The Surprise of Religion in Modern America

Review by Michael A. Smith

(Delivered by Dr. Jon Butler as part of the Joseph T. Stukes Lectures at Erskine College, Delivered March 16, 2010)

In the America of the 1880-1890s, many were worried about religion—that religious phenomena would not be able to sustain themselves in light of modernity. Many, such as Sigmund Freud, believed religion was pre-modern. In the modern world, rationality held sway, and faith was considered irrational. But it was not simply intellectuals who were worried. Protestants, Catholics, and Jews were all worried about the effects of the religious pluralism fostered in America and whether this mixing of religious beliefs would become so entangled that it would collapse. The absence of a state church, issues of Protestant identity, and how Jews, so long accustomed to being marginalized and persecuted, could survive in an atmosphere of freedom was all questions on the minds of many.

Dr. Butler’s question revolves around how religion survived in America from 1925 (Scopes Trial) to the emergence of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Little has been written about this period, but it is well-known that Falwell and Robertson did not, as Dr. Butler asserts, “simply pop up as some jack-in-the-box.” So how did American religion survive the sweeping trends of modernity?

First, Dr. Butler believes that churches have become places of community. For immigrant groups in America, the church became the catalyst around which inherited religious beliefs and practices came together. It was not unusual for Irish Catholics to hold mass on the main floor of a church while another group—possibly Italian or Polish held mass in the basement. Church, over time, became an expression of both secular and spiritual ideas as priests helped with jobs, housing, education, learning English, etc., and was very closely associated with ethnicity. With suburbanization's advent, churches began replicating themselves in those communities. (Dr. Butler mentioned the Lutherans in MN, his home state, and how many Lutheran churches were in the suburbs as members moved there.)

Secondly, Dr. Butler reminds us that religion is figured/disfigured by race. Faith took on an even greater sense of identity as race pulled America apart. Just as white Americans used race to justify slavery, they also used it to oppose integration. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. repeatedly stated, “The most segregated place in America is the church at 11:00 AM on Sunday morning.” Churches became the central place of identity for both black and white Americans.

But religion also became attached to ideas of personal identity. People came to be identified by religious persuasion. Norman Mailer often defined his characters as Irish Catholic, Fundamentalist Baptist, Jew, etc. Generically, religion became attached to values. President Eisenhower said in 1952-“America needs a religion, and I do not care what kind it is.” Expression was not nearly as important as the fact that one was religious. Writers like Reinhold Niebuhr and Francis Schaffer reinforced this point. Schaffer’s How Should We Then Live? was about Christian values. In the New Christian Right, one did not need to be a Christian to belong or contribute.

Finally, religion came to be viewed as therapeutic theology. It was about success, happiness, and personal advancement. Dr. Butler surveyed books written from 1946 and forward to prove this idea. The book Peace of Mind (1947) and Peace of Soul by Bishop Sheen discussed ethics and morals. Bishop Sheen put an American face on Catholicism, and his speaking abilities and intelligence helped him to build a considerable following. Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking (1952) sold out in huge numbers. The key word in the title was “power,” and it showed people how religion, in the abstract, could make you successful in life. You could become a better worker, wife, husband, neighbor, parent, etc. These had a lot to do with therapy. Even Billy Graham got on board in 1955 with his book, The Secret to Happiness.

So, as Dr. Butler asserts, between 1890 and 1980, religion became less doctrinal, less about specifics and rituals, and more accepting of many different religious ideas. Denominations and doctrine were less critical, but a religion in a more general sense as a life shaper of ethics and morals gained greater acceptance. Religion survived and prospered because it became less Christian and more generic.