holland: Amsterdam/Leiden - September 1620: 102 persons on board the Mayflower embarking for Virginia, 56 separatists among them - Landfall on Cape Cod in November 1620, establishing Plymouth Colony - *And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the seaman, of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be condemning the poor people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with grievious execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journeys end... But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with grievous disease, of which he died in a desparate manner, and so he was the first that was thrown overboard. Everyone noted it to be just hand of God upon him. Diary of William Bradford, 1620s* Mayflower Compact - *"Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of theChristian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyageto plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, doby these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence ofGod and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselvestogether into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering andpreservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and byvirtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just andequal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, fromtime to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient forthe general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all duesubmission and obedience."* - 1620, first governing document of [Plymouth Colony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony) **Proclamation of Thanksgiving, Continental Congress 1777** - *FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal* - *„It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executivePowers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, theeighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMNTHANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with oneVoice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings oftheir Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of theirDivine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincereAcknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitentConfession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeitedevery Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that itmay please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST,mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That itmay please him graciously to afford his Blessing on theGovernments of these States respectively, and prosper thepublic Council of the whole..."* Thanksgiving became the national day of mourning - Genocidal acts among Indigenous tribes - Two points of view on Thanksgiving - Topic that has been part of political debates = differences among the Americans Important now to construct an American identity **Plymouth Comemoration**  A large rock with numbers carved into it with Plymouth Rock in the background Description automatically generated  A person in a kitchen Description automatically generated  A group of people walking in a village with Plimoth Plantation in the background Description automatically generated 3 October 2024\ II. The Colonies (2) Puritan New England - *"A Company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ, we have taken out a commission. And we must not fail. God has promised to do certain things for us; in turn we have promised to do certain things for him. We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us." John Winthrop, Gouvernor Mass. Bay Colony (1588-1649)* - Puritans initially thought that they were part of the Church, but then realized they needed a new part for them - [Congregationalism], New England - Major American tradition of Puritanism (Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire) - Congregational authority in the church (not episcopal) - The members have to prove themselves worthy of being part of the community of the "saints" - "Lebensführung": Max Weber's work on Protestant ethics - Economics, money earned has to be reinvested = capitalism origin - The politics was dominated by religion - Over 400 congregations - Witch-hunt - Social and religious tensions - Fear of Satan - No religious toleration of other traditions in 17th century - Mutual understanding of clergy and magistrate, governor and people for their common obligations under the eye of God - Cotton Mather (1663-1728): Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1688) - Extraordinary behavior of a woman (Irish, Christian) who will be accused to be a witch a kelled - February 1692 -- May 1693 persecution of witches in Salem and greater New England with more than 40 people executed - No one was safe - More than 150 people were incarcerated - 1696-1969 realization that the Salem witch-hunt was not just and right (torture,...) **Rhode Island- Free exercise of religion** - 1639 establishment of the first Babtist Church in Providence, RI - 1643 founding of the Rhode Island Colony by Roger Williams (1603-1686) - Roger Williams decided to distance himself from the New England Congregation - No punishment of religious infractions by the civil authority - Freedom of opinion on religious matters, \"soul-liberty\", no baptism to children but baptism to adults - Prohibition of slavery in 1652 - Seen as a threat from New England (Congregationalists) - Heavenly City contrasted with the city of temptation - Pennsylvania - Played an important role, experiment **PENNSYLVANIA AND THE QUAKERS** **The Quakes - [Religious Society of Friends] = real name** - 1647 founded by George Fox (1624-1691) in England - Doctrine of the \"Christ within„, later the \"inner light\" - No authority or power by men, the scripture or sacraments - Only personal revelation = God can be found in everyone and everywhere, no mediation of God - Four Testimonies (instead of a creed) - Peace, Integrity, Simplicity and Equality - Peace = refusal of military expenses - Integrity = never lie = great economic status, trustworthy people - Simplicity = only necessary things for living, no luxury - Severe prosecution in England and (!) New England & Virginia (for the military one) **Pennsylvania - The „Holy Experiment"** - 1682 William Penn (1644-1718) received the charter to found Pennsylvania (as his personal property) - Friend of Fox - Frame of Government of Pennsylvania (1682) / Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges (1701) - Free and fair trial by jury, freedom of religion, free press, freedom from unjust imprisonment, limitation of the death penalty on murder and treason and free elections VS the State - 72-member Council to propose legislation, a General Assembly of 500 to approve it, and a governor with a veto and three votes on the Council - Use of amendments in the constitution - Pennsylvania attracted Huguenots, Mennonites, Amish, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and Quakers from all over Europe - Two outcomes - Mennonites (German&Swiss&Dutch Anabaptists) - The Dutch Catholic priest Menno Simons turned to the Anabaptists after recognizing that the Bible and the church fathers didn't know the children's baptism - Persecution in all Catholic and Protestant regions in Europe (except Northern Netherlands since 1579) - Burnings, stonings, live burials of more than 4000 till 1660 - Immigration to Pennsylvania since 1683 (Germantown) - Amish - Separation from Mennonites demanded by Jakob Amann (more consequentual Christian life, beards, shunning of non-believers, strict separation from the worldy society) - Immigration to Pennsylvania since 1708 from Germany - Further splitting in 19th century: Old Order Amish and several modernist fractions - Old Order Amish: rejection of modern technology, electricity, cars, phones as threat to the unity of the Christian family - However, ongoing assimilation process **Colonial America - The politico-religious heritage of the early colonies** - Spanish colonies and Virginia were not appropriate to serve as a model for the master narrative of origin - Democratic elements were established in Puritan New England and Pennsylvania (Mayflower Compact / Charter of Privileges) - New England and the Pilgrim Fathers as appropriate patriotic national myth of origin - This master narrative is sometimes contested by minorities 10 October 2024\ III. Native America **Native Americans and the US -- Three periods** - 1600s to the 1970s: colonization & forced assimilation - Since the 1960s: romantic mystification: paying fairly for the lands - Since the 1980s: general political resistance and emancipation **Monolithic image and actual diversity of Native American Cultures** - History and diversity - 3500 BCE Watson Brake (Louisiana): neolithic mounds of a hunter-gatherer society built for a period of 500 years (dated precisely only since 1997) - 1700-1100 BCE Poverty Point (Louisiana): trading/ritual side? - 800-1600 CE Mississippian culture - Trading network & routes of cities, villages, agricultural - Cahokia (Ill.) with up to 18000 inhabitants, abandoned ca. 1300 - After contact with Europeans some groups adopted horses and became nomadic, most died of measles and smallpox - Alternative pseudo-histories: Graham Hancock (Ancient Apocalypse 2022-24) - To sum it up - Different tribes had varying lifestyles, with some adapting horses for nomadic life and others settling into agricultural villages - The monolithic image of Native Americans fails to recognize the vast diversity of languages, beliefs, and traditions among tribes across the continent A map of the united states Description automatically generated **Quackers and Native Americans: William Penn 1682 - Penn and Native Americans** A painting of a person sitting in a circle Description automatically generated - Legend of the „Great Treaty" with the Lenni-Lenape - Paying fairly for the lands - Prohibition of selling alcohol - Trials with a jury from both groups **Puritan New England -- Wilderness** - As the place where the creatures of Satan dwelled - Obligation to transform it into a well ordered heavenly garden - Puritans feared the destructive influence of „indianization": becoming as immoral, pagan and barbarous **Puritan New England and Virginia - The Origin of the "Indians"** - José de Acosta: Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1588) - Descendants of Noah's son Ham and his son Kanaan (Anglican and Puritan theologians - Thomas Thorowgood: Jewes in America (1650) - 10-lost-tribes-theory - Obligation to christianize the Jews - By 1650s mission of the „Jews" failed - Natives are now considered as daemonic pagans - Brutality of the King Philipp's War 1675-1678 **Regulations** - 1763 Proclamation Act by the English Crown  - Since 1790 Indian Intercourse Acts - 1823 US Supreme Court: Johnson v. Mc'Intosh - "Discovery Doctrine" - 1830 Indian Removal Act (Pres. Andrew Jackson): trail of tears - Jackson as hero and role model for today's political right A map of the united states Description automatically generated - 1887 Dawes Act - More autonomy: Indian Reorganization Act (1934) & Indian Civil Rights Act (1968) **Civilizing the "Indians"** - George Washington's six-point plan - 1\. Impartial justice toward Native Americans - 2\. Regulated buying of Native American lands - 3\. Promotion of commerce - 4\. Promotion of experiments to civilize Native American society - 5\. Presidential authority to give presents - 6\. Punishing those who violated Native American rights - 1819 the Civilization Fund Act - Pres. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877): "Peace Policy\" - Religious agencies responsible the civilizing process - 1934 Indian Reorganisation Act - Forced assimilation by boarding schools / adoption of children till - 1944 National Congress of American Indians (resisting assimilation) **Richard Henry Pratt (Founder of the Carlisle Boarding School), 1892** - A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man\.... - It is a great mistake to think that the Indian is born an inevitable savage. He is born a blank, like all the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of savagery, he grows to possess a savage language, superstition, and life. We, left in the surroundings of civilization, grow to possess a civilized language, life, and purpose. Transfer the infant white to the savage surroundings, he will grow to possess a savage language, superstition, and habit. Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit **Native American Religious Revivals** - Wovoka (1856-1932): The Ghost Dance - 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre - 1973 Wounded Knee Incident / Academy Awards - Quanah Parker (\~1840-1911): Peyote Religion - They believe in a supreme God - 1944 Native American Church - Established nationwide - Central role - Today: 250.000 adherents in more than 50 tribes - 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act - 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act - 2016/17 failed Standing Rock Pipeline Protests (involvement of Credit Suisse) - Began in 2014 - They went there to pray **Today's situation of Native Americans** - Assimilation through resettlement from reservations to cities - Forced, many lost their traditions and cultural roots - 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act - 2024 ca. 6,7 mill. Native Americans (20% in reservation) - Challenges: poverty, low education, drugs, crimes, corruption, climate change, housing, healthcare, employment, fracking - Some improvements but not completely - 1992: establishment of the Indigenous Peoples\' Day = Columbus Day - 2021 recognized as a national holiday (2nd Monday in October) - Claims for repatriation of human remains, objects of museum's - Protests against using Natives as mascots in sports (like the Kansas Chiefs) - 2021 Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) as US Secretary of the Interior **Hopi Prophecies** - Religion revival as a reaction to the dominating culture - Tribe mainly in Arizona with 7000 people - Complex ritual system with initiation communities and myths - 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre - They had to contrast conquerors (Spanish) - Hopi prophecies developed mainly in the 20th century - After WW2 = more complete - Act by their heart (others think and act with reason) - Koyaanisqatsi movie (1982) by Godfrey Reggio - Since 1990 it has become normal to hire a shaman **Religion=** Way to create assimilation or dissimilation identity 17 October 2024\ IV. Church and State **Religion and the Founding of the United States** - American Revolution - Thomas Paine (1737-1809): Common Sense (1776) - Ideal of an independent American Republic - Claim for a Magna Carta for America: „freedom and property for all men, and free exercise of religion" - *We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...* - Declaration of Independence, 4th July 1776 - No further decision on the relationship between religion and state - Visible Quaker influence - The battle on religion in Virginia - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), legislator / governor: - Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1777) - Patrick Henry (1736-1799), governor: - Bill Establishing a Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion(1776...) - James Madison (1751-1836), legislator: - Memorial and Remonstrance (1785) - 1786 approval of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), legislator / governour: Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1777) - *Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations...* *We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.* - The battle on religion in Virginia - James Madison (1751-1836), legislator: Memorial and Remonstrance (1785) - *Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, "that Religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence." \[Article XVI of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776\]. The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men...* - US Constitution - Article 6 of the Constitution (1788) - *The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.*  - US Constitution & Voting rights - First Amendment (1791) of the 10 first amendments (Bill of Rights) - Known as the „establishment clause" & „free exercise clause" - *Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.* - Until the Civil War (1861-65) up to 90% of the population were denied votingrights: all minors, women, slaves and their descendents, native Americans, and 75% of all white males because of the property qualifications - Catholics, Quakers, Jews, Atheists, non-Christian Asian minorities wereexcluded from voting rights - 15th amendment of the US constitution (1870): no exclusion because of"race, color, presious condition of servitude" - Continuation of religious/moral Disenfranchisement  - State laws establish the electoral qualifications - Losing right to vote, serve on a jury, hold public office having committed a felony - Varies from 0% in Maine/Vermont, to 0.15% in MA to more than 8% in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee  - Reasons for being disenfranchised (2022) - Continuation of religious/moral Disenfranchisement - In 2022 4.4 million or 2% of adult Americans (compared to 6.7 in 2018 / ) have currently or permanently lost the ability to vote because of a felony conviction - 50% disenfranchised for a felony conviction are ex-offenders - 50% of the disenfranchised are on probation or parole - In 2022 4.4 million or 2% of adult Americans (compared to 6.7 in 2018) have currently or permanently lost the ability to vote because of a felony conviction - More than 15% of the African American adult population are disenfranchised in Tennessee and Mississippi (2022) - In nine further states a least 5% are disenfranchised - Fourth amendment added, rights restored for everyone - In Florida this situation is different (2019 = felons must pay everything back and this gives them the right to vote) **The Founding of the United States** - *We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.