16/06/2005
stampa
invia
During a recent edition of his Late Night Show, the CBS anchorman David Letterman
summarised in a sentence the religious fervour that inspires a growing part of
the American population. Number two on his satirical list of the ten things to
say before eating a cheeseburger of almost seven kilos - recently added to the
menu of a fast-food restaurant in Pennsylvania - was “What would Jesus do?” Judging
from the laughter this provoked in the studio, this was the best joke of the night
for the Late Night Show’s cosmopolitan New York audience. But, on the contrary,
at least a quarter of Americans wouldn’t have found it funny. “What would Jesus
do” is a question you hear more and more often in the USA. For born-again Christians,
those evangelists who say they have discovered the true faith and live according
to the dictates of the Bible, this represents something like a daily point of
reference .
stampainvia
A quarter of Americans define themselves as “born-again Christians”. But what do they really want?
from our correspondent
Alessandro Ursic
Alessandro Ursic
During a recent edition of his Late Night Show, the CBS anchorman David Letterman
summarised in a sentence the religious fervour that inspires a growing part of
the American population. Number two on his satirical list of the ten things to
say before eating a cheeseburger of almost seven kilos - recently added to the
menu of a fast-food restaurant in Pennsylvania - was “What would Jesus do?” Judging
from the laughter this provoked in the studio, this was the best joke of the night
for the Late Night Show’s cosmopolitan New York audience. But, on the contrary,
at least a quarter of Americans wouldn’t have found it funny. “What would Jesus
do” is a question you hear more and more often in the USA. For born-again Christians,
those evangelists who say they have discovered the true faith and live according
to the dictates of the Bible, this represents something like a daily point of
reference . What they want. Nowadays, 25% of Americans define themselves as born-again Christians. While
not all experts agree that the percentage of evangelists has increased in recent
years, if they haven’t increased in numbers they certainly make more noise. Influential
figures on the American political, economic and judicial
scenes are part of this movement, with the hardcore of the Republican party made
up of evangelists and George Bush a born-again Christian. Conscious of their influence,
the evangelical movement aims to redefine the boundaries between State and Church
by, apart from other things, introducing prayers in school and tightening up on
abortion laws. At the same time, they want nothing to do with gay marriages and
euthanasia, and in the Terri Schiavo case - the Florida woman who survived in
a vegetable state for 15 years before the plug of her life-support system was
disconnected - the evangelical en masse supported president Bush’s defence of
the “life culture”. In fact it’s exactly on this point that many people don’t
understand the mentality of evangelical, since they claim to be “pro life“ as
far as abortion is concerned but at the same time almost all of them are in favour
of the death penalty.
scenes are part of this movement, with the hardcore of the Republican party made
up of evangelists and George Bush a born-again Christian. Conscious of their influence,
the evangelical movement aims to redefine the boundaries between State and Church
by, apart from other things, introducing prayers in school and tightening up on
abortion laws. At the same time, they want nothing to do with gay marriages and
euthanasia, and in the Terri Schiavo case - the Florida woman who survived in
a vegetable state for 15 years before the plug of her life-support system was
disconnected - the evangelical en masse supported president Bush’s defence of
the “life culture”. In fact it’s exactly on this point that many people don’t
understand the mentality of evangelical, since they claim to be “pro life“ as
far as abortion is concerned but at the same time almost all of them are in favour
of the death penalty. Sunday in the country. Nashville, Tennessee, the city with the highest number of churches pro-capita
in America, is not surprisingly referred to as the “belt” of the Bible belt. Here
are the Americans that secular Europeans don’t understand. It’s a hot Sunday in
June and like every year hundreds of members of the Baptist church - particularly
conservative and very popular in the south of the USA - are having a picnic on
the banks of a lake a few kilometres outside the city to celebrate the arrival
of summer. The vast majority are white adults with an average age of around 50,
although there‘s also a good number of young families with small children.
There are very few members of minority groups: a couple of Asians, a few Hispanics
and even less Afro-Americans. Then there are dozens of teenagers, American Pope-boys,
who only drink one beer at most because getting drunk is bad, don’t use drugs
and are proud to be virgins. All of them say that they pray every day, that they’ve
read the Bible at least once (“one of my friends has read thirty different versions”,
a woman proudly claims), and that their favourite shop is the enormous LifeWay
Christian Store in the centre of town. This would be an unthinkably kitsch place
even in the most religious European country, selling books and religious greeting
cards, CDs by Christian pop/rock groups, colouring Bibles for children and ties
and socks decorated with the cross.
There are very few members of minority groups: a couple of Asians, a few Hispanics
and even less Afro-Americans. Then there are dozens of teenagers, American Pope-boys,
who only drink one beer at most because getting drunk is bad, don’t use drugs
and are proud to be virgins. All of them say that they pray every day, that they’ve
read the Bible at least once (“one of my friends has read thirty different versions”,
a woman proudly claims), and that their favourite shop is the enormous LifeWay
Christian Store in the centre of town. This would be an unthinkably kitsch place
even in the most religious European country, selling books and religious greeting
cards, CDs by Christian pop/rock groups, colouring Bibles for children and ties
and socks decorated with the cross. The rebirth. Both adults and young people say they found the true faith at a precise moment
in their lives, thanks to a very deep mental experience. They don’t say “I’ve
always believed” but speak of having “received God” at a particular age, and even
if they still hadn’t come of age at that time they understood that they had to
follow the example of Jesus. Some of them remember having a mystical experience,
such as the local pastor Rus Roach who can still describe the exact details of
the time he received God: “All at once, while I was praying, my face began perspiring
and I became red”, he explained.
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