Witch Hunts
The first time I landed in the United States, I flew in to Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York. As I waited for my luggage it was hard to miss a huge billboard exhorting us to KEEP GOD IN AMERICA. Was God about to hop the next flight out? Over the years I have come to realize how ubiquitous this kind of easy religiosity is in the United States. It is easy to proclaim KEEP GOD IN AMERICA, but what does that entail? I say easy because it seems to require little more than spouting simplistic aphorisms and feeling self-righteous. It parrots mindless adages about morality and good and evil without actually considering the actions that would make them meaningful. It is on a par with platitudes like “America, love it or leave it.” “America right or wrong.” How do people think they are contributing to the well-being of their country or themselves with simplistic jingoism, be it religious or nationalistic? Watching some films from the 1950s, I would gues...