5 reviews
A miniseries like this is likely to be controversial... as is a review of it.
This was an interesting, if biased, three-part miniseries (in six parts each about 55 minutes long on the web) on Christianity in the US. I found the first 4 hours to be the most useful, perhaps because I didn't have as much familiarity with early US religious history as I do with the last 80 years or so.
The title "God in America" does tell you what to expect -- it's not Allah in America, or Buddha in America, or even Religion in America. Although the series does make some very brief examination of other religions ("Judism" as one person calls Judaism, and Islam) and also very briefly looks at atheism, it's almost entirely about Christianity, and presenting it in as positive and patriotic a light as possible, subtly questioning the First Amendment separation of church and state, while still appearing educational.
More time should have been spent on discussing the religion of native Americans, as their god(s) have been in America far longer than any more-recently-imported gods. Other than a brief prelude in the first episode, they are completely ignored.
Also ignored, Lief Erikson discovered and temporarily settled somewhere in America (perhaps Newfoundland or Massachusetts) for the European Vikings in the decade 1000-1010. He had battles with native Americans, although there didn't appear to be an attempt to convert them. Lief was a Christian at the time, and had spread Christian beliefs in Greenland.
I didn't know much about the original European religions imported to the US, so I was surprised to learn of the strong Anglican roots of the southern colonies, something they share in common with English-speaking Canada of the times. It was surprising that they omitted the fact that it was forced to become the Episcopal church, to avoid allegiance to the monarch of England, while the Catholic church was not required to do the same for its allegiance to the head of state of the Vatican.
All favorable religious claims are taken at face value, and unfavorable religious claims (such as those supporting slavery) are glossed over. They seem to have missed the New Testament verses Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:22-4:1, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Titus 2:9-10, and 1 Peter 2:18-25. Slavery is wrong, but you can't say it's not Christian. If the US Civil War came to be about a Christian argument about slavery, then some explanation as to why these verses don't count, and yet deserve to remain in the Bible, really needs to be there.
The series strongly links Christianity to liberty. For example, it is shown as the underpinning of the black civil rights movement, but it is not shown as also the religion of the anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-black KKK at the same time (in fact, I never heard KKK mentioned at all, despite their infamous flaming crosses), and it is not shown as also the primary opposition to the LGBT civil rights movement of recent decades (not mentioned at all as a civil rights movement). Last, the Christian hostility to atheism is viewed mostly as how atheists used the courts to attack Christianity, and were viewed as un-American. Despite now being the second-largest group in the US, after Christians, their own story is largely ignored except as how Christians viewed it. We never learn of their thought processes, and their world views.
The Christian activist Rick Warren is mentioned in the final episode as an example of the way religious groups were stepping back from politics. But later, the series omits his controversial appearance at Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration (they show the inauguration, but don't mention Warren here), after his anti-LGBT advocacy in Uganda in 2008, which likely contributed to the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill the same year he spoke at Obama's inauguration.
For perspective, it would have been useful to compare the religious history of Canada, a nation that I wager is at least as diverse of religious opinion as the US, despite the video's bold (and wrong) claim that the US is the most religiously diverse country on the planet. In both countries, Christians are said to make up about 82-83% of the population, and no religion is the next largest general group at about 12-13%, followed by Judaism at about 1-2%. The largest Christian denomination in each is Catholic. This doesn't seem diverse to me, and certainly doesn't indicate the US as unique when Canada has strikingly similar numbers. The UK, which plays the role of "baddie" in this series turns out slightly more diverse, with about 47% Christian, 46% no religion, 3% Muslim, and 1% Hindu.
I'm also baffled that the series omits almost entirely the Mormons, with only a brief mention of the Latter Day Saints, not mentioning that they dominate one state, and are a fast-growing religion. They should have said whether, for purposes of the miniseries, they were considering Mormons to be Christians, as many Christians do not.
And although Scientology is a small movement, it has very big name publicity, and being grown in the US it deserves a mention.
Perhaps most bizarrely, the series paints Obama as a new unifying Christian president, despite the fact that he rejected his own United Church of Christ pastor when the election campaign got tough, and that nearly 20% of the US population now say he is Muslim.
