In article <>, "Rowland Croucher" <> wrote:

The real religion of America has always been America itself; our religion has largely been civil religion for the sake of social order more than for any soul transformation... Our parents gave us what they had been given... the self-serving American dream of material advancement and an overreliance on religious institutions to do our spiritual work for us. Instead of a transformational journey, we were offered two nice systems to - Richard Rohr, Adam's Return, p. 78.

Response from a netfriend:

only part of the story

The religion of America was born of a Puritanical ideal to escape Catholicism and to purify the religion, whilst at the same time maintaining the Church and the religion as part of the structure of a slave state.

For the latter purpose American Christianity embraced both (White Anglo Saxon) Nationalism and White Racism, both essential for the maintaining of a slave state - especially after the (so called) War of Independence against the British Crown - actually a seizure of power and interest by the leading American families and property owners over their English equivalent.

America NEVER experienced a "Revolution" - instead it tried to dress up the history of the War of Independence to make it look like one.

American Christianity failed the nation at the time of the Civil War - the attempts of one part of the church to eradicate the sin of slavery resulted in the Churches as a whole being unable to maintain a united Nation

After the Civil War and the reconstruction period, American Christianity began a path of ultra conservatism that led it into Fundamentalism where essentially it has remained ever since - still fighting both reality and social progress

And for the most part missing Jesuses mission entirely

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