The first bumper sticker I saw when I arrived in the United States said "Got Jesus?" So did the second one. And the third.The stickers - a religious take on a milk advertising campaign - were plastered on a Ford van in Detroit.
The next day I ran across a lawn sign asking "Need prayer?" There was a free phone number on the sign: 1-800-541-PRAY.
Americans are a deeply religious people - and one - as the stickers prove - comfortable with public displays of faith.
In fact, although the United States has a constitutional barrier separating church and state, the vast majority of Americans want their leaders to be religious.
A poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 72% agreed with the statement "The president should have strong religious beliefs."
A majority of respondents thought both President George W Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry mentioned their faith the right amount.
Conflicting stands
"I want to be sure that the person I vote in has got some religious beliefs - as long he has some convictions about his faith and is not afraid to say so," said Raymond Barber of Sea Breeze, Florida.
"The candidate I am going to vote for is the right guy from that standpoint. Each time he has a speech he puts God in there and I like that," Mr Barber said, declining to name the candidate.
Mr Bush is a born-again Christian. Mr Kerry is Catholic.
Randle Cameron, a bus driver in Colorado Springs, said he had not yet decided who he was going to vote for - but that religion would guide his vote.
"I will ask my Father, my master Jesus Christ what man I would like to have [as president]", he said. "Which man believes in Jesus Christ the most?"
But there are people who feel just as strongly that religion has no place in American politics.
Nancy Coulter-Parker, a young mother in Boulder, Colorado, said she was not anti-religious, but did not want policy made on the basis of faith.
She cited a range of issues where she felt religion had intruded improperly into the political sphere, including abortion, stem cell research, education, and the Iraq war.
"Everyone is entitled to have their belief and I am completely supportive of that but I don't believe it has a place in the US in the way the country is run or decisions are made," she said.
Evangelical mega-church
Two hours south of Boulder, one of the most socially liberal places in America, lies Colorado Springs - one of the most conservative.
Pastor Ted Haggard leads the New Life Church there, an Evangelical mega-church that is expanding its premises because its 2,500-seat sanctuary is too small.
It runs three Sunday morning services to accommodate demand while a new 7,500-seat hall is built - and cars sit bumper-to-bumper in the car park between services as one wave of worshippers leaves and another enters.
Pastor Ted, as his 11,000 congregants call him, opposes abortion and extracting stem cells from foetuses, calling it "no different from Hitler making lampshades out of skin".
"Christians aren't going to buy that," he said.
Mr Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, also opposes gay marriage.
"Our concern as the Evangelical church is to preserve the sanctity of marriage. We're going to try to keep the state from tampering with it. Our position is that it's sacred and needs to be protected, so we'll give our best argument," he said.
But, he went on cheerfully, "We're probably going to lose.
"Yeah, we're going to lose because of the global trend toward freedom, which we think is wonderful. But when you have a global trend toward freedom, then there are some areas where you're going to lose socially."
Changing views
Pew Forum research suggests he is right: the percentage of Americans who strongly oppose gay marriage fell from 41% in 1996 to 30% in 2003, while the numbers who favour or strongly favour it climbed by the same amount.
White Evangelical opposition to gay marriage remained steady during that period, as did African-Americans'.
Discussing Evangelical Christianity's opposition to the social trend, Mr Haggard echoed the position of Boulder's liberal young mothers.
"It's not good for the church to confuse its role with the state. I'll give you an example: I'll stand in church and I'll preach against unmarried boys and girls having sex with one another," he said.
"But let's say an unmarried boy and girl decide to have sex in their car as they're leaving the church parking lot. I don't believe the police officer directing traffic should be able to arrest them for that.
"I think the church needs to be able to [express] a moral imperative, but there are cases where that moral imperative is no business of the state."
Again, research suggests that Mr Haggard's is the mainstream American view: Two-thirds of Americans say churches should not endorse political candidates, but a slim majority say they should express views on political issues.
White Evangelical Christians - a group that may represent as much as a quarter of the American electorate - tend to be Republicans, Mr Haggard said, while black Evangelicals tend to be Democrats.
'Your Faith, Your Vote'
Not all American Christians are Evangelicals.
While thousands of congregants sang soft-rock hymns to lyrics projected on huge TV screens at New Life Church, the First Congregational Church in Colorado Springs held a discussion entitled "Your Faith, Your Vote."
About 20 people gathered in an annexe next door to the rough-hewn church - a building that would not look out of place in Oxford or Boston - to hear a pair of speakers who had been to the two party conventions.
The Democrat was a member of the congregation; the Republican was a specially invited guest.
Surrounded by posters with slogans like "Peace is Patriotic" and "I'm a witness for Justice," many congregants expressed opposition to the war in Iraq and their disgust with President Bush.
"I choose in my own heart to believe that we are all made in Christ's image, but if I think something is wrong I really will speak out, and I think this country is on the wrong track," said Ann Whitlock, a nurse practitioner who supports gay rights and opposes a ban on abortion.
"I mean, let's face it, Christ would have had a ball with the people Bush doesn't support. The people that Bush condemns would have been Christ's congregation, the outcasts of society," she said.
She said she believed Mr Bush was a sincere Christian - but too small-minded.
"God is bigger. He is not your little Texan God."By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News Online in Colorado Springs and Boulder, Colorado
Mighty Miniscule
14 Comments
anyone who suggests that this is a "Christian" nation is flat out WRONG!
This is a country that believes in freedom of religion - or no religion at all and that is the way it is going to stay.
I have seen many people try to smother others with their religion but it wont work.
I have also seen politicians change their religious views in order to win office - like bush for example with that born again Christian bullshit *L*
Likewise, I have also seen politicians win for just being themselves - whatever religion or nonreligion they believe in!
Frankly I don't think religion should matter when it comes to public service - there are REALLY bad Christians and there are REALLY bad Athesists, Muslims, and so forth.
I'm not saying religion should lead a country- i'm just saying there should be no segretation between those who would lead a country into religious or not religious. I'm sure there are plenty of examples and research that can be collected to show how religious people act vs. non-religious people. Those are the types of studies that have to be completed in order to show tangible results between the two.
Not all people who have religion seek to impose it on others- just as there are many who do not have a religious belief that think people who do are silly and could seek to modifty their behaviors because they don't "get them"
If you can dig out a religion which has no God figure or omnipotent presence, and just promotes people co-existing because they're people, then yeah, they could govern!
I don't "believe" in socialism and in my opinion no socialist should be in a position to make world altering decisions....The sort of arrogance which is inside someone so much that it convinces them that we should all give all we make to the common "fund", is dangerous...
...see where i'm going with this? hehe ;)
:)
"Under The Sun / Every Day Comes & Goes"
Well I don't want no Jesus freak to tell me what it's all about
No black magician telling me to get my soul out
Don't believe in violence, I don't even believe in peace
I've opened the door and my mind has been released
Well I don't want no preacher telling me about the god in the sky
No I don't want no one to tell me where I'm gonna go when I die
I wanna live my life, I don't want people telling me what to do
I just believe in myself, 'cause no one else is true
Every day just comes and goes
Life is one big overdose
People try to ruin me
And I can't see through their frustration
People riding their real pace
Keep on running their rat race
The ante is risen once a week
In their world of make-believe
So believe what I tell you, it's the only way to fight in the end
Just believe in yourself, you know you really shouldn't have to pretend
Don't let those empty people try and interfere with your mind
Just live your life and leave them all behind
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)