The idea that religion and politics should never be mentioned in the same sentence rarely works because our beliefs and our ideals affect how we speak, feel and act. While politicians should never tell us how to worship and preachers should never tell us how to vote, we can be believers who vote and are involved. Just like the fact that Democrats and Republicans can work together for a common goal, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all other religions can come together to achieve a common goal.
Born Again American isn't about my politics or yours; it's not about my religious beliefs or yours; it's about my America … and yours. It's about all of us, the Republicans and the Dems; the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims, the Buddhists, and even those who don't believe, all coming together to help get our country on back on track. It's an idea, a campaign and a movement designed to make us look beyond the things that make us different and focus on the things that make us the same … being Americans.
An Idea Is Born
When critically acclaimed producer Norman Lear (Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Princess Bride, Fried Green Tomatoes) was a boy, he listened to a weekly radio program done by a popular religious figure of the day. The thing was, the program didn't leave him feeling uplifted and loved; instead it left him feeling left out and confused. You see, Norman Lear is Jewish and Father Charles Coughlin, whose radio program reached millions, was extremely antisemitic. Young Norman wondered, rightly so, how a Canadian-born Catholic priest could define America by his own narrow religious view.Fast forward a few years to high school and again, there is Norman Lear, focused on religion and politics. He entered the American Legion Oratorical Contest and talked about his understanding of the Constitution, the attitudes about religion and politics and the wall of separation that came between them. As ugly and hateful as Father Coughlin's speeches had been, Lear understood and supported how the First Amendment gave him the freedom to make them. He won the Connecticut championship and a scholarship to Emerson College in Boston.
Move forward in the Lear time line again and you find Norman serving during WWII in the U.S. Air Force, fighting for the very country that Coughlin said wasn't his! Step forward once more and see Norman watching TV televangelists instructing their viewing audiences to pray for the removal of a Supreme court Justice.
The bottom line is that Norman Lear heard popular religious figures defining America by their own religious views almost all his life.
Television Mixes Religion & Politics
In a candid interview, Norman explained. "Years ago, when the Rev.'s Falwell, Robinson and Swaggart began to proliferate on television, I became concerned about the mixture of politics and religion. It caused me to write. I found Richard Pryor and Robin Williams and I had them both excited about an idea I had. I wanted to write a film called 'Religion' in which I would savage the whole idea of what they were doing. There would be two guys who decided to become ministers to take tax write-offs. They could call a garage a 'sanctuary' and a vacation a 'religious retreat.' I knew of people who were doing that. The idea was that one was going to find power and money and the other was going to find God. As I hear myself tell you the story, I find that I like it now too."He continued, "But I was working on that screenplay and I was only a couple of weeks into it when I saw Jimmy Swaggart ask his television audience to pray for the removal of a Supreme court Justice. I reflected on that and it was my born again moment. We had six shows on the air and we were a big company, but I asked my guys to find someone else to run the day to day operations because I was stepping down."
People for the American Way
Norman said, "I did a handful of television spots. The one that achieved the most notoriety was about a guy who was simply talking about his family. They all disagreed about things politically but they were very close. Here comes a minister on TV, saying that there are good Christians or bad Christians, depending on their political point of view. The guy winds up saying, 'That's not the American Way.' I took it to Father Theodore Hesburgh (the President of Notre Dame) and he loved it and joined the board once we became an organization. Somebody that he sent me to said that I should do more spots like that, and he liked the line 'That's not the American way,' saying we should be 'People for the American Way.' It was like an act of spontaneous combustion that grew up around me. A year into People I did a special on ABC called 'I Love Liberty.' I had Lady Bird Johnson and Gerald Ford co-chairing the event and it was star-studded. The whole intention of it was to say 'The Bible and the Flag belong to all of us. They're not just the providence of the guys on the religious right.' That''s what the show was about.""It's a long way of saying it," he said. "But all these years later, that's what triggered the song. I'm a born again American – hey wait a minute – the idea of the Bible and patriotism, we all own that – those of us who claim it."
Freedom and Responsibility
Yes, the Bible and the Bill of Rights both belong to me (and you). As Americans, we have the freedoms to worship and to vote as we see fit. 'Born Again American' reminds us of that through the song, the video and the pledge. The campaign also serves as a reminder that with those freedoms comes responsibility. As Americans, we have a responsibility to each other and to our country. As the pledge says, we need to stay informed and involved, making our voices heard not just at election time, but all of the time. Our President and our Congress report to us because we are our country's keeper and we can make a difference.
Living the Song
After Academy Award-winning songwriter Keith Carradine wrote the song, Lear, director Mark Johnson of Playing for Change, and producer Brent Miller decided that the best people to sing the song were the people who were living the lyrics.
