PJ: For the founding fathers of the US, religious observance and the government needed separation and that the government must not be controlled by religious doctrine (hence the common reference to the separation of church and state). In fact, while many of these men were either Catholic or Protestant in their observance, others such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson held deist beliefs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism). It seems strange then that the right-wing of American politics insists that God and religion need to play a bigger role in policy while they claim to support the beliefs of the founding fathers and the Constitution. However, when you look at statistics that identify religion in America, it's no wonder that religion is playing an expanded role in today's politics. It also sheds light on the recent demonizing of other religions (claiming that they are promoting extremism) while there is a definite lack of dealing with extremism in Evangelical ranks.
Hurriyet Daily News
Fundamentalism a ‘mainstream extremism’ in US, says expert
Fundamentalism in the United States, one of the industrialized world’s most religious nations, is widespread and represents a “mainstream extremism,” according to a history professor from Tel Aviv University speaking Tuesday in Istanbul.
“Some 120 million people [in the United States] would describe themselves as evangelical Christians... you can’t say these people are extremists. Their views seem very extreme to us, but in fact it’s a kind of ‘mainstream extremism,’” said David S. Katz, professor of early modern European history at Tel Aviv, citing figures by Gallup poll.
Katz, who is currently a visiting professor at Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University, gave his talk at Istanbul Şehir University, entitled, “A history of American fundamentalism and its influence on American politics,” as part of a lecture series organized by the latter university’s history department.
Katz said many prominent political figures in the United States were fundamentalists, including former presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
“Jimmy Carter... was the first fundamentalist to be elected to office. Jimmy Carter said quite openly that his efforts in the Camp David accords were because this was God’s will,” said Katz, adding that Carter let down his fundamentalist base of support after failing to enact stricter abortion laws or allow prayer in public schools.
“Ronald Reagan was a fundamentalist. Unlike Jimmy Carter he tried to keep it hidden and occasionally it slipped out,” said Katz.
Quoting an account by one of Reagan’s advisors, Katz said Reagan once confided: “You know I look back at [the] ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs fortelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if we’re the generation that’s going to see that.”
Origins, beliefs
The term “fundamentalist” came from a series of pamphlets published in the United States in 1909 by the University of Chicago that were commissioned by preachers and called for a return to the “fundamentals” of Christianity, according to Katz.
The academic said this was essentially a call for a return to the fundamental principles espoused by the first Protestants, including a literal translation of the Bible and salvation through faith alone.
Katz said the beliefs of fundamentalists today included beliefs in the coming end of the world, or Armageddon; “the rapture” of the righteous to heaven so as to be spared the seven years of calamity that will befall earth before Jesus’ messianic return to save humanity; an “intelligent design” of the universe created directly by God that is in direct opposition to the scientific theories of Darwin; and a belief in money as a sign of God’s blessings.
America is the most religious country in the world, according to Katz.
“The most religious country on earth – it’s not Iran, it’s not Italy, it’s not Ireland. [The United States is] the most religious country on the planet,” Katz said.
“In the United States, 95 percent of the country believes in God. That’s absolutely without parallel ... Some 83 percent believe that the Bible is the absolute word of God, 44 percent believe Jesus will return to judge mankind within the next 50 years. What’s really odd is that 20 percent of the non-Christians in the United States believe that Jesus will return in the next 50 years,” said Katz, citing figures he compiled mainly from major pollsters in the United States
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=fundamentalism-in-america-a-8216mainstream-extremism8217-2011-03-23
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