Eh, a bit of both (theology being taboo and 'just not there'), I'd guess. The anti-intellectual general culture of the U.S., combined with a strong affective Protestant heritage gave a ground to a cultural antipathy to theology, I suspect (if I had to guess the causes without any further research). And then, that established, you don't have to worry anymore because it's "just not there" on the cognitive map anymore.
The overarching philosophy of secularism in the U.S. has a big role in this, too, both as cause and in maintaining this intellectual status quo. A very specific constitutional amendment to prevent Congress from establishing a specific national denomination has mutated to become the cultural warrant for editing out "religion" from all facets of national life, even becoming a cultural pressure to make that an illegitimate form of speech in the public sphere. And so, bizarrely, the only way to be "open-minded" about theological matters, the culture informs us, is to be absolutely ignorant of theological discourse: one must not learn to speak precisely on the matter, one must learn not to be able to speak of it at all. That's freedom, baby!
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-03-22 08:48 pm (UTC)The overarching philosophy of secularism in the U.S. has a big role in this, too, both as cause and in maintaining this intellectual status quo. A very specific constitutional amendment to prevent Congress from establishing a specific national denomination has mutated to become the cultural warrant for editing out "religion" from all facets of national life, even becoming a cultural pressure to make that an illegitimate form of speech in the public sphere. And so, bizarrely, the only way to be "open-minded" about theological matters, the culture informs us, is to be absolutely ignorant of theological discourse: one must not learn to speak precisely on the matter, one must learn not to be able to speak of it at all. That's freedom, baby!