Why Americans believe in God

Tonight I was fortunate to sit down to dinner with two Scottish scholars I had never spoken to before, and Gudmundur Olafsson, from the National Museum, whom I have known for a long time but not well. He took us to the cave at Surthellir today, where he had excavated some years ago. It was challenging but fabulous. 

Dinner was also fabulous, especially the dinner conversation: politics, the financial collapse, American health care, and the Obama administration. Gudmundur brought up the religious fanatics in the US, and how they were working against the Obama administration. This got everyone talking about religion in the US, and how strange it is when US politicians mention praying to god before making a decision about this or that. The Scottish lady then brought up that in Great Britain, there was once a time when everyone was very religious also, not so long ago. This made me wonder whether or not it might be so that a strengthened belief in God has been our cultural response to taking on the role of a super power. 

I had never thought of this before, and indeed we then quickly thought of counter-examples where a belief in God is not necessary to support an image of (ie: naturalize) political superiority. 

But still, it seems to me both the reduction in religious fanaticism, and the reduction in the US perception of itself as a superpower, would go hand in hand, and it would be a good development. 

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