thread: 2007-02-13 : Exorcism
On 2007-02-21, NinJ wrote:
The very first rule written in the Bill of rights:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
It's written there because it was a challenge from the getgo.
In 1620, the Mayflower landed with religious refugees - we'd call them a cult today - in Massachusetts.
By 1639, there were already religious refugees from Massachusetts, founding Rhode Island, which was the first Colony to officially adopt a freedom of religion clause. There, the first community of Jews started in North America. The town was predominantly Quaker. Eventually, it became largely Catholic and Anglican with a Baptist undercurrent.
I'm one of the Jews who grew up in Rhode Island (though none of my ancestors were there in the 17th century). You can bet that a Jew growing up in an old Quaker stronghold, now predominantly Catholic, Anglican, and Baptist, was keenly aware of his religious difference from his neighbors. We all are. We're surrounded by people who have a different view of the universe from us; where to experience a different culture, you go next door.
I've rarely - though not never - known an American who doesn't align themselves with either a particular religion, or a relationship to religion as a whole (which is usually a relationship with a particular practice of a particular religion, but is expanded to include all religions out of frustration). Many don't know much about their religion because of the transparency of cultural institutions, but they still baptize or circumsize their babies or whatever. They have their weddings in churches. They argue about God.
Do they baptize their babies in Germany? I bet they do. I bet that religious practice in Europe is pretty common, but it's transparent because it's part of the larger culture.
Christmas is religious practice. Easter egg hunts are religious practice. Halloween is religious practice. May Day is religious practice.
What gets celebrated in Germany?