* - Switzerland: *Im Namen Gottes des Allmächtigen! Au nom de Dieu Tout-Puissant!* - Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) - *On Revolution* (1962) - Revolutionary spirit: demand to liberate men and to found a new constitution and political frame to save this liberty - Demand for political liberties, not a revolt due to hunger or extreme hardship of the economic life (unlike France / Russia) - Novus Ordo Saeclorum: new world order created actively by the people - Ideal of an independend American Republic - The people had the power (Macht) to give authority (Autorität) to the constitution - „Der freiheitliche, säkulare Staat lebt von Voraussetzungen, die er selbst nicht garantieren kann." "The liberal, secular state depends on conditions that it cannot guarantee itself." E.-W. Böckenförde - Böckenförde-Diktum - Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (1930-2019) - Secularisation as the pre-condition to found the modern state - Is obliged to religious and moral neutrality - But how the values -- foremost liberty - on which the state is founded can be preserved? - Joseph Ratzinger / Benedikt XVI. (1927-2022) - Religion to purify rationalism - Jürgen Habermas (\*1929) - The secular state should respect, acknowledge and integrate the significance of normative attitudes of religious communities in order to reinforce its own democratic legitimation - US Constitution - Dialectics of religion and politics is made possible 24 October 2024\ VI. African American Emancipation **First Amendment to the lecture: significant US presidents** - George Washington (1789-97), general in the independence war - John Adams (1797-1801), co-author of the decl. of ind. / constitution - Thomas Jefferson (1801-09), co-author of the decl. of ind. / constitution - 6\. John Quincy Adams (1825-29), Unitarian & abolitionist - 7\. Andrew Jackson (1829-37), populist, Indian Removal Act 1830 - 16\. Abraham Lincoln (1861-65), civil war, end of slavery - 26\. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), progressive social policies - 28\. Woodrow Wilson (1913-24), League of Nations, women's suffrage, racist - 32\. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45), progressive New Deal, WWII - 34\. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61), conservative, end of edu. Segregation - 36\. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69), Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965 **Abolition / Anti-Slavery-Movement** A poster of a black and white poster Description automatically generated with medium confidence - Slavery before the Civil War - Slavery made illegal in some Northern States, and banned in the Northwest Territory (NW Ordinance Act 1787) - „Underground Railroad" from slave states to NW-Territory & Canada - 1793 Fugitive Slave Act - Slaves treated as property even in free states (slave catching) - 1850 officials of free states have to support slave catchers - Abolitionism & Religion - 1775 Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (mainly Quakers) - 1833 American Anti-Slavery Society - Presbyterian minister Elijah P. Lovejoy (1802-1837) - Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), critical of religions supporting slavery - Slavery advocated by religious congregations - Dutch Reformed Minister, Samuel B. How (1790-1868): slavery as god's worldy order - Roman Catholic Bishop John England (1786-1842): idea of voluntary slavery - African Americans as the cursed children of Ham (Noah's son): - Followed until 20th century e.g. by Jehova's Witnesses / Mormons - Major shisms due to the question of slavery in the Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches around 1850 - Scientific racism, Constructing and "civilizing" the "slaves' race" - 1840 census debate: liberty is dangerous for African Americans' mental health - Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859) - Francis Galton: Hereditary Genius (1869) - Foundation of eugenics: mental abilities were also inherited biologically - Debate on monogenism & polygenism: the question of one or many origins of the « human race » - Based on brain comparism - James Hunt: On the Negro's Place in Nature (1865) - Legitimizing slavery as a natural condition - References to racist (and misogynist) stereotypes in today's depiction of Harris by Trump: as "stupid", "low IQ", "she is born that way", "there is something missing with her", "stupid people like Kamala", doubting her racial identity, othering by mispronouncing her name - Civil War (1861-1865) and Aftermath - 1862, Abraham Lincoln\'s Emancipation Proclamation: ending slavery - 13th Amendment - Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. - 14th Amendment - All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. - 15th Amendment - The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. **Civil Right Movement** - Opposition to African American Emancipation - Limitation of Voting Rights (literacy tests, poll tax, grandfather clause) - Outruled not earlier than in the 1965 Voting Rights Act (L.B. Johnson) - Jim Crow Laws "equal but separate" - Strict segregation in public space - Outruled in the 1964 Civil rights Act - Mainline churches in support of segregation policy - Extremist Christian Opposition to African American Emancipation - 1866 Ku Klux Klan - Frighten African Americans in the aftermath of Civil War - Revived in 1915: white terror to frighten and harm African Americans, Jews and Catholics, several murders, bombing of Baptist Church in Birmingham 1963 - With an estimated 3-6 million members - Decline in the 1970s - Christian Identity Movement - Anglo/Israelism: white race as the 10 lost tribes - To spread hate on African Americans & Jews - Aryan Nations - Church of Jesus Christ Christian - Civil Rights Movement & Religion - 1955/56 Montgomery bus boycott (Rosa Parks & ML King) - Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) - 1964 Nobel Price of Peace - April 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail - August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom - 1957 Southern Christian Leadership Conference - *We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense.* Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail 1963 - Civil Rights Movement & Religion - Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) - August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom - References: Bell of Churches as well as Liberty Bell in Philadelphia - Liberty Bell as Symbol of American Independence & Abolition Societies - Formally driven by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1909 (founded by W.E.B. Du Bois a.o.) - Today's Civil Rights Movement & Religion - Fight for voting rights: disenfranchisement policy - Black Lives Matter - Protests against police violence after Shooting of Michael Brown (Ferguson 2014), 2020 George Floyd (Minneapolis) & Breonna Taylor (Louisville) a.o. - Anthem protests initiated by Colin Kaepernick in 2016-2020 - Reference on the power salutes by Tommie Smith & John Carlos 1968 (Mexico City) - Protest against the White Supremecy movements - Charlottesville Unite the Right August 2017 and Trump's „non-reaction" - Trump dining with NickFuentes (white supremacist, holocaust denier) - Ambivalent reception of the BLM among Christian churches - Since 2011 again rise of attacks on black Churches - Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston (with 9 people being shot) - 2023 US Supreme Court rules the end of „race" as a factor in affirmative action 31 October 2024\ VI. Women's Emancipation **Women's Suffrage** - - 1893 Lichtenstein - 1918 USA - 1920 Switzerland - 1926 New Zealand - 1928 Iran - 1944 France - 1963 Turkey - 1971Afghanistan - 1984 Germany - 1990 Appenyell Innerrhoden - 1919 United Kingdom **\ ** **The Great Chain of Being and the Natural Order** - Michel Foucault (1966): The Order of Things (Les mots et les choses) - Shows how order in the world is established - Order means power because order (usually) establishes hierarchies - There is no « natural order » as such - All orders, categories and hierarchies that humans communicate are socially constructed - Categories of animals according to a Chinese antique encyclopedia: - 1\) animals that belong to the emperor 2) embalmed animals 3) tamed animals 4) milk giving porks 5) sirens 6) fabulous creatures 7) straying dogs... 10) animals painted with a very fine camel hair brush... 