thread: 2007-02-13 : Exorcism
On 2007-02-23, Axel wrote:
Religion in the US occupies a very different cultural space compared to religion in (for sure) the UK and Germany. Canada falls somewhere in between the two.
I know, I've lived in all four.
Here's a gaming metaphor - USAians approach religion like an empowered Forge game whereas Europeans approach religion as a GM-controlled wank-fantasy RIFTS game, with the state as the GM.
The USAians are still engaged with the game whereas the Europeans have got bored with that so they are talking about sex instead.
Why is it different? A bunch of reasons, I think. Heres some:
First, in Europe we fought big, bloody, brutal wars that were nominally about religion for centuries (about 20% of Germans died in the 30 Years War alone (equivalent to 18 million today). But when it came right down to it, the wars were about political authority. After a while, religion becomes associated with war, famine, plague & death - and who wants that?
Second, throughout Europe, a regions religion was defined by the ruler - if you didn't like it you either put up, became a martyr or ran away. Most political leaders wanted religions that respected their authority so while mainstream Protestants and Catholics could run to a nearby country, the more extreme cults had to run the *fuck* away -and most of them went to America. So, in part Europe dumped most of it's religious fanaticism onto America.
In England, on top of that, the Catholic church was replaced with the nominally protestant Church of England because the King wanted a divorce. Think about that - the fundamental reason for the existence of the Anglican (Episcopalian in the USA) Churches was so that a guy could dump one woman and marry another. It doesn't make for a compelling religious base.