Anyway, to sum up, I recommend the first 4 hours or so, because (assuming they are accurate) they present a basic outline of the history of Christianity in the USA, which is useful to understand how the past is influencing things today. The final 2 hours or so are less useful. I'm certain that the 20th century and current events are covered better elsewhere, although perhaps not in a single film.
This was an interesting, if biased, three-part miniseries (in six parts each about 55 minutes long on the web) on Christianity in the US. I found the first 4 hours to be the most useful, perhaps because I didn't have as much familiarity with early US religious history as I do with the last 80 years or so.
The title "God in America" does tell you what to expect -- it's not Allah in America, or Buddha in America, or even Religion in America. Although the series does make some very brief examination of other religions ("Judism" as one person calls Judaism, and Islam) and also very briefly looks at atheism, it's almost entirely about Christianity, and presenting it in as positive and patriotic a light as possible, subtly questioning the First Amendment separation of church and state, while still appearing educational.
More time should have been spent on discussing the religion of native Americans, as their god(s) have been in America far longer than any more-recently-imported gods. Other than a brief prelude in the first episode, they are completely ignored.
Also ignored, Lief Erikson discovered and temporarily settled somewhere in America (perhaps Newfoundland or Massachusetts) for the European Vikings in the decade 1000-1010. He had battles with native Americans, although there didn't appear to be an attempt to convert them. Lief was a Christian at the time, and had spread Christian beliefs in Greenland.
I didn't know much about the original European religions imported to the US, so I was surprised to learn of the strong Anglican roots of the southern colonies, something they share in common with English-speaking Canada of the times. It was surprising that they omitted the fact that it was forced to become the Episcopal church, to avoid allegiance to the monarch of England, while the Catholic church was not required to do the same for its allegiance to the head of state of the Vatican.
All favorable religious claims are taken at face value, and unfavorable religious claims (such as those supporting slavery) are glossed over. They seem to have missed the New Testament verses Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:22-4:1, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Titus 2:9-10, and 1 Peter 2:18-25. Slavery is wrong, but you can't say it's not Christian. If the US Civil War came to be about a Christian argument about slavery, then some explanation as to why these verses don't count, and yet deserve to remain in the Bible, really needs to be there.
The series strongly links Christianity to liberty. For example, it is shown as the underpinning of the black civil rights movement, but it is not shown as also the religion of the anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-black KKK at the same time (in fact, I never heard KKK mentioned at all, despite their infamous flaming crosses), and it is not shown as also the primary opposition to the LGBT civil rights movement of recent decades (not mentioned at all as a civil rights movement). Last, the Christian hostility to atheism is viewed mostly as how atheists used the courts to attack Christianity, and were viewed as un-American. Despite now being the second-largest group in the US, after Christians, their own story is largely ignored except as how Christians viewed it. We never learn of their thought processes, and their world views.
The Christian activist Rick Warren is mentioned in the final episode as an example of the way religious groups were stepping back from politics. But later, the series omits his controversial appearance at Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration (they show the inauguration, but don't mention Warren here), after his anti-LGBT advocacy in Uganda in 2008, which likely contributed to the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill the same year he spoke at Obama's inauguration.
For perspective, it would have been useful to compare the religious history of Canada, a nation that I wager is at least as diverse of religious opinion as the US, despite the video's bold (and wrong) claim that the US is the most religiously diverse country on the planet. In both countries, Christians are said to make up about 82-83% of the population, and no religion is the next largest general group at about 12-13%, followed by Judaism at about 1-2%. The largest Christian denomination in each is Catholic. This doesn't seem diverse to me, and certainly doesn't indicate the US as unique when Canada has strikingly similar numbers. The UK, which plays the role of "baddie" in this series turns out slightly more diverse, with about 47% Christian, 46% no religion, 3% Muslim, and 1% Hindu.
I'm also baffled that the series omits almost entirely the Mormons, with only a brief mention of the Latter Day Saints, not mentioning that they dominate one state, and are a fast-growing religion. They should have said whether, for purposes of the miniseries, they were considering Mormons to be Christians, as many Christians do not.
And although Scientology is a small movement, it has very big name publicity, and being grown in the US it deserves a mention.
