December 18, 1995
Web posted at: 3:00 p.m. EST
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- There are at least three things that distinguish the American religious scene from that of almost every other country. One is the great religious diversity in the United States. Another is the way religion and politics have mixed throughout history. And a third is the way unorthodox religious leaders have found voice through the media.
Although the "televangelist" is an American phenomenon, (782 K QuickTime movie)
scholars say TV preachers simply continue a tradition that
dates back to the beginning of the country.
Outside-the-mainstream Christian clergy get the word out the
best way possible.
"It certainly has changed in certain respects, but I think
the core message remains the same," said Nathan Hatch,
historian and University of Notre Dame vice president. "But
that whole tradition in America has been very adaptive to
whatever communication strategies the culture can provide."
But TV is a creature of the marketplace. Does the medium dictate the message? Hatch says it does, to some extent, "because over the media, whether it's radio or television, only certain kinds of things are compelling. And so certain kinds of preaching, or preachers, work there." He said a "more nuanced, thoughtful, sophisticated kind of treatment does not go over as well, or well enough to support the program."
The most prominent of today's television preachers are political conservatives. In a country where religion has traditionally influenced politics, the political influence of fundamentalist Christians might be considered a return to the culture's roots. And so it is, said Emory University professor Brooks Holifield, in the sense that religious values always did play an important part in the shaping of American culture.
But "it's a departure from our roots in the sense that our
roots are pluralistic," Holifield added. "To the extent that
fundamentalism -- and it does not always do this -- but to
the extent that fundamentalism pushes toward homogenizing and
coercing, then it departs from the diversity that
characterized American religious history from the very
beginning."
Hatch sees a cultural struggle between those who truly savor diversity and those who long for a more structured time. "Often it's a sort of nostalgia that we return to an age that in some way was explicitly Christian," he said.
Christians have been the majority in America, and scholars say that won't change anytime soon. "For the future as long as we can see it, this will be predominantly, at least nominally, a Christian country," Holifield predicted.
Still, he said, fundamentalist Christians shouldn't press too hard. "Probably if Christians attempt to impose with too great a specificity their own religious values on the larger culture, they will hurt both themselves and the larger culture," he said. "And there will be reaction against their successes."
And, of course, unlike the first two centuries of America's history, when the majority of immigrants were European --- and Christian --- most of today's new Americans come from places where Christianity is a minority religion.
Holifield suggests religion's traditional role as shaper of
American life and culture may depend on the Christian
majority's ability to embrace diversity. "To the extent that
Christians join with other religious groups in a consensus
about values that are yet amenable to a pluralistic
consensus, or a pluralist culture, then probably religious
views will, one way or another, visibly or invisibly,
influence the way we think about how we organize our common
life politically," he said.
So, the United States heads into the 21st century the way it began -- the way it always has been. A country where church and state are constitutionally separate, but where religion and politics are inexorably intertwined.
![[Imagemap]](/EVENTS/world_of_faith/faith_navbar.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.