1. Domain Model of Culture
Politics
Religion
Arts - cinema
Morals
Science
Music
A model of contemporary, ‘secular’ society

2. Relations Between Religion & Culture
Traditional:
‘Sacred Canopy’
Overlap
Secular Society
culture
Religion/spirituality
religion
sport
culture
culture
Religion
Church
Mosque
Church controls culture
theocracy
Off the Map
Travellers & Magicians
Babette’s Feast
Gibson’s The Passion
Oppositional
ultimate vs. ephemeral
Eternal vs. changeable
universal vs. local
sacred vs. profane
believed vs. fictive
communal vs. individualistic
religion
culture
‘Culture Wars’
Last Temptation of Christ
Water

3. Two Sides of Hollywood
"Motion Pictures are going to save our civilization from the destruction which has successively overwhelmed every civilization of the past. They provide what every previous civilization has lacked -- namely a means of relief, happiness, and mental inspiration to the people at the bottom. Without happiness and inspiration being accessible to those upon whom the social burden rests most heavily, there can be no stable social system. Revolutions are born of misery and despair." Mary Gray Peck, General Federation of Women’s Clubs, 1917
"Hollywood is the nearest thing to "hell on earth" which Satan has been able thus far to establish in this world. And the influence of Hollywood is undermining the Christian culture and civilization which our fathers built in this land." Dan Gilbert, Chairman of the Christian Newspaper Men’s Committee to Investigate the Motion Picture Industry, 1942

4. Share the political goals of the Christian Right
- Share religious views but not political goals of religious right
Secularists who
– share political goals
of Christian right
Those who share
neither religious or
political views of
Christian Right
Evangelicals who
Christian Right
Much popular culture,
Hollywood, film, music
Share the political goals of the Christian Right

5. Religion; Four Features
Discourse whose concerns transcend the human, temporal, contingent – claims transcendent status
Set of practices – goal produce a proper world, proper conduct, defined by the discourse
Community – defines membership and identity with reference to discourse and practices
Institution – regulates discourse, practice, membership; occasionally modifies, asserts validity over time; emphasizes tradition

6. Falwell on 9/11
And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'. – Pat Robertson’s 700 Club,

7. Falwell’s implicit analysis
Producers of popular culture

8. Two Models of Culture (Bruce Lincoln)
A heuristic device (an oversimplification)
MAXIMALIST
MINIMALIST
Religion = central domain of culture; deeply involved in aesthetic and ethical practice
Economy = central domain of culture; religion restricted to private sphere; experience and metaphysical interests
Cultural preferences – constituted as morality, stabilized by religion
Cultural preferences – fashion, change according to market
Religious authority secures, insures order
Rapid expansion of wealth and power
Minimalist system is intrusive, powerful, serious obstacle, serious temptation
Maximailst – experienced as quaint, by-gone; dangerous, reactionary, seductive
Realized in parts of globe during 19th & 20th c.
‘Sacred canopy’
Secular society
TENSION
Prior to enlightenment – maximalist model was the norm across much of the world
- Minimalist model exported during colonial era

9. Iranian Revolution 1979
Current American trend
to theocracy?