Twentieth-Century American Culture and the Persistence of Religion

Abstract

James Gilbert. Redeeming Culture; American Religion in an Age of Science. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997. Linda Kintz. Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions That Matter in Right-Wing America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997. Daniel Wojcik. The End of the World As We Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America. New York: New York University Press, 1997. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution demonstrates that the founding fathers, aware of the volatile nature of religious debate, refused to promote formal ties between church and state. The First Amendment's ban on religious establishment, however, has not prevented religion from being a major and persisting force in American life. French philosopher and traveller Alexis de Tocqueville observed, in the 1830s, that "there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men [and women] than in America" (quoted in Noll 1995, 67-68). Only months from the turn-of-the millennium, de Tocqueville's words still ring true to a surprising degree.