RELIGION AND THE AMERICAN FRAMING

Abstract

I think that, for those outside the United States, the way that Americans consider and wrestle with the role of religion for politics, governance, and public life must seem strange. In some sense, it seems that religion is everywhere in American public life. President Bush, for example, like all previous presidents, took his oath of office on the Christian Bible. American money, since 1952, has been stamped with the fiduciary assurance, “In God We Trust.” American politicians, of all stripes, reflexively reference God, salvation, and their ‘private’ religious beliefs. Nevertheless, in contrast with many European countries, Americans do not indicate on state documents that they are Protestant or Catholic or other denomination. The national and state governments are prohibited from funding or supporting churches, religious schools, or providing salaries for pastors. In American schools, unlike well-known cases elsewhere, a Muslim teacher may wear her veil and a Jewish schoolboy his yarmulke without problems or commentary. So, perhaps from abroad, these American behaviours do seem strange.