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A review by sevenlefts
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin M. Kruse
3.0
A friend involved in Humanist circles recommended this to me. It provides interesting insight into how much of the "civic religion" around us -- In God We Trust, One Nation Under God, national prayer breakfasts, etc. -- was purposely crafted by anti-New Deal industrialists as a way to steer the American psyche away from social democratic movements and toward libertarianism/conservatism. According to Kruse, this all started as a way to tamp down the influence of labor unions and to re-cast America as a land of "up by your boot-strap" individualists. And public declarations of faith were a great way to do it.
I was surprised by how the clergy got in board with this (since it would seem to work in their favor) and evangelists like Billy Graham do not come out well in this book. He gives many examples of ministers promoting conservative ideals that appear to go against Christian teaching, but going along since it increased their flocks. It's all kind of gross.
The chapters on supreme court cases and Congressional testimony surrounding some of these changes can be a bit of a slog -- but that's where all the action is. Or rather, where all the mischief is made. An eye-opening look at how public relations, big industry, government and religious institutions conspired to push America in a whole different direction than it was headed in 80 years ago.
I was surprised by how the clergy got in board with this (since it would seem to work in their favor) and evangelists like Billy Graham do not come out well in this book. He gives many examples of ministers promoting conservative ideals that appear to go against Christian teaching, but going along since it increased their flocks. It's all kind of gross.
The chapters on supreme court cases and Congressional testimony surrounding some of these changes can be a bit of a slog -- but that's where all the action is. Or rather, where all the mischief is made. An eye-opening look at how public relations, big industry, government and religious institutions conspired to push America in a whole different direction than it was headed in 80 years ago.