12) animals that broke a vase 13) animals which appear from a long distance to be flies - Aristotle (384-322 BCE) establishing the art of definitions: - Distinct, consistent, without overlaps - Based on the very « nature » of a thing (εἶδος / eidos / « das Wesen ») - The order is determined by the grade of perfection - For Plato / Aristotle: the mind (the idea) is the highest form of perfection - In Christianity it is God and the etherical angels as highest form of perfection - Both ideals are opposed to brute matter and their carnal desire - Reflecting the stable order of a feudal society - You are what you are born (for all your life) **Where do we come from?** - Genesis 2, 20-23 20 - The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is r bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." - Also: patriarchical image of OT - Women's silence in the church (NT) - Today's antifeminism: Wretched **Women's suffrage**  **The Natural Order** - *One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman* / "On ne nait pas femme on le devient" Simone de Beauvoir Le deuxième sexe (1949) - The „nature" of women - Defined by the Bible and the teachings of theologians - Foremost: to give birth - Weak and unstable in their sentiment - Moved by emotions and sudden sexual desire - Closer to « the flesh » / matter and easier to be seduced (by demons: MA) - In contrast to the rational and disciplined male - Scientific legitimation from 18th to 20th century (e.g. Iwan Bloch) - Women's minds are not as developed as the males' because in the greatest part of their lives they lose so much blood due to their menstruation - Women's brains are smaller than men's - Therefore: - Women's determination is to give birth to and raise children - They are not endowed with capabilities to serve in public / politics - Björks summary **First wave of feminism: women's rights** - It was to give him a companion, in all respects his equal; one who was like himself a free agent, gifted with intellect and endowed with immortality; not a partaker merely of his animal gratifications, but able to enter into all his feelings as a moral and responsible being. If this had not been the case, how could she have been a help meet for him? I understand this as applying not only to the parties entering into the marriage contract, but to all men and women, because I believe God designed woman to be a help meet for man in every good and perfect work.... Sarah Grimké, 1837 - Religion & Women's Rights - Religious communities as the most important public space accessable for women - 2nd Great Awakening (1790-1840): women as a moral / ethical power in society - 1853 first woman ordained as a minister in Congregationalism - Sarah Grimké (1792-1873) & Angelina Grimké Weld (1805-1879) - Abolitionists & women's rights activists with Quaker background - Angelina Grimké Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836) - Sarah Grimké The Original Equality of Woman (1837) - The position of a married woman \... is, in many respects, precisely similar to that of the negro slave. She can make no contract and hold no property; whatever she inherits or earns becomes at that moment the property of her husband. \... Though he acquired a fortune through her, or though she earn a fortune through her talents, he is the sole master of it, and she cannot draw a penny. \... \[I\]n the English common law a married woman is nothing at all. She passes out of legal existence. Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1869 - „26 And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female image, created he them." Women's Bible, Genesis 1:26,27 - Religion & Women's Rights - Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) & Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) - Temperance movement & anti-slavery activists - 1848 women\'s rights convention in Seneca Falls (NY): Declaration of Sentiments - 1869 Women's Suffrage Organisation: The Revolution (since 1868) - 1895 Stanton's The Woman's Bible - 1920: 19th Amendment Women's Suffrage - We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. - Mirroring the Declaration of Independence **Women's Rights** - Legal fights for women's rights - 1920: 19th Amendment Women's Suffrage - Struggle for legal emancipation (after Voting Rights / Civil Rights Act 1964/65) - 300 cases by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - Important role of Ruth Bader Ginsberg as lawyer & founder of the ACLU's women's rights project (Supreme Court Justice (1993-2020) - 1973 case of Frontiero vs. Richardson (Lt. Sharron Richardson asked for medical benefis for her husband as a „dependent") - Married Woman's Property Acts established in individual states from 1839-1900 - Only since 1974 women could open a bank account, get a credit card (Equal Credit Opportunity Act) without agreement of her parents or husband - (Contract rights 1977 in Germany, 1988 in Switzerland, 1996 Liechtenstein) **Women in US-Christianity: Perspectives** - Religion & Women's Rights - Ordination of women in most mainstream churches (Episcopal 1989 / 2010 -- Presbytarian 1893 -- Methodist 1880 -- Lutherans 1970 -- Quakers 17th cent.) - Revival of the „natural role" of women in evangelical and pentacostal Christianity since the 1970s - Rejection of the same-sex-marriage debate (as a threat to traditional roles) - Strong rejection of feminism and „genderism" - Consequences for education and professional careers - Propagated by magazines, TV/VSW, guidebooks **Religious Influence in American Politics** - After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." 18th Amendment - Prohibition - Ban of strong liqueurs in early New England - 1789 first Temperance Association in Connecticut (more and more strict) - Second Great Awakening 1790 -- 1840 - 1826 American Temperance Society - 1893 Anti-Saloon League - 1869 National Prohibition Party - 1851 First State Prohibition in Maine - 1880 Woman\'s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU): Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in schools and colleges - 1918: Prohibition as the 18th amendment to the US Constitution - 1933: Repeal of the 18th amendment by the 21st amendment - Today: prohibition in some US counties   7 November 2024\ VII. Civil Religion **First amendment to the lecture: significant US presidents** - 34\. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61), R, conservative, end of edu. Segregation - 35\. John F. Kennedy (1961-63), D, progressive social agenda, Vietnam War, first Catholic president - 36\. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69), D, Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965 - 37\. Richard Nixon (1969-74), R, Vietnam War, peace talks with China, Watergate - 39\. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), D, large Evangelical support - 40\. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), R, armament policy, anti-communist agenda - 41\. George Bush (1989-93), R, conservative, invasions in Irak / Panama - 42\. