Chapter 5: Religion

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From the course by Rice University

America Through Foreign Eyes

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Rice University

America Through Foreign Eyes

91 оценки

The United States has always been a source of fascination — both attraction and repulsion — for the people of France, Mexico, China, and African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Sudan. "America Through Foreign Eyes" is a rich, interdisciplinary, international course that features Rice University faculty from a variety of disciplines and area studies. Focused on perceptions of America abroad, the course is a cross between World Cultures and American Studies. The course features four modules, each covering the perceptions and interactions of particular regions with America, Americans and Americanization.

From the lesson

America Through Mexican Eyes

The United States has always been a source of fascination for the people of Mexico. Mexican observers and travelers are rarely indifferent to American culture and people. This module, “ America Through Mexican Eyes,” examines historical and contemporary perceptions of America, Americans, and Americanization through the lens of Mexican writers, artists, politicians, intellectuals, and public opinion. Taught by Dr. Moramay López-Alonso, a professor of History, this module will cover the four themes of the course: Democracy and Modernity; Globalization and Capitalism; Racism and Immigration; and Intellectual and Cultural Life.

Chapter 1: America through Mexican Eyes: Inseparable Histories7:36

Chapter 2: The Gringo, Yankee, and American4:46

Chapter 3: Immigration5:57

Chapter 4: Racism5:13

Chapter 5: Religion5:08

Chapter 6: Temples of Knowledge: Education, Universities and Libraries11:31

Chapter 7: Food8:06

Chapter 8: American Women5:26

Chapter 9: Capitalism and Modernity10:13

Chapter 10: Democracy and Empire7:02

Meet the Instructors

Dr. Anne S. Chao
Lecturer
Rice University
Dr. Julie Fette
Associate Professor
Rice University
Dr. Jeffrey Fleisher
Associate Professor
Rice University
Dr. Moramay López-Alonso
Associate Professor
Rice University

In the last chapter,

we talked about racism in the United States viewed through Mexican eyes.

In this chapter we will talk about religion, another

pillar of the United States, which prides itself as being one nation under God.

In the 19th century, many Mexican travelers wrote much about it but

over time interest in the subject diminished.

Mexicans and

Americans are two nations that experienced their religiosity in contrasting ways.

Such contrast produced many comments from travelers.

The United States is a nation that was founded by devout who wanted freedom

of religion.

Mainly Protestant Christian.

Mexico is a Catholic country that endured several wars in the 19th century

in order to have a secular state with freedom of religion.

Mexico continues to be a Catholic nation that has freedom of religion.

Since 1857, in Mexico, religion became a matter of the private sphere.

Still, religious festivities often turned into public celebration and

that was accepted as long as the government was not involved.

To Mexicans,

the way Americans live their religious ceremonies was rather unfortunate,

especially when it came to Sundays, the day of the Lord for American Protestants.

Many Mexican intellectuals commented on the solemn nature

of Sundays in the United States.

Zavala describes his experience of a Sunday in Philadelphia where women and

men spent at least four hours at their Protestant churches.

Protestantism in the city was pervasive and grim.

There was no noise in the streets.

No music, no playing or

any form of entertainment to stray from the day of the Lord.

Philadelphia on Sunday was a city asleep, where the only walk was to and

from the church.

Sanctified Sundays also meant that stores and businesses were closed.

People who did not go to church were to be isolated from life even in 19th

century New York.

When Justo Sierra was in New York on a Sunday

he wondered where all people had gone.

It seems to him that they had disappeared.

Only to be reassured by his travel companion,

who clarified that it was Sunday.

So people could either be at church, home, in the countryside, or at the bar.

But bars were closed on Sunday.

These alarming views of Sundays in the US by Mexican intellectuals

were reported from visits to some of the largest cities in the country.

Some of these intellectuals were religious and some were not.

But they contrasted their experiences of Sundays in the US with those of Mexico,

where people went to mass.

But attendance to mass would be followed by revelry,

music, dancing, family gathering and things of the like.

Sunday was a holiday, a day to celebrate in joy.

Frederico Gamboa suggests that in the United States,

there is a form of Protestant Catholicism.

Meaning that Catholics adopted the stiff manners

of Protestants in the United States.

In 1903, during Holy Week, he longed for the rituals and

celebrations he used to dread when he was in Mexico.

As he realized a great indifference with which Holy Week

goes by in the United States, he began to miss it.

Years later, Bishop Zuria y Vera talked about the excellent qualities of

Catholics in the United States.

They were pious, generous in their donations, gave

great importance to Catholic education, they were active in community services.

They did not eat meat on holidays.

They were everything that Mexican social Catholics are not.

More into the 20th century, Octavio Paz commented on how the religious foundation

of American democracy was not as visible anymore, but

it remained as powerful as ever.

In his opinion, the religious element was

key to understanding the history of the United States and

the crisis it offered in the 1960s as the result of the Vietnam war and water gate.

Today, Mexicans and American continue to live religiosity in contrasting ways,

but the differences are less shocking to Mexican observers.

Americans, over the 20th century, became more diverse, and

this diversity has made Sundays in the United States less somber.

Many stores are now open on Sundays.

In summary, the Mexican perspective on religiosity in the United States,

shifted from viewing religion as a regimented institution, to one that

acknowledged a growing diversity in the population and secularism.

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