Perhaps most bizarrely, the series paints Obama as a new unifying Christian president, despite the fact that he rejected his own United Church of Christ pastor when the election campaign got tough, and that nearly 20% of the US population now say he is Muslim.
Anyway, to sum up, I recommend the first 4 hours or so, because (assuming they are accurate) they present a basic outline of the history of Christianity in the USA, which is useful to understand how the past is influencing things today. The final 2 hours or so are less useful. I'm certain that the 20th century and current events are covered better elsewhere, although perhaps not in a single film.
- rgcustomer
- Oct 22, 2010
- Permalink
I just watched this for free on PBS.org . Seems like they put several documentaries up for free for the whole world to watch. Thanks for that!
At the end this is not really a recommended watch. It feels very dated, and the production is not slick in any sense. It reminds me of old school documentaries on VHS.
The first 4 episodes are actually pretty interesting at times. The acting out of old letters is weird and takes you out of the story as the actors are just acting for themselves in a small room. It's weird and hard to understand the old English presented in a theatrical way. It takes you out of the world. The stories about the people back in the days before cameras are great and deliver the best drama in the series. So it's a hit and miss, but overall there is something to watch there as you get those short interesting stories from A to B about some obscure person who lived a weird life.
The last 2 episodes then makes it seem like the whole documentary may be biased too. I know of Martin Luther King, Bush and Obama. No need to make 2 episodes about these old boring stories. I have seen them many times before. Here they focus on the religion, but it's basically just about their faith behind the scenes. It feels like the documentary makers just wanted to really force something modern into this documentary and just showed some of the most popular modern Americans to the kids. I'm also not really sure what role all those preachers play in modern history. I guess they did influence things, but it's all left hanging. There is for example no clear line between any preacher and then any other person in the documentary 20 years later. They are just presented as having lived. Which makes me think that the preachers from 1800's may also not have had as lasting influence as one may assume from the documentary. They never really proved any great and consistent effect over time. I'm also not really sure what this documentary is about. American religion? It starts out being about Christianity only. Which is not true for USA back then. Europeans weren't alone in USA. Today Christianity does seem to be the state religion of sorts, but the new episodes suddenly mention Islam as a peaceful religion without explaining what Islam even is or why it's relevant to any modern American values or laws. They should have made this about 1800's only and then also included American Indian religions.
Overall I knew about many of these stories and so will most viewers. There are some okay episodes here too though. I can't recommend the last 2 episodes as they try to be modern, but are about the 2000's. So 10-20 years old and maybe taking those current stories too seriously. There is a new president now. And they also seem to be about some obscure concepts that may have influenced the presidents, but maybe didn't. Overall the greatest fault in those 2 episodes is the same thing as in the first 4 episodes. They are not focused on a story. They are all over the place and not consistently telling a clear story about a single thing. They never really show anything clearly enough. So it's hard to really conclude that anything that happened there even matters today. I think it would be better if they clearly illustrated moral values and focused more on the population instead of mostly the presidents and then the big black people in American history.
At the end this is not really a recommended watch. It feels very dated, and the production is not slick in any sense. It reminds me of old school documentaries on VHS.
The first 4 episodes are actually pretty interesting at times. The acting out of old letters is weird and takes you out of the story as the actors are just acting for themselves in a small room. It's weird and hard to understand the old English presented in a theatrical way. It takes you out of the world. The stories about the people back in the days before cameras are great and deliver the best drama in the series. So it's a hit and miss, but overall there is something to watch there as you get those short interesting stories from A to B about some obscure person who lived a weird life.
The last 2 episodes then makes it seem like the whole documentary may be biased too. I know of Martin Luther King, Bush and Obama. No need to make 2 episodes about these old boring stories. I have seen them many times before. Here they focus on the religion, but it's basically just about their faith behind the scenes. It feels like the documentary makers just wanted to really force something modern into this documentary and just showed some of the most popular modern Americans to the kids. I'm also not really sure what role all those preachers play in modern history. I guess they did influence things, but it's all left hanging. There is for example no clear line between any preacher and then any other person in the documentary 20 years later. They are just presented as having lived. Which makes me think that the preachers from 1800's may also not have had as lasting influence as one may assume from the documentary. They never really proved any great and consistent effect over time. I'm also not really sure what this documentary is about. American religion? It starts out being about Christianity only. Which is not true for USA back then. Europeans weren't alone in USA. Today Christianity does seem to be the state religion of sorts, but the new episodes suddenly mention Islam as a peaceful religion without explaining what Islam even is or why it's relevant to any modern American values or laws. They should have made this about 1800's only and then also included American Indian religions.
