For God and Country: Religious Minorities Striving for National Belonging through Community Service
This article examines how religious minorities (specifically, marginalized Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims) have participated in government-affiliated service programs as part of attempts to assert claims to faith in a common God, observance of common ethics, and belonging in a common body...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press
[2016]
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In: |
Religion and American culture
Year: 2016, Volume: 26, Issue: 2, Pages: 227-259 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Religious minority
/ Social engagement
/ Nation (university)
/ Integration
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Further subjects: | B
Muslim American
B Religion B United Service Organization (USO) B Community Service B Peace Corps |
Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | This article examines how religious minorities (specifically, marginalized Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims) have participated in government-affiliated service programs as part of attempts to assert claims to faith in a common God, observance of common ethics, and belonging in a common body politic. Historians have described World War II asthanks to the interreligious militarya time of enshrining Judeo-Christian narratives in culture, legislation, and politics, and of allowing Jews greater access to these arenas than they had experienced previously. While military service is also important here, my primary subject is the service religious groups initially offered as a compliment to military activity but then expanded and generalizedoften under government commissioninto community care work that relieved the state of the economic burden of supplying certain citizenship benefits or that gave international endeavors a friendlier face. Marginalized white Protestants were the first to offer such services, but other minoritized religious groups followed their example, patriotically echoing military themes throughout the twentieth century when creating service organizations and volunteer corