tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post3320259343015194119..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: The House Divided Against Itself That Still StandsPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-74370516780781056622007-11-20T18:31:00.000-07:002007-11-20T18:31:00.000-07:00Randall, you had me at the monocle's drop. Genius...Randall, you had me at the monocle's drop. Genius.Kathryn Loftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11581725585455784535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-53815043048864215112007-11-20T14:49:00.000-07:002007-11-20T14:49:00.000-07:00"I imagine Benjamin Britain opening the LRB—dippin..."I imagine Benjamin Britain opening the LRB—dipping his scone into a cup of Darjeeling—and becoming so flummoxed by America’s Bible-belters that he has to readjust his monocle several times."<BR/><BR/>If there were an award named "best blog sentence ever" this would be my nominee. Great stuff, as always Editor Randall...Art Remillardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03857242536492717015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-21725250165991711032007-11-20T14:38:00.000-07:002007-11-20T14:38:00.000-07:00Bland, I'm coming over to your side on the issue o...Bland, I'm coming over to your side on the issue of polls. I'm learning, slowly, to cultivate a hermeneutic of suspicion. <BR/><BR/>I wonder if this could be like any other thing that polls show. Maybe roughly 50% of Americans say they believe in young earth creationism. Millions of parents haven't pulled their kids out of public schools. <BR/><BR/>Or, even outside of the religious realm, we might find parallels. How many Americans still believe that Aliens seeded life on earth or built the pyramids? And what would it matter? Or, how many Americans think Aliens have visited the U.S. in the last decade or so? That may only become an issue if you're a diminutive congressman from Ohio who happens to be running for president.Randallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-40321945845919166502007-11-20T14:21:00.000-07:002007-11-20T14:21:00.000-07:00I share Randall's head-scratching confusion over p...I share Randall's head-scratching confusion over poll numbers that suggest that millions of Americans seem to expect the rapture to occur within the next ten years or so. Particularly given how mainstream the movement has become. As far as I know many of them, probably most, are not hunkering down for the apocalypse. Instead, they are engaged in the same suburban-consumer idolatry that the rest of us indulge. So what does it mean? Has a stated expectation of the apocalypse become merely a means of marking one's allegiance to a particular political-religious tribal grouping? Or, as in the case of the Left Behind avalance, just another niche entertainment? I continue to scratch my secular-liberal head but am more and more inclined to think that, to borrow from Gertrude Stein, there's no there there. Now, getting buried under an avalanche of Stein prose--that would be apocalyptic.Bland Whitleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15802989746004923085noreply@blogger.com