Is There A Secular Religion Here in The US? If So What Is It?

[ZombieGak]

I use the term religion loosely... primarily to mean a self-reinforcing thus self-perpetuating belief system... as opposed to a self-correcting one. Beliefs can be implicit or explicit and even the latter may be there for purposes of window dressing... not substance.

Political scientists long have noted the nature of our electoral/political systems create dynamics and imperatives that drive politics to the center. I'd go further that two parties share more than the GOP and Dems care to admit. For instance in the US both parties share some common assumptions they don't even discuss... implicit assumptions that the Framers got it right and our political system needs no fundamental reforms... and our economic system got it right and there's no need to look at fundamental changes there either. All the debate is about how to TWEAK these systems... never to reform either. (In that is where I believe the dividing line is between Liberals and Progressives.) So even as the debate rages about the tweaks... the fundamental assumptions, themselves, never get debated... only reinforced. Soon those core assumptions become a secular religion that most can't even rationally discuss. We see that here discussing the Constitution. We've all been brought up to understand WHY the Constitution is as it is... never to ask WHETHER it should be as it is. So when some common sense objections are raised about how un- or anti-democratic it is... even most Dems reflexively resort to those rationalizations they learned in grade school. The need to keep the Constitution up on a pedestal blinds believers to problems and trumps any democratic instincts people have.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Easy. Money.

[ixion]

2. consumerism

is the major deity in our culture. The whole 'God' thing is just kept up for appearances. Many people don't give it a second thought outside that one hour on Sunday.

[lindisfarne]

3. The belief that the US is the greatest place on earth to live seems to fit

Most Americans truly believe this - but have little knowledge of how much higher standard of living is in many other countries, when you take into account multiple factors such as access to medical care, child mortality rates, amount of time mothers are guaranteed off from jobs after giving birth (and how much they're paid during that time), affordability of child care, quality of school systems, social supports for low-income people, and so on.

[justabob]

4. In the religion class I took

the book used American patriotism/nationalism as an example for secular religion. It has its own symbols and "holy days"... July 4 etc.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Materialism

In a book I have about comparative religions, that's how they list it. They say that it is basically the idea that having and obtaining things will bring you happiness. Having tried that for a time, I found that it didn't work.

[CJCRANE]

6. You seem to have answered your own question

in the second paragraph.

[ZombieGak]

10. others have made good points too.....

But others have brought up some good points too. There are other aspects of this secular religion and they infuse much of our culture... that our kids will always have it better than we did, we're the land of opportunity and can get ahead if we try, capitalism delivers the best product at the best price, etc.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. democracy-

or for some it is 'football' or 'baseball' or 'sex'-

Religion doesn't have to involve a 'god' or 'deity' of any kind- You can devote, you life, energy time and existance to many different 'idols'- and 'worship'- isn't necessiarily a 'god' thing either-
It's all a matter of perspective.

For many, if we are truly honest- 'self' is the religion most often denied, but most devoutly worshipped, and protected.

[ZombieGak]

11. I think we favor the ILLUSION of democracy

By most standards our system may have been cutting edge for 1787... sorry about the slaves and those disenfranchised. But somewhere in the past 200 years we've grown oblivious to the progress made in implementing electoral systems that better measure the will of the people and political systems that better reflect the will of the people. Our system is not just antiquated but un- and anti-democratic.

If we cared about democracy we would not wear it on our sleeves... as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party does. We try to define it, identify the obstacles to implementation then develop a strategy to overcome those obstacles.

[Bill McBlueState]

8. great post.

Were you posting the other day about the fairness of the amendment procedure? That's an excellent example of the issue.

It also baffles me how people defend the electoral college.

And how people view the two-party system as inherently good.

All these were good enough for the eighteenth century, but it's not surprising that people have developed improvements to the democratic system since then.

[ZombieGak]

15. thanks.....

Thanks! Ya the amendment post was mine: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x133839 If you liked that one you might like this one on the Senate: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2370475

If there's a flaw in human psychology... it that we seem prone to believe in self-justifying belief systems... and they are not just religious. Just think of those who believe Markets can solve all problems, or that tax cuts are always beneficial, or the 2 party system.

