AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY: IN POLITICS AND RELIGION

by

ROBERT E. WILLOUGHBY

I have a vivid memory of an evening spent in the home of a man and his wife who had been my mentors and an inspiration while I was a young student at Yale Divinity School, preparing for the ministry. That evening, he and his wife literally unfolded their lives to me in the conversation and storytelling that ensued. There were repeated phrases like, “Do you remember?” ... and “We used to” ... and “I’ll never forget ...“

I realize now that it was not just storytelling. It was the sharing of personal mythology. It’s how we make sense out of our lives and give events significance. it parallels the myth-making of the human race--the ritual of remembering. It parallels the great themes of the myths of religion and national and ethical life. These myths often contain universal themes that tie us to all humanity--past, present, and future.

But there are also myths that have ossified, are dying and no longer speak to a present time because they have tried to perpetuate loyalty to a petrified tradition, to sanctified stupidity and muddled thinking.

If there is a theme for this message it is this. Some myths are dying. Some myths remain because they are as old and basic as life itself. Some new myths are being born, about what it will mean to live in one interconnected global community. All people throughout history have had a mythology, legendary stories and narratives attempting to explain their ideals, beliefs, history, and origins. These myths have also centered in their heroes and religious beliefs. The American Indians spoke of a Great Spirit at work in all of nature. Asian myths spoke of how a people came to be. Greek myths told stories of gods and goddesses who symbolized the functions of nature and of life.

It is relatively easy to recognize a myth in other peoples and cultures. But to recognize the myths in our own culture and nation is more difficult and can often lead to conflict. Because myths are guardians of our cultural identity, and when a myth is ever challenged as they are in our time, it has the capacity to cause conflict and an unsettling feeling in many.

Take a look with me at some of our American myths. Oh yes, we have them. One that we heard back in our grade-school days was about Washington and that cherry tree. For example: What do we mean when we use the phrase. “The American Dream?” It is probably that ideal which says that every American can experience success and wealth, can achieve whatever he wishes by vision and hard work. maybe even becoming president.

And then there’s the myth that has come forth from our historic cultural experience that says that in America there is liberty and justice for all. Never mind that liberty and justice did not always include minorities, immigrants or women, and that our history of slavery has forever left a scar on our American psyche that won’t go away.

Then there is that myth that seeks to justify the use of capital punishment by declaring that it is a deterrent against crime, that it will frighten criminals from perpetuating murder, rape and theft, even though we are the only nation in the western world to keep people on death row who are time and again proven innocent. As a people, we seem to have a cultural love affair with capital punishment.

There is also that American myth that came out of our expansion westward which declared to the family of nations that America had a “Manifest Destiny,” a destiny that said that our greatness as a nation is due to our strength, a democracy that is exportable, and a culture that is the envy of the world. Woe be to any nation that tries to challenge us. Above all, God has blessed us in a unique way to be a guiding light to all peoples everywhere.

Then there’s that myth perpetuated by our more conservative brethren that America is a Christian nation, which means that those who consider themselves Christian have the right to exclusivity when it comes to prayer in the classrooms and in inaugurations, plus the right to convert others to their point of view as well as their particular moral and ethical codes, even though every major world religion is now well represented in our land of diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Yes, and there is the myth that we are one nation “indivisible.” except for our divisiveness in our social, political, religious, and cultural patterns. Indeed, we do have our myths as a nation, and woe be to those who would challenge these myths and who would suggest changes in our thinking, our attitudes and moral and ethical ideals. These are only a few of our American myths, and it daily becomes more and more obvious that when some of these myths are challenged--as many are in our time- -the reaction is often anger and a confused state of insecurity. In some cases, the reaction is outright violence.

Which now leads me to the mythologies behind the American forms of Christianity itself. Most of the stories that have evolved into myths came out of the first four centuries of the Christian experience and. like myths everywhere, they easily over time became real history to many. No matter how fantastic the stories, if they were challenged or questioned as they are in our time by biblical scholars, theologians and archeologists, there are those who are getting very upset because it compells the believers to rethink and renegotiate both the real and the imaginary that for almost 2000 years has determined the shape of the Christian mentality.

What began in the first century following the death of Jesus was an oral tradition of stories, remembered words and experiences. This was followed by a wide variety of written documents, many of them vastly different in emphasis from one another. Decisions were finally made in Rome which documents would be included in a final canon format, which came down to the four gospels and the letters of Paul. Thus, this pattern became the foundation for Christian myth, ritual and sermonizing for nearly 2000 years. Fortunately. there remained a number of individuals and groups who saw it all quite differently. Orthodoxy had been determined by Rome. but there were always dissenters, thank God!

