Fantasy Land - Chapter 5 Breakdown

The Separation of Church and State Under the American Dream

Chapter 5 of Fantasy Land by Kurt Andersen

Written by Dawson Rountree

    Quaker Meeting by Egbert van Heemskerck II

    Kurt Anderson’s Fantasy Land seeks to explain our nation's tendency towards sensationalism by delving into our past. The purpose is to put forward an argument as to why Americans are uniquely programmed to be susceptible to misinformation using examples from its birth and development. Anderson explains that this phenomenon sneaks its way into our culture in a plethora of ways-from famed businessmen like P.T. Barnum and Donald Trump-all the way back to the first settlers to land on American soil. What connects each of these examples are the manufactured truths they were able to sell to an entire nation and how they dominated over systems of logic. America was founded on myths: the myth vast gold reserves that was never found; the myth that this would be the new Promise Land equivalent to Israel for early Christians. Many English settlers were seduced by these untrue assessments of the wealth and bounty that lie in the New World, thus, sensationalism is in our nation’s blood. 

    Chapter Five, “The God-Given Right to Believe in God”, details the approaches many protestant English settlers took to creating their individual, DIY utopias. Unsurprisingly, many of these settlements quickly took to persecuting individuals who questioned their belief systems, mirroring their English forebearers within decades. Anderson highlights the hypocrisy of many colonists who fled the religious oppression of the established structures in Europe only to implement the same tyranny in the New World on a much broader scale. Two notable exceptions from this phenomenon are the settlements of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, founded by William Penn and Roger Williams respectively. These two colonists’ reflected an early approach to separating church and state, granting individuals the freedom to believe whatever they want-their interpretation of the American Dream.

    Roger Williams was always a bit of a disruptor. Upon his initial arrival in New England, he was quick to disagree with many of the, though young, preceding establishments. He especially disagreed with the king's patents and grants for land near Plymouth, being one of the few to encourage direct purchase of land from the indigenous Indians to gain legitimate ownership rights. Williams also expressed that no magistrate was to meddle in matters of religion. He referred to a “high wall” that should exist between the practices of the government, what he deemed the “wilderness” and the established, ancient practice of their religion. What Williams was expressing here was the fragility of the government-which many had directly experienced with Great Britain-and their sacred spirituality. Protecting his religion, to Williams, was key, and letting the tendrils of bureaucracy penetrate the divide would be polluting.

    Williams returned to Salem just before being banished from Massachusetts for his views that were openly against many of the legal officials. After setting sail for a new beginning, he landed in what would become Rhode Island and founded the capital of Providence on land purchased from the native Narragensett Indians in 1636. The colony became a haven for those who existed “on the fringe” of society, religion wise-quackers, baptists, and mennonites found a home here. Williams also upheld a friendly relationship with the Narragansett Indians the land was purchased from, growing an interest in their own practices and learning their language. More on Williams.

    Roger Williams was an innovator amongst early America for a lot of reasons. His ideas about the government's place in enforcing religion was one of the earliest and most influential ideas of this disconnect. Almost every major civilization up to this point emphasized their “divine right” to rule as a reason to conquer and colonize existing peoples, strip them of their culture, and imbed in them their own. That was the world Williams was experiencing, yet he chose to adhere to a more Puritan view of religion than the growing English colonies around him. In turn, he kept the integrity of his faith while allowing others the ability to do the same. The Colonists and Religious Freedom

  

    William Penn, on a similar note, had a life full of challenging authority while being linked to royalty. He was expelled from Christ Church College of Oxford for denouncing Anglicanism. Because of this, he only received formal education by grammar schools, a small Protestant college, and all the books he could read. After encountering a Quaker minister preaching, he decided to adopt the worldview. Often characterized as "extremists" because of their unconventionality and practices of nonviolence, Quakers believed in spiritual equality, many being early advocates for women and African Americans. They emphasized the very protestant idea of a more personal relation with God and religion where each individual is the sole benefactor of their faith, interpreting the Bible alone. Quakers existed in the minority of British society, often persecuted for defying the king's judgment. Most of all, however, the introspection and subjectivity that characterized the Quaker's beliefs weren't only a question of his authority, but a threat to his power.

    His father was Sir William Penn, a British admiral, giving the young Penn close ties with the king at the time, Charles II. However, it was through the Quakers that he’d come to the New World during the fraught political situation in England, being given land west of the New Jersey settlement he’d initially arrived in. He was determined to make the new settlement, similar to Rhode Island, a haven for those marginalized ideologically. Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods" was named for his father. It was the first state intended as a "holy experiment" and founded in 1681. Penn was inspired by Williams' approach to government influence in the life of its people and built Pennsylvania on the premise of a land intended for the Quakers who originated it but open to all. The state's first major city, Philadelphia, was called the "City of Brotherly Love". Penn emphasized it's wholesomeness and hoped his vision for the colony would sustain generations.

    Ever since my first American history classes, I was really taken aback by these two men's philosophies. They seem plain to us now, but what we take for granted now was a luxury then. In many countries around the world, the decisions on what groups of people are free and what groups of people are prosecuted sometimes hinge on religion, with rulers utilizing an age old tactic as a smokescreen to maintain power. I feel like the core of the philosophies that motivated these men was the never-ending questioning one must subject themselves to to not only grow, but live a meaningful life. In many cases, faith succeeds based on a lack of scrutiny; taking things at face value. Penn and Williams seemed to be vehemently against that sort of complicity, the complicity that continues holding us back today.