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), D, progressive social agenda, Kyoto protocol - 43\. George W. Bush (2001-09), R, 9/11, wars in Afghanistan/Irak, strong Evangelical support - 44\. Barack Obama (2009-2017), D, ACA, Iran nuclear agreement - 45\. / 47. Donald Trump (2017-21), R, large Evangelical support - 46\. Joe Biden (1921-2025), D **Civil Religion in America** « Il y a donc une profession de foi purement civile dont il appartient au souverain de fixer les articles, non pas précisément comme dogmes de religion, mais comme sentiments de sociabilité sans lesquels il est impossible d'être bon citoyen ni sujet fidèle. Sans pouvoir obliger personne à les croire, il peut bannir de l'État quiconque ne les croit pas ; il peut le bannir, non comme impie, mais comme insociable, comme incapable d'aimer sincèrement les lois. la justice, et d'immoler au besoin sa vie à son devoir. Que si quelqu'un, après avoir reconnu publiquement ces mêmes dogmes, se conduit comme ne les croyant pas, qu'il soit puni de mort ; il a commis le plus grand des crimes, il a menti devant les lois. » « Les dogmes de la religion civile doivent être simples, en petit nombre, énoncés avec précision, sans explications ni commentaires. L'existence de là Divinité puissante, intelligente, bienfaisante, prévoyante et pourvoyante, la vie à venir, le bonheur des justes, le châtiment des méchants, la sainteté du contrat social et des lois : voilà les dogmes positifs. Quant aux dogmes négatifs, je les borne à un seul, c'est l'intolérance : elle rentre dans les cultes que nous avons exclus. » - Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) - Du contrat social ou Principe du droit politique (1762) - Civil religion as common belief in the society, a punishing god and tolerance « Une religion est un système solidaire de croyances et de Pratiques relatives à des choses sacrées, c\'est-à-dire séparées, interdites, croyances et pratiques qui unissent en une même communauté morale, appelée Église, tous ceux qui y adhèrent. » - Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) - Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse (1912) - Religion as a solidary system of belief and practise of a moral coummunity / church (= society) - Robert N. Bellah (1927-2013) - Civil Religion in America (1966) - Based on an analysis of J.F. Kennedy's inaugural speech (1961) - As expression of deep-seated values and commitments that are not made explicit in the course of everyday life - As a set of beliefs, symbols, and rituals that a pan-denominational: „neither sectarian nor in any specific sense Christian" - Criticism - civil religion does not exist at all, is a mere theoretical concept - Concept is rather fuzzy - Compatibility with other cultural / historical contexts - Civil religion or a common Christian belief? **Plymouth Commemoration**  A painting of a group of people Description automatically generated  - Plantation, new world,... **The Founding Fathers - George Washington (1732-1799)** - Hailed as pater patriae (1778) - Naming of the federal capital Washington D.C. (1791) - Washington ascending to heaven, victory (horn) A ceiling with a painting on it Description automatically generated  **Presidential Memorial** - George Washington (1732-1799) - Hailed as pater patriae (1778) - Naming of the federal capital Washington D.C. (1791) - The Apotheosis of Washington, Constantino Brumidi, dome of the United States Capitol Building - 1885 Washington Monument - 1976 appointed General of the Armies of the United States - Lincoln Memorial - Post-war cult on Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) - Symbol of unity of the nation / victiory after civil war (1861- 1865) - Finished in 1922 - Reference to the antique temple of Zeus in Olympia - George Washington (1732-1799) - 1941 Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln - Crazy Horse Memorial (since 1940s) **Civil Religion** "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us---that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion---that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain---that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom---and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Gettysburg Address - Sacred Texts / Mottos - Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln (Nov 19, 1863) - Rebirth of a nation - Reference of „one nation under God" in the pledge of allegiance since 1954 (Eisenhower) - Replacing the motto e pluribus unum by in God we trust in 1956 as the official motto of the United States (Eisenhower), so on coins (since 1865) - In June 2019 a case of an atheist group to remove the motto was rejected O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war\'s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav\'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: \'In God is our trust.\' And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O\'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! A Star Spangled Banner God Bless America,\ Land that I love.\ Stand beside her, and guide her\ Thru the night with a light from above.\ From the mountains, to the prairies,\ To the oceans, white with foam\ God bless America, My home sweet home.\ God Bless America - A Star Spangled Banner (1814) by Francis Scott Key as official national anthem since 1931 (but with challenging lyrics) - Recently often replaced by God Bless America (Irving Berlin, 1938) **Civil Rights Movement** - Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) - August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom - Speech with double reference to the Liberty Bell (secular & religious) - Election and inauguration - Election day as Tuesday following the first Monday in November (since 1845, not interfering with Sunday) - The oath at inauguration with hand on a Bible introduced by G. Washington - The Bible in Custody of the Freemason's Lodge St. John - Reused by Eisenhower, Carter, G.H.W Bush - Others with Lincoln's Bible (Obama, Trump) - Some with two Bibles: Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Obama (M.L.King & Lincoln), Trump (Lincoln, by his mother) - After inauguration: talk & counsel with Evangelist preacher Billy Graham (1918-2018), from Truman (33rd) to Obama (44th) **Religion in America** - Challenging the Civil Religion Concept - More a Christian-Jewish God than a pan-religious idea - Rajan Zed, Hindu prayer in the Senate, July 2007 - Civil religion as a certain political ideal - Object of different social interpretations and controversy - Identifying attempts of determining civil religion as Christian by a hermeneutic approach 21 November 2024\ VIII. The American Perception of Islam **American Perception of Islam** - Islam in the United States - First Muslims brought as slaves to America since the 16th century - Small numbers of Muslim immigrants from Balkan and Arab countries till 1965 - Large numbers of immigrants from Syria, India, Albania, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran since 1965 and conversions of Afro-Americans - An estimated 3.45 Million (0.9%) Muslims today (Pew Forum 2017) - With about 23% of US Muslims being converts - First Muslim Rep. in US Congress in 2006 A map of the united states Description automatically generated A graph with a number of columns Description automatically generated with medium confidence - Nation of Islam - Founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad (1877-1934???) - First Muslims brought as slaves to America since the 16th century - Founding of the Temple of Islam in Detroit 1930 - Established the Fruit of Islam - Elijah Muhammad leading the NOI from 1934-75 - The Supreme Wisdom, 1934 - Message to the Blackman in America, 1965 - Wallace Fard Muhammad deified as Messiah of the Jews and Christians, and Mahdi of the Muslims, as personification of God - Afro-Americans as the chosen and original people of the world - Origins of the teachings partly in the Moorish Science Temple of America & Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929) - *The Blackman is the Original Man. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people. By using a special method of birth-control law, the Blackman was able to produce the white race. This method of birth control was developed by a Black scientist known as Yakub, who envisioned making and teaching a nation of people who would be diametrically opposed to the Original People. A Race of people who would one day rule the original people and the earth for a period of 6,000 years. Yakub promised his followers that he would graft a nation from his own people, and he would teach them how to rule his people through a system of tricks and lies whereby they use deceit to divide and conquer, and break the unity of the darker people, put one brother against another, and then act as mediators and rule both sides. Elijah M* - 12 Fundamental Beliefs of the Nation of Islam (Message to Blackman...) - 1\. We believe in the One God whose proper Name is Allah - 2\. We believe in the Holy Qur\'an and in the Scriptures of all the Prophets of God - 3\. We believe in the truth of the Bible, but we believe that it has been tampered with and must be reinterpreted so that humankind will not be snared by the falsehoods that have been added to it - 6\. We believe in the judgment; we believe this first judgment will take place as God revealed, in America - 7\. We believe this is the time in history for the separation of the so-called Negroes and the so-called white Americans. We believe the Blackman should be freed in name as well as in fact. By this we mean that he should be freed from the names imposed upon him by his former