Our collective inability to confront the failings of our own system is just another. We've been raised to place the Framers on a pedestal and hold the Constitution as perfect. Once someone accepts that premise, they sabotage all other intellectual avenues to challenge that premise. So often they live with contradictions as many progressive Dems do that they believe in democracy even though what they are really doing is propping up and trying to game an anti-democratic system.

Sadly, the human capacity for such self-deception seems infinite.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. btw

Maybe you want to edit your title. I think it's causing people to miss your point.

[TrogL]

12. Conservatism

[TahitiNut]

13. Mammonism.

Human labor is a commodity. Virtue is measured by wealth. Morality is measured by power. Individual liberty depends on Leaders.


'Thomas Aquinas metaphorically described the sin of Avarice as "Mammon being carried up from Hell by a wolf, coming to inflame the human heart with Greed".'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon

"Mammon is the god of the world's leading religion. His chief temple is the holy city of New York at Wall Street. It isn't money itself that causes the trouble, but the use of money as votive offering and pagan ornament. Ask an American what money means, and 9 times out of 10 he will say synonymous with freedom, that it opens the doors of feeling and experience, that citizens with enough money can play at being gods and do anything they wish. The dreams of avarice glitter in the shop window and glisten with the displays of opulence. This peculiarly American form of idolatry pervades the whole of society; profit takes precedence over life and art and love; the freedoms of property take precedence over individual liberties."
http://latter-rain.com/theology/mammon.htm

[ZombieGak]

23. sounds like...

If anyone listened to NPR's Markeplace tonight, they were talking about the new China... and what sorts of values are replacing the old ones left over from the Cultural Revolution. Mommonism certainly seems to fit many newly upwardly mobile in China to a tee.

[DanCa]

14. I believe in leaving people alone with regard to thier religious view

And I wish they do the same with me. I do believe in god, but I have no right to force it on them. Is that secularism or good manners?

[Initech]

16. Chris Rock said it best - the church of the ATM.

"Hey, if you're looking for Jesus, IN GOD WE TRUST is printed right on the dollar bill! Look, I've been searching for God all my life. He's right here in my back pocket!"

[sweetheart]

17. prodestantism

Fundamental to the endemic culture is the idea that by your works you will become
closer to god. That humankind must "do" something in order to earn god's
kingdom, and though those good works, many a prodestant missionary has healed many
a sickness; just as well, many a prodestant army has discovered cheap resources and
slave labour.

[Arkham House]

18. Football

[BushOut06]

19. What about American Idol?

Simon Cowell is our god.

[mandyky]

20. Greed and superiority

Even many liberals and progressives fall for the "we are the greatest" and "the American Dream".

I am of the belief that we are as strong as our weakest link, so as long as poverty, lack of healthcare, lack of education, hunger, homelessness, and bigotry hurts our weakest citizens, there is no American Dream. And we are only the greatest nation when we lead more by example than by force.

[Perky]

21. The Secular Religion is "the American Dream"

THat is what AMerican want more than anything else, It is the Great motivator...THe Freat Carrot on the Stick.

It not typically fraimed as wealth....but rather as security and happines: Many think that only comes with wealth. But really It is the ardent need for thes sense of being "blessed" in an age in which there is an overwhelming sense of displacement and "homelessness"

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Capitalism?

Certainly the kneejerk reaction to communists as being 'anti-American' looked rather like the denunciation of apostates by a powerful religion.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Pro sports--nothing else even comes close

Pro athletes are treated as young gods, beginning in high school, and schools hold assemblie, taking time out of class, to cheer for them. It is regarded as axiomatic that every child should participate in sports, which are said to build character, team work, and a work ethic. Sports take up 1/3 of every local newscast, no matter what else is going on in the world. Newspapers devote entire sections to sports. Business executives speak in sports metaphors. The Super Bowl is hyped as if it has cosmic significance.

So I nominate pro sports as America's secular religion.