Overall I knew about many of these stories and so will most viewers. There are some okay episodes here too though. I can't recommend the last 2 episodes as they try to be modern, but are about the 2000's. So 10-20 years old and maybe taking those current stories too seriously. There is a new president now. And they also seem to be about some obscure concepts that may have influenced the presidents, but maybe didn't. Overall the greatest fault in those 2 episodes is the same thing as in the first 4 episodes. They are not focused on a story. They are all over the place and not consistently telling a clear story about a single thing. They never really show anything clearly enough. So it's hard to really conclude that anything that happened there even matters today. I think it would be better if they clearly illustrated moral values and focused more on the population instead of mostly the presidents and then the big black people in American history.
- JurijFedorov
- Jul 12, 2019
- Permalink
It's very disorganized. There is a lot of random content. Unfortunately, America has been hijacked by Christianity for generations and that will be the undoing of our country as we know it.
When you have generations of indoctrination everything just becomes "it is just the way it is" and this has definitely given rise to our current political climate.
It has been hundreds of years of persistence towards one idea. If you look at the history of that idea outside of the parameters of human design, the evidence is clear who and why this has been developing this way.
Frontline, needs to examine this with a global perspective and could do a lot better job highlighting how these has developed. When you look at Religion from only a Religious lens and highlight how that religion operates, that's not clear or objective, it's literally bias.
When you have generations of indoctrination everything just becomes "it is just the way it is" and this has definitely given rise to our current political climate.
It has been hundreds of years of persistence towards one idea. If you look at the history of that idea outside of the parameters of human design, the evidence is clear who and why this has been developing this way.
Frontline, needs to examine this with a global perspective and could do a lot better job highlighting how these has developed. When you look at Religion from only a Religious lens and highlight how that religion operates, that's not clear or objective, it's literally bias.
- stargazer-12219
- Jul 18, 2023
- Permalink
There are not many documentaries about national mottos but this is the root of our cultural identity. Deism allianates Atheism. Out of Many, while "In God We Trust is a philosophical and religious position. A German word Godan, now equates to Christians and Jesus?
Look at the world stage, how many countries have changed their motto's in the last 100+ yrs.
Somehow Patriotism in U. S is closely tethered to Christianity and Jesus on a cross (Theism). That's no accident. Eisenhower & Graham shaped generations of Christian influence and amplified that indoctrination. Not to mention Israel, the league of nations and countering Communism. Theology, The original Political Science. American tradition is that product.
Concluding our world has to be by intelligent design is a position constructed with "belief" and a national motto is more then just ceremonial.
Today, the entire GOP is composed of Christian's imposing national values. That's the definition of Christian Nationalism and the essence of a One Religion State. That is the concentration of one religion. The Founders wrote the constitution to dilute religion by diversifying it to expand knowledge and innovation.
Now, more than ever, it's been consolidated to govern human behavior through morals and ethics and promote a single religion in America, Christianity.
Look at the world stage, how many countries have changed their motto's in the last 100+ yrs.
Somehow Patriotism in U. S is closely tethered to Christianity and Jesus on a cross (Theism). That's no accident. Eisenhower & Graham shaped generations of Christian influence and amplified that indoctrination. Not to mention Israel, the league of nations and countering Communism. Theology, The original Political Science. American tradition is that product.
Concluding our world has to be by intelligent design is a position constructed with "belief" and a national motto is more then just ceremonial.
Today, the entire GOP is composed of Christian's imposing national values. That's the definition of Christian Nationalism and the essence of a One Religion State. That is the concentration of one religion. The Founders wrote the constitution to dilute religion by diversifying it to expand knowledge and innovation.
Now, more than ever, it's been consolidated to govern human behavior through morals and ethics and promote a single religion in America, Christianity.