slave masters. Names that identified him as being the slave master\'s slave. We believe that if we are free indeed, we should go in our own people\'s names---the black people of the Earth - 12\. We believe that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the Muslims - Nation of Islam - Goal of separation and establishment of a Afro-American nation according to Elijah Muhammad - Growth of the movement in the 1950s/1960s - Malcolm X (1925-65) as minister of the NOI till 1963 - Advocated the concept of self-defense - Conversion to sunni Islam in 1965 - Splitting of the movement after Elijah Muhammad death in 1975 - Re-established by Louis Farrakhan (\*1933) - 1995 One Million Men March to Washington with pledge - General perception of the NOI as a radical, political Afro-American movement - Through many anti-semitic statements by Louis Farrakhan - The Iranian Revolution - 1978 end of the autocratic regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlawi (1919-1980) - Decades of support for the regime by the US government - Growing tensions when the Shah fled to the USA - Iranian hostage crisis till 1981 - Establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayathollah Khomeini ( 1979 - Popular reception of the new Iran in Not without my daughter by Betty Mahmoody (1988) - First Gulf War 1980-1988: US support with Irak (Saddam Hussein) against Iran - Use of chemical weapons in Irak itself (against Kurds/Shiits) and in battle - 1988 USS Vincennes shooting down a civilian Iranian airliner - Second Gulf War 1990-1991: US alliance with Wahabit Saudi Arabia against Irak - Third Gulf War March-May 2003: conquest of Irak by the US („Coalition of the Willing") - After Saddam Hussein had been portrayed as an ally of Alkaida - Afghanistan: US support of the Mujahideen in their war against the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops from 1979-1989 - The attacks of 9/11 - Death of 1998 people in the attacks of September 11 2001 in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania by Al Quaeda network led by Osama bin Laden - Condemnation of the attacks by all major American Muslim organizations and Muslim authorities abroad - Definition of the attack as a religious war (jihad) by the World Islamic Front - Rejection of the religious connotations by Western leaders - Fatal "crusade interview" by George W. Bush - Guantanamo & drone war cause major tensions with Muslim countries - Boston Marathon Attack (2013) with three persons killed / hundreds injured, on a gay club in Orlando with 49 killed (2016) and Lower Manhatten Attack (10/2017) with 8 persons killed fueled the islamophobia in the US - War and occupation of Afghanistan from Oct 2001- Aug 2021 [Islamophobia in Presidential elections] - 2008 presidential elections - John McCain R (1936-2018) and Barack Obama D (\*1961), both without strong ties to religious communities - Start of the birther movement during the presidential campaign 2008 - Questioning Obama's religious belief in Christianity and his US citizenship - Continuing and including also Hillary Clinton portrayed as a Muslim or Satanist, especially in the 2016 campaigns of Donald Trump - 2024 presidential elections - Major shifts: Muslims alienated by Democratic Party because of the inactivity of the US Government in the Gaza and Lebanon War with its more than 45000 and 3000 casulties, respectively **Poll MSNBC 8/2015** **Religion: Campaign of 2016**  **Presidential Election of 2016**  **Post election poll Jan 2016 Poll of June/July**  28 November 2024\ IX. The New Christian Right, LGBTQ rights / Nudity **Holy War by Alici Keys (2016)** If war is holy and sex is obscene\ We've got it twisted in this lucid dream\ Baptized in boundaries, schooled in sin\ Divided by difference, sexuality and skin\ Oh, so we can hate each other and fear each other\ We can build these walls between each other\ Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick\ Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked in\ Yeah, we can hate each other and fear each other\ We can build these walls between each other\ Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick\ Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked\ Oh, maybe we should love somebody\ Oh, maybe we could care a little more\ So maybe we should love somebody\ Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war\ What if sex was holy and war was obscene\ And it wasn't twisted, what a wonderful dream\ Living for... **Issues of Evangelicals becoming political** - Teaching of evolution in public school - Abolishment of prayer in school - Pornography / obscenity in public / media - Gay / LGTB rights - Abortion **Religion in Presidential Elections**  - John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) - End of Eisenhower-era as the end of direct conservative Protestant influence on the government - In 1960 Kennedy was only the second Catholic candidate in presidential elections - Catholics being socially stronger and widely accepted - Kennedy met the question head-on - Stressing elements of civil religion rather than Catholicism - Presidency of Kennedy (1961-63) & Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69) - Modernization of the country - Support of the sciences - Strict separation of church and state - Johnson's vision of the Great Society (Medicare, Medicaid, war on poverty, aid on education) - Also: increasing involvement in the Vietnam War (draft / 500.000 troups in Vietnam) - Presidency of Richard Nixon (1913-1994), 1969-1974 - Support by the silent majority that opposed the liberal counterculture - Televangelist Billy Graham (\*1918-2016) as close friend and ally - Nixon (Quaker) present at Graham's crusades - Landslide victory in the 1972 presidential elections - Watergate destroyed the moral integrity, authority and legitimation of the presidential office - Nixon resigned in August 1974 - President Gerald Ford (1974-1976) failed restore the moral integrity of the office by giving Nixon a full, free and absolute pardon for all offenses he might have committed - Presidency of Jimmy Carter (\*1924), 1977-81 - Explicit religious commitment: evangelical born-again-Christian - Mobilization and encouragement of evangelical / fundamentalist voters to join politics actively - Identification of evangelicals as a voting bloc - 1978 foundation of the Christian Voice with 37.000 pastors - 1979 foundation of the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell - Lobbying congress, mostly focused on Republicans - Aggressive voter registration - Promoting conservative values (opposing abortion, gay rights...) - Support of Ronald Reagan (1981-89) in 1980/1984: Christians for Reagan - „take-over" of the New Christian Right by the Republican Party - 1989 foundation of the Christian Coalition by televangelist Pat Robertson - Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), 1981-89 - As governor of California explicit anti-counter-culter policy ("silent majority") - Pro-life agenda - Supported in 1980 and 1984 by the Moral Majority and Christian Voice - Introducing religious rhetorics into politics („evil empire speech" 1983) - Cold war as a religious war: Christianity against atheism - Reagan era as a playbook for Trump's campaigns 2016/20 - George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018), 1989-1993 - No major role of religion in the 1988 presidential elections - End of cold war - Stronger sense of a separation of church and state by G.H.W. Bush - Presidency of William J. Clinton (\*1946), 1993-2001 - Active in Baptist congregations - Systematic network of relations to mainstream Protestant churches and the Catholic church - Religious Freedom Restauration Act, 1993 - Defense of Marriage Act, 1996 - 1998 Lewinsky-scandal and (failed) impeachment process - Loss of moral integrity of the office (but not of popular approval ratings) - "moral" effect on the 2000 presidential elections - Presidency of George Walker Bush (\*1946), 2001-2009 - 2000 presidential campaign with stressing moral aspects of presidential leadership - Aggressive controversy with John McCain in the primaries - Enormous support by evangelicals and conservative Christians - Considering himself as an evangelical "born-again" Methodist - 2001: establishment of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives - Financial support of faith based communities - Matter of an ongoing public and juridical ignificant - 9/11/2001 interpreted as God's punishment for immoral and secular America by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell - Religious role of the president seen by evangelicals / pentacostals: for the restoration of Christian moral (family) values - Dominating evangelical theodicee (9/11 as Sodom and Gomorrah...) **Gay rights** - Sodomy laws (prohibiting homosexual sexual acts) in 14 states when in 2003 the Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional - 1998 murder of Matthew Shephard (1976-1998) because of his homosexual orientation - Agitation of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps) - Matthew Shephard Act - Expanding hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability - Passed the House and the Senate in 2007, vetoed by President Bush - Accepted by President Obama in 2009i - Ongoing violence against gays & transgender - 2016 Orlando night club with 49 people dead **LGBTQ rights & same sex marriage** - Conservative religious criticism on homosexuality as sodomy (Old Testament) - No compromise possible for evangelicals - AIDS as punishment for Sodom-like life-style - 1996 Defense of Marriage Act by the US Congress - Forbade the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions and permitted states to decide for themselves whether to recognize same-sex unions performed in other states - By then, 15 states offering civil unions / domestic partnership for same sex couples - 14 states ban legal recognition of same sex marriages / civil unions - In 2012 Maine, Maryland and Washington introduced same sex marriage by popular vote - In 2013 the Supreme Court decision United States vs. Windsor ignifica the Defense of Marriage Act - In 2015 the Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges ignifica the states' ban of same sex marriages recognizing those couples have the same rights to marry - 2017 ban of transgender people in the US Army introduced by president Trump, uphold by the US Supreme Court in Jan 2019 / no restrictions since 2021 - In 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission the US Supreme Court made an exemption from discrimination for religious beliefs - In June 2021 Supreme Court allowed a Catholic Social Service to refuse to serve with same-sex households **Nudity** - Ban of nudity in public space, popular magazines, advertisement - 2002 Attorny General John Ashcroft covering the Spirit of Justice - 2004 flashing of Janet Jackson's right breast in a Superbowl Show - More than 500.000 complaints - Response of the media: video delay for all live broadcasting - Conflict of family values (ban of nudity) with public breastfeeding - 2006 conflict with Delta Airlines, public nurseprotests (La Leche League / World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) - In European cultural history - Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) - Praising the ideal nudity of Greek Art, highest expression of beautiness - Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) - Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes (1755) - Nudity and « man of wilderness » (Hottentot) as the ideal human who is pure and true without any disguise (in contrast to the aristocratic court) - Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - Die nackte Wahrheit (plein / « nude » truth) as condition for all reasonable communication - No significant alternative connotation to the moral / religious discourse in American culture - Reformed iconoclasm and devaluation of the human body - Nudity linked to the „heathens of the wilderness" **Motion Picture Production Code / Hays Code** A wooden blocks with letters and a heart Description automatically generated - Strict ignifican of sexuality/nudity till the late 1950s - Parallel to the Hollywood Production Code / Hays Code since 1927 - 1969 Supreme Court decision on Stanley vs. Georgia - First amendment protects the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth - 1970 Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography - No evidence that exposure to explicit sexual materials played a significant role in the causation of delinquent or criminal behavior - Rejection of the report by President Nixon - 1973 Supreme Court decision Miller vs. California - Introducing the „Miller Test": a work is obscene whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest ν the work depicts/describes, in a offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law ν the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value **Obscenity and Pornography** - "Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime" Project 2025, Heritage Foundation - „community standards" (not national standards) define whether a work is obscene - ignifican agitation of anti-pornography groups (since Moral Majority) - In 2005 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared fight against pornography as one of his most important goals - Heritage Foundation in its „Project 2025" promised to make the production and distribution of pornography illegal (including the depiction of sexuality in books) **Nudity & Social Media Policies** - Facebook, foundation 2004-2006 (owning Instagram since 2012) - Ban of all sorts of nudity since the beginning - Nudity with a sexual implication is censored (female breasts) - Challenged by artists, health care, ignifica activists (Femen), breastfeeding, bras - Continuity of censoring contents or deleting accounts for these violations - Establishment of a global moral standard in regard of display of nudity - While broad tolerance for hate speech & violence - Equation of nudity with sexuality - Focused on the female body - The least ignificantl standard for business in Asia & Muslim countries - FB ban of antique art ads by Geneva Art Museum 2019 - "We restrict the display of nudity or sexual activity because some people in our community may be sensitive to this type of content. Additionally, we default to removing sexual imagery to prevent the sharing of nonconsensual or underage content. Restrictions on the display of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless it is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes. Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time. We understand that nudity can be shared for a variety of reasons, including as a form of protest, to raise awareness about a cause, or for educational or medical reasons. Where such intent is clear, we make allowances for the content. For example, while we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breast-feeding, and photos of post-mastectomy scarring..." - \#WeTheNipple protests in front of the FB central in NYC, June 2019, by National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) along with Spencer Tunick A group of naked women holding pink plates Description automatically generated 5 December 2024\ X. Religion and Education **Evangelicals** - Issues of Evangelicals becoming political - Teaching of evolution in public school - Abolishment of prayer in school - Pornography / obscenity in public / media - LGTBQ rights - Abortion **The Crusade against Evolution** - In late 19^th^ century evolution theory replaced the idea of special creation in public education - New high-school textbooks for biology at the turn of the century usually excluded the origin of man and the paleontologic record of human fossils - Laywer, statesman, Presbyterian William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) - Fundamentalist Baptist pastor William Bell Riley (1861-1947) - Bryan issued an appeal to six state legislature assemblies to ban Darwinism from high-school textbooks, claiming that "Those who pay the taxes have a right to determine what is taught; the hand that writes tha pay check rules the school." **Creationist Organisations** - 1924: Anti-Evolution League of America (William Bell Riley) - 1935: Religion and Science Association - 1941: American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) - 2007: Creation and Earth History Museum (Petersburg, Kentucky) by Answers in Genesis - 2016: Theme park Ark Encounter (Kentucky) - Also run by Answers in Genesis - Centerpiece is Noah's Ark **Scopes Trial** - 1923: the legislature of Oklahoma passed a free books bill with a anti-evolution rider firmly attached during early 1923 - 1923: only Florida follows the Oklahoma anti-evolutionism law - 1925: Tennessee passes the Butler Act: - "It shall be unlawful for any teacher to teach any theory that denies the Story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animal." - An offending teacher would be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined between \$100 and \$500 for each offense - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) intends to test the Butler Act, and offers to defend the voluntary offender, John T. Scopes - Scopes was found guilty on and ordered to pay a US\$ 