LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY transmission31g)

The resurgence of evangelism in the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been facilitated, in large part, by the revival of hitherto dead and discredited arguments. The common assertion, for example, that America was founded as a Christian nation should indicate that one ought to be able to find clear articulations of this principle proximate to the time of the country’s founding; however, one finds precisely the opposite in the private and public writings of the founders, and in various official and legal documents of the period. For example, Article 11 of The Treaty of Tripoli states: “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” This was approved unanimously by the Senate in 1797, signed by John Adams, and met with no public controversy.

The evolution debate, similarly, was until recently a thing of the past. In fact, the universal mockery that followed the Scopes Trial was what essentially destroyed the evangelical movement of the early 20th century and drove it underground for the next fifty years. Now, however, it’s perfectly acceptable for the evangelical movement to use the same argument that brought about its dissolution three-quarters of a century ago as a potent tool for gaining new adherents.

Apart from the fact that the majority Americans tend to have astonishingly short memories and a dim historical consciousness, does anybody have any ideas or opinions as to how this particular form of regression became a reality?