What then happened in American Christian mythology? Most American Christians grew up with a conventional image of the faith that is still the accepted understanding among evangelicals and fundamentalists. So deeply ingrained are these myths among our conservative brethren that a deep divisiveness is seen everywhere in our land in almost every aspect of our national life, religiously, morally, politically, socially. and culturally.

The first myth of conventional Christianity said that you must take the Bible, in all its diverse contents, literally. You must believe that the Bible is inerrant and that events and sayings happened as it said, never to be questioned, including the creation myths, virgin birth. and the physical resurrection.

The second myth emerged out of the creeds of the fourth and fifth centuries, like the Nicean Creed of 325 where believers were to accept without question the words of orthodox doctrine, which included the concept of a three-tiered universe and a real heaven and hell. So. Sunday after Sunday, these creeds are uttered with little or no thought given to what prescientific jargon they are repeating.

Then there developed the myths about Christian morals. It came down to ideas of what it meant to be good and righteous and who were the sinners and who were the saved. This myth became all about sin and guilt and their consequences.

Then there developed the myth of exclusivity, the idea that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that Christianity is the only true religion on earth, and that all those who do not believe are doomed. The claim is that Jesus’ blood sacrifice, no matter how pagan and gross that concept may be. is the only way a judgmental deity will be appeased and we saved.

The final myth of conventional American Christianity is its death orientation, which cries out to the non-believer: “Where will you spend eternity?” It all boiled down to the idea that to be saved meant heaven, the rest to eternal damnation.

American conventional Christianity came to this: To be a Christian now meant salvation later. It is this conceptual. mythological. conventional view of Christianity that in our time has become undone. What has caused this undoing?

First, we have come to a greater understanding and appreciation of the world’s other great religions.

Second. we are increasingly more aware of our historic and cultural relativity as we become aware of other cultures and beliefs.

Third, we have come to a scientific awareness of the distorted, limited thinking of fundamentalism and orthodoxy.

Fourth. we are living at the dawning of a new millennium and a new cultural view of life that is dawning as well.

And finally, we are becoming aware of the vast number of changes taking place in all areas of life that are compelling new awareness and understanding.

So. I close with this story. There was a family with a mother, father. and two sons. The younger son, Jack, decided that he was ready to leave home, to strike out on his own. His parents had mixed feelings. They wanted to see him finish college first. But Jack thought his parents were too dominating and demanding. His wish was to get as far away as possible, to take what he thought was his share of the family resources to get started, and to make his own way.

One night over the evening meal, a family fight ensued. Hard words were spoken. Jack left the table in anger and walked out of the house, slamming doors behind him. Nothing the father could say would change Jack’s mind.

The next morning before Jack’s father left for work, he told his wife to give their son a check to get him started. In his anger and frustration he said, “To hell with him! I wash my hands of him!”

But the mother knew two things. Their youngest was so much like his father, and the father had also run away from home at about the same age. She gave her son a check and tearfully watched him toss his luggage into his old car and drive off. His mother grieved, as mothers often do. The father cursed the younger son. He wondered why the younger son was not more like the elder son who had finished college, married, was having a fine family, and had entered into the family business.

Jack finally landed in San Francisco. He found a good job in a restaurant. But the temptations of life in the city finally got to him. He found himself with friends who opened the door to drugs and heavy

drinking. He also slept with many women. One day he lost his job. He had to sell his car, finally ending up on welfare. He finally found a job as a dishwasher in a nightclub. With no apartment, he slept on an old mattress in a storeroom of the nightclub. His health deteriorated, he was often hungry, became ill, lonely and depressed. He began to think of home.

Jack borrowed money from the nightclub manager and rode a bus for almost twenty hours, arriving in his hometown very early in the morning on a Sunday. He slowly walked about the town, past his old grade school and the high school, and past the church where the family had always gone. Slowly he made his way toward home, wondering. “What if they don’t want me?”

The father had just come out on the porch to get the morning paper. He happened to look up and saw that familiar figure coming toward him. As if in a dream, the father started walking toward his son. thinking still of many of the harsh words he wanted to say. The son kept walking, seeing his father coming toward him. Suddenly the

father lifted his arms. The son ran into them. Tears were shed.
‘I

“Welcome home, my son, were the words that came forth. What a reunion!

This is one of the most famous myths of all religious literature. It’s all about some of the most elemental issues of life--separation. alienation, forgiveness, acceptance, and reunion. The crossing over from separation to reconciliation.

Some myths are dying.

Some myths remain, as old and as basic as life itself.

New myths are being born, the vision of one global community yet to be.