The Encyclopedia of World Religions

346 S Polynesian religion

For example, some Christians have bombed abor tion clinics and killed medical personnel who pro vide abortions. However, most Americans realize that these people do not represent all Christians, though many Americans do believe that extremist Muslims and Hindus represent all people of their faiths. Further reading: N. J. Demerath, Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003); One Electorate under God? A Dialogue on Religion and American Politics, eds. E. J. Dionne Jr., Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Kayla M. Drogosz (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004); Religion Returns to the Public Square : Faith and Policy in America, Hugh Heclo and Wilfred M. McClay, eds. (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003); Kenneth D. Wald, Religion and Politics in the United States (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). polytheism Belief in many gods. Polytheism may be contrasted with MONOTHEISM or belief in one G OD , or with ATHEISM , belief in no god what soever. Most archaic religions, like E GYPTIAN RELI GION , M ESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION , G REEK RELIGION , and R OMAN RELIGION were polytheistic, though they may have believed that somewhere there was a supreme god or principle. Religions like H INDU ISM , M AHAYANA B UDDHISM , and T AOISM today may appear to be polytheistic, but many of their adher ents would insist that the many gods or BUDDHAS and BODHISATTVAS one sees in their temples should be regarded more like, say, the SAINTS in R OMAN C ATHOLICISM : glorified human beings who have attained near-divine holiness and so can help us, or else as personifications or aspects of the One. Some would say that S HINTO in Japan is the most nearly polytheistic religion found today in a major advanced society. Polynesian religion See P ACIFIC O CEAN RELIGIONS .

Chief Minister (governor) of an Indian state. From the inside, however, these movements often see themselves as pushing not religion but traditional culture, Hindutva (Hindu-ness) rather than Hindu ism. They want India to acknowledge that it is a Hindu state and to promote Hindu culture. Their activities have led to violence against Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Christians. The United States has a long tradition of separating religion and government, but it also has strong traditions of mixing religion and gov ernment. As followers of John C ALVIN (1509–64), the Pilgrims and Puritans believed that the state should obey and further God’s law ( see P URITAN ISM ). More recent practices mix religion and gov ernment, too, such as printing the phrase “In God We Trust” on U.S. money since the 1920s, adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and opening sessions of Con gress with a prayer. Not everyone sees such acts as religious. For example, in 2003 the Chief Justice of Alabama, Roy Moore (b. 1947), lost his office. He had erected a monument to the Ten Command ments in the rotunda of the state’s judiciary build ing and then refused to move it when ordered to do so. But Moore claimed his monument was not religious. It simply acknowledged the basis of all American law. Some Americans want to see more religion in government. Prominent conservative Christians like Pat Robertson (b. 1930) and Jerry Falwell (b. 1933) subscribe to what some call “domin ion theology.” They want the United States to acknowledge that it is a nation under God’s dominion or control and act accordingly. Since the 1980s many of their followers have tried to put these ideas into practice through activity in the Republican Party. Some have even said that the abbreviation G.O.P., from the party’s nick name, “Grand Old Party,” really means “God’s Own Party” and that a vote for Republican candi dates is a vote for God. Like some people in other parts of the world, certain Americans with these views have aban doned political processes. They have sought to make their ideals reality through acts of violence.