Today religion is a handle used to generate "image." Thats why we se it bandidied about. It has nothing to do with spiritual qualities, but has to do with appearance, and invoking "Trust." This is a very dangerous thng to have happening, asking for trust based on imagry. It allows politicians to avoid issues.
It's much tha same as the evangelism of Nazis in 1938, removing the rational thinking process so neessary to American successful politics.Politicians are supported or defamed in equal measure, not for ideas, but for whether they are "with the Lord" or not.
How should I know the spiritual path of some one I have never met, but who is on TV, crating a religious image, trying to get my trust, on the basis of an alleged spiritual accomplishment? Its actually quite sickening. I prefer the modest approach of our forefathers, who encouraged rational, informed thinking as the basis for a succesful body politic. Othgerwise we stoop to become like the very Islamofascists we now fight, screaming illogical fanatics, who are indeed "religious." Why would we posit a form of government that induces a similar character?
Ones religion as you say is a personal spiritual path. It should be a source of individual strength and inspiration for our politicians, but if bandied about in image creation, religion of that nature has and should make us deeply suspicious.
Oh yes it was...
Of course, if it's false religion, then it will cause nothing but trouble.
From the Library of Congress : Religion Exhibit.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html
Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war. Congress was guided by "covenant theology," a Reformation doctrine especially dear to New England Puritans, which held that God bound himself in an agreement with a nation and its people. This agreement stipulated that they "should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears." Wars and revolutions were, accordingly, considered afflictions, as divine punishments for sin, from which a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation.
The first national government of the United States, was convinced that the "public prosperity" of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a "spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens," Congress declared to the American people, would "make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people."
The “Postivist” philosophy is one of two unique American contributions to Christianity (the other is Mormonism). From Christian Science to Norman Vincent Peale to Robert Schuller, the American can-do spirit is the undercurrent in all those positivist churches who profess that anything is possible through God. Maybe it’s something in our psyche, maybe it was because we had so much land and resources to conquer but these movements seem uniquely American. Add our national attraction to charismatic personalities, the excitement of the revival tent, the power of television, and the opporunity to spread their thoughts in print because of our high literacy rates and you can see why positive-thinking ministers always will be part of our religious landscape. Olsteen is just part of a long continuum. Not all have been snake-oil salesmen and many have had philosophies of enduring value. One thing is for sure, there will be more.