Introduction
Religion in American history has contributed significantly to the nation’s social fabric. The American religion is intertwined with economics, politics, and education. Historians have presented different viewpoints on American religion from the nation’s historical perspective. For example, McDaniel (2008) presented opposing viewpoints or debates on the American Churches. On the other hand, Falwell and Reynolds present opposing viewpoints on religious liberty. The paper presents American history with opposing viewpoints from a religious perspective.
American History: Opposing Viewpoints
McDaniel (2008) explored the decline of some Baptism religious traditions. The author argues that the deaths of the two iconic figures and renewed Baptists, Jerry Falwell, and Raymond, in 2007 brought the divergence of the Baptist voice in the religious liberty debate into the public and limelight. Herbert Reynolds was a former chancellor and president of the University of Baylor, while Jerry Falwell was a Liberty University founder and an irrepressible and famous evangelist. According to McDaniel (2008), the dual consider themselves religious freedom advocates, presenting opposing opinions on liberty and freedom.
Reynolds stood for the “old guard,” insisting on soul competency as the absolute importance in diverse traditions, especially George Truett’s, John Leland’s, and Mullins’s traditions. On the other hand, Falwell emphasized personifying the contemporary wave of liberty champions of the Baptist. The main focus of this wave was on the imperativeness of political baptism and the church’s moral voice. It is a notion that insists on the legal and essential protection of collective religious rights and expressions.
According to McDaniel (2008), Falwell and Reynolds were Baptists when they expressed their opposing opinions. These opposing viewpoints are less astonishing than they appear to most religious people. Bill Moyers described Baptists as an American group of Christians spanning the political spectrum. These Baptists sometimes disagree on the fundamentals and the basis of faith. According to McDaniel (2008), Moyers argues that it is hard to identify people speaking for Baptists in the United States. Soul competency, a tenet of Baptists, views self-declaration as a reasonable and practical approach to identifying Baptists in a country (the United States). A critical reflection and evaluation of Falwell’s and Reynolds’ deaths reinforces the same idea. It begs more of a query to seek answers for the meaning of religious liberty in the Baptist tradition. The states’ support and the church’s separation of power have emerged as the Baptist’s controversial aspects of tradition. The traditional aspects that attract less controversy include soul competency, biblical authority, and congressional autonomy. The opposing viewpoints on American history from the religious perspective that Falwell and Reynolds presented are still evident in American society today.
On the other hand, Harding (2000) explored Christianity-related issues in American society. According to Harding (2000), the American national polls reveal that over fifty million American adults were born-again Christians. Despite this fact, some Americans view their culture as being secular. Yes, most people around the world reinforce this viewpoint by arguing that the United States is a secular country. Further, journalists and many intellectuals often present born-again Christians as outsiders, endangering the lives of the general public despite their large numbers. According to Harding (2000), born-again Christians in the 1980s burst with stunning and fantastic force in the political arena. Under Jerry Falwell’s leadership and other allied and partnering preachers, millions of people were breaking taboos during the trial of scopes, restricting interaction between born-again Christians and the general public. These preachers claimed their new cultural territory, refashioning themselves in diverse public arenas.
Harding (2000) argued that Christian fundamentalism is where Falwell and his fellow co-pastors are pivotal figures. She emphasized Falwell’s use of the Bible language. Harding claims that the language is the most appropriate medium used by born-again Christians and the general public to comprehend themselves as so-called Christians.
Falwell, as a minister, uses a Biblical perspective to explain how social beliefs in Christianity molded and shaped churches and temples into Biblical living testimonies. Harding emphasized using television broadcasts, sermons, audiotapes, speeches, and books, as the primary medium to preach the word of God. This reinforces Jerry Falwell’s assertions. Both preachers wrote their traditions from the Biblical perspective to entail and not exclude solid worldly engagements (Winter, 2010). It is impressive how cultural assessment brings an objective and sound understanding of the modern religious world. American culture and religion promote multiple ongoing academic debates and opposing viewpoints about baptism and American religion’s dynamics and perspectives. Understanding the interplay and interaction between religion and diverse spheres and perspectives of American culture helped determine appropriate cultural aspects for understanding American history.
Conclusion
Different opposing viewpoints and debates on American history from religious perspectives are still evident in American society today. Reynolds stood for the “old guard,” insisting on soul competency as an absolute concern in the different cultural traditions, including George’s, John Leland’s, and Mullins’s traditions. On the other hand, Falwell stood for personifying the contemporary wave of liberty champions of the Baptist. The main focus of Falwell’s wave is on the imperativeness of political baptism and the church’s moral voice. The notion insists on the legal and essential protection of collective religious rights and expressions. Today, an emerging perspective in American society supports the separation of state and church as a Baptist’s controversial aspect of tradition. According to the research, some aspects of less controversy include biblical authority and congressional autonomy.
References
Harding, S. F. (2000). The book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Princeton University Press.
McDaniel, C. (2008). The decline of the separation principle in the Baptist tradition of religious liberty. Journal of Church and State, 50 (3)Summer 2008, Pages 413–430.
Winter (2010). Religion and American Culture. R and AC: Barkley Vol 20, ISS.
write