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07 Dec 2007 08:45 am
Americanism As A Religion
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It is, of course, one way to think of Mormonism, but this observation struck me as worthwhile:
[Romney] skilfully presents religion as a much more up-to-date form of nationalism. Mormonism becomes the quintessence of American religious liberty, and this liberty becomes the source of American power. The pilgrim fathers, he allows, fled from England for liberty for themselves, but they would not grant it to other people. Just as early religious dissidents had to flee Massachusetts for Rhode Island, two centuries later Brigham Young had to head out for Utah after Joseph Smith was lynched.
Religious liberty thus becomes the defining feature of American culture in his speech.
And the non-religious are therefore somehow un-American or irrelevant to America.
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