I was just watching “American Primeval”, when it occurred to me (again) that the US was a place where oddball religions could prosper. Two recent successful examples of very weird ones being Mormons and Scientology (although the latter is a bit less successful lately).
Why is it that weird things catch on so readily in the US?
Of course, the “founders” were people that were kicked out of everywhere else because they were trying to convert them to their extremist religious views (and yet US people are fond of trying to find family ties to them… “hey, my great, great, great grand father was a religious lunatic! But yours wasn’t”)
So now, Mormons (Jews totally rowed to the US, for some reason, and then Jesus came there, and there were horses, and cities, and there’s absolutely no archaeological trace, probably because god) have an astounding foothold despite their creed (I’m saying this because I have read the book of Mormon).
Then there’s Scientology, and I don’t even know where to begin with that one, given how fucked up it is… If you don’t know about it, start with Wikipedia.
Also (probably not finally, there’s certainly more) there’s the innumerable bizarre Christianity stuff in the US. It’s such a mess. I don’t even think that most of the evangelical groups are technically Christians.
So apparently, in the US, anything goes. The holy Flying Spaghetti Monster, blessed be it’s meat balls, showed us that. But then what?
The problem with the typical US “let anyone do whatever” is that vulnerable get fleeced at best.
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Bc the USA is enormous, and they could keep going West to find new spaces to flourish in, doing a service of making farmland for the very first time in the process.
It’s arguably even a good thing to allow religious freedom - e.g. Atheism is allowed just as readily as Satanism or Mormonism or Protestantism, as opposed to one dominant one.
I advise to not overlook the evolutionary advantages to cultures developing religions - in e.g. moving past tribal in-groups to allow for a more expansive definition of “we/us” beyond people that you’ve already met. And e.g. compare how Christianity says that women are to be treated vs. Judaism (yeah I know the counterargument but you won’t listen if this reply is too long:-).
You are looking at the past with hindsight and from our modern cultural lens, but there are others, and refusing to see the benefits does nobody any favors. e.g. Mormonism despite being a cult helped its people to survive all on their own in Utah far away from the more developed east coast regions of the country. Survival of the fittest, including cultural ideas.
TLDR: bc America is new, compared to the older parts of the world.
Of course, the “founders” were people that were kicked out of everywhere else because they were trying to convert them to their extremist religious views
Small Correction: Those were the Puritans / Pilgrims, and they predate the Founding Fathers by over 150 years. They showed up in 1620, pretty much as-described in the post, but the people who we consider the Founding Fathers didn’t actually found the country until 157 years later. The latter did not want a religious theocracy here unlike the earlier settlers who were so insufferable England basically put them on a boat and set them adrift in the Atlantic (not literally, but not exactly not that, either).
Many Americans also fail to realize there’s a 157 year gap between “fled England to escape religious persecution” and declaring independence from England. They also fail to realize the puritans were the persecutors and not the ones being persecuted (Edit: I originally phrased that backwards).
So apparently, in the US, anything goes. The holy Flying Spaghetti Monster, blessed be it’s meat balls, showed us that. But then what?
Technically / legally? Yes. However, there’s increasing Christo-publican insistence on treating anything but Christianity as a second-class religion, at best, while implementing clearly unconstitutional laws based on their flavor of Xtianity.
Also, is this a question for the US demographic, or are you just blowing off steam? Not that I disagree with you, just trying to keep the community on-topic.
I meant the founders, not the “founding fathers”. I guess i should have used another term. They kind of started the colony. Although they weren’t very good at it.
Thankfully better people wrote down the foundation of the country later on (and were mostly ignored).
You’re right that anything that isn’t vaguely Christian is second class. It certainly played a huge part when scientology decided that it was a religion and picked a symbol.
And tgen there’s the myriad of pseudo Christian religions.
Christianism has some basic tenets. How many of those do those numerous religions adhere to?
That’s all just how “religious freedom” works 🤷🏻♂️.
Otherwise, the government would have to legitimize or refuse to legitimize every religion (which means we would not have religious freedom at all). It also protects citizens from the government forcing a religion (or religious laws) on them. In theory, anyway…
The only place the government has any oversight of religion is if they apply for tax-exempt status. I’m not clear on what they look at there, but there’s obviously some minimum requirements otherwise everyone would be a pastor/prophet/messiah/voice of their own religion and thus tax exempt. Some people go the full mile to avoid taxes (Scientology, for example), but for the most part, “I’m going to become a church to get out of paying taxes” is just a tired TV trope. Plus, among other requirements, religions are not allowed to get involved with politics (e.g. can’t endorse or donate to candidates, etc). Unfortunately, those have to be reported to the IRS on a case-by-case basis, and I’m sure enforcement is lax.
Christianism has some basic tenets. How many of those do those numerous religions adhere to?
Hell, how many of the Christian tenets do Christians actually adhere to?
the dude who created scientology literally told everyone he was going to create a religion to make money, and being a science fiction writer, it mirrors his writing ability. and then he did so. the idea it was or ever was anything other than a con is the amazing part.
the mormons, also a documented con artist before he made up his nonsense.
it just goes to prove that all religions are cons, weve just lost the source to the early ones.
I’m an ordained minister in the Church of the FSM. (Wanted the cool “degree” and to be called Pastor Shalafi.) It’s not a religion, it was created and exists to highlight the absurdity of religion.
Yeah, we have more than our fair share of goonies because we’ve tolerated about anything since our founding. Keep in mind, there are nearly 340,000,000 of us and you only hear about the weirdos. It’s like the Florida Man meme. Yeah, we’re the third most populous state, you’re going to find weird goings on among 24,000,000 people. (And our Sunshine Laws make it easier for reporters to report crimes and such.)
A couple things.
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Lack of established religious authority. I’m sure there were spiritualists and weird cults in Britain too but they had a far harder job displacing the Anglican church which dominated. Same for the influence of Roman Catholicism etc
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America is nowhere as far as the major world religions are concerned, which doesn’t sit well with the kind of self obsession that infects a new nation. So it’s quite tempting when prophets and cultists etc come along saying the New Revelation™ is that America is the new centre of God’s plan.
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Lack of established religious authority. I’m sure there were spiritualists and weird cults in Britain too but they had a far harder job displacing the Anglican church which dominated. Same for the influence of Roman Catholicism etc
That’s an interesting idea which has a bit of merit actually.
But in France for example, the church has been kind of kicked out since 1905 and the various cults have only been small annoyances (despite scientology screaming that it’s being repressed).
Culture in the US is very feelings-based. Most cultures have more common sense, but the US is a breeding ground for a lot of varieties of “it’s not important whether this is objectively true, I just really like it” and people will put their whole hearts into it. It causes problems sometimes.