100,- **Anti-Evolutionist Laws** - 1926: the state of Mississippi passed a law against teaching that "mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals" - 1927: anti-evolution bills were brought in 13 states and rejected - 1927: after an anti-evolution law was defeated by the legislature in Arkansas, the Baptist State Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention succeeded to enforce a popular vote on this matter (and succeeded to enact the law in 1928) - Creationists shifted their attention to local school boards, having substantial success: discussions of evolution vanished from almost all schoolbooks, especially the question of human origin was excluded **Teaching evolution becomes legal** - 1957: Sputnik launch by the USSR leads to the passage of the National Defense Education Act (1958) - The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study requires new up-to-date biology textbooks - In 1948 and in 1962 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down school programs providing classroom religious instruction/prayer - 1965: Susan Epperson challenges the Arkansas anti-evolution-law as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution (Epperson v. Arkansas) **Creationist Education** A box of lego duplo toys Description automatically generated **Creationism in US-Society** - Pew-Survey 2017 - 38% belief in the so called Young Earth Creationism: "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years" (lowest level of believers ever) - Highschool's biology teachers support teaching creationism from 30 % in Illinois to 69 % in Kentucky (Gallup Survey 2006) - Study in Science (2006) - Between 1985 and 2005 the number of adults accepting evolution declined from 45 to 40% - But also: the number of adults rejecting evolution declined from 48% to 39% **PEW Survey 2017**  **PEW Research Center 2020** A screenshot of a graph Description automatically generated **Gallup Survey 2006**  **Criticism and parody of Creationism -- The Flying Spaghetti Monster** - New strategy of Evangelicals since the 1970s - 1987 in Edwards vs. Aguillard the US Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana law requiring public school students to learn both evolution and "creation science" violated the Constitution's prohibition on the establishment of religion - Teaching Intelligent Design as another scientific hypothesis besides evolution - Start of the „battle of school boards": introduction of school booksfriendly to intelligent design - 2005 the physics graduate student Bobby Henderson establishesthe religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - In a protest letter to the Kansas Board of Education - Challenging the arguments of Intelligent Design - Demanding that the Pastafari Religion is taught in school - Recognized as religion in New Zealand (headgear in some countries) **Religion in Public School** - "We repeat and again reaffirm that neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person 'to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. The government must remain neutral in matters of religion while protecting all, preferring none, and disparaging none" Justice Clark - Prayer and Bible Reading - Sunday School system instead of religious classes in public school - Till 1963 obligation of prayers / bible reading in some states - 1963 US Supreme Court Murray vs. Curlett (Abington Township School District v. Schempp) - Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1919-1995), founder of American Atheists - Ban of public prayers / instructed bible reading in school that a led by officials - 1992 Supreme Court Lee vs. Weisman - Ban of public / instructed prayer at graduation ceremonies - American Family Association: Murray and Supreme Court demonized - Possibility of a "moment of silence" / "silent moment of reflection" - Trump: „Make America Pray Again!", introducing mandatory prayers in school - „School choice" by school vouchers for private (&religious) schools - June 2024: law orders a display of 10 commandments in all classrooms in Louisiana's public schools & universities (blocked by a federal court in Nov 24) - Laws to allow chaplains to serve as mental health counselors - Sexual Education - Offered in all public schools at least once in grades 7-12 - Abstinence-only policy (1^st^ option) - In about 34% of high schools - Sponsored by the federal government/ Congress since 1996 - Some programs continue to be supported, such as AOUM: abstinence-only until marriage - No information about contraception - Largely criticized by liberal groups for its inefficiency - Danger of sexual encounters = solution = abstinence until marriage A map of the united states Description automatically generated  Teen birth rate A graph with a number of numbers Description automatically generated with medium confidence Teen birth rate per 1000 women (age 15-19), 2013 - Comprehensive policy (2^nd^ option) - Not largely sponsored by the federal government - Including information on contraception - Purity Balls (3^rd^ option) - Performance of daughter's chastity by a public pledge - LGTBQ sex education - Required only in 13 states, with 9 to be inclusive, 4 only negative - LGBTQ sexual Education  - Required only in 8 states - 26 sates with no clear curriculum - 4 states with restrictions on teaching homosexuality - 7 states require notification of parents and drop out option - 8 states censor discussions of LGBTQ issues - Legislation through the states - Banning transgender persons from sports, bathrooms, covering treatment by the health insurance, allowing minors for gender transition - Trump promised to recognize only two genders and federally defunding for all hospitals and doctors who offer gender affirming measures - „Given Name Act" in 8 states: allowing to refuse new names / pronouns - Book bans A map of the united states Description automatically generated  - By school boards, administrators, legislature by state boards of educationν - Books with people and characters of color (44%) - Books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%) - (57%) include sex-related themes or depictions - Home schooling A graph showing the growth of homeschooling Description automatically generated - Legal for all the US since Wisconsin v. Yoder ruling of the US Supreme Court; guarantees the right of education in line with family's beliefs in 1972 12 December 2024\ XI. Abortion rights **Entering the Trump Paradox** A screenshot of a cellphone Description automatically generated  A table of voting results Description automatically generated  - Support from Evangelicals, but Trump, among all candidates was perceived as least religious **Religion 2008-2016 -- Obama's Presidency** - No specific religious agenda by Obama - Killing of Osama bin Laden (2011) - 2012: Mormon Mitt Romney as Republican's party candidate - Lack of support by Christian Republicans - Tea Party Movement - Liberal stance towards "Obamacare" and federal tax policy - Reaction to the 2008 loss of presidential elections - Allied with Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann **Religious issues in politics -- abortion** - 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade - Abortion decision left to the woman in the first trimester of pregnancy - State regulations possible for the further period of pregnancy - Since 1989 more restrictions on state level are possible again - Planned Parenthood v. Casey upholds the right of abortion (1992) - Pro-life activism - Abortion as taking human life - Abortion is encouraging sexual activity before and outside of marriage - Abortion as a genocide of the Afro-American population by the „white" majority - Annual March for Life in Washington D.C., referring to Roe vs. Wade - 2004 about a million participants at the March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C. promoting the pro-choice policy - General problem of a satisfying solution: no compromises possible for the activists - Jan 2020 Trump as first US president on a March for Life rally in Washington  - Abortion: hope of overruling Roe v Wade - After Brett Kavanaugh was nominated US Supreme Court judge in 2018 - 2019: Alabama's Human Life Protection Act bans all sorts of abortion (also in case of rape, incest) except for immediate emergency for the mothers life - 2019: Georgia bans abortion after a heartbeat can be detected (legally challenged by the ACLU / Planned Parenthood - Kansas, Louisiana with similar legislation, partly as "trigger laws" **Trump/Biden and Federal Courts** A diagram of a federal court system Description automatically generated![A graph of judges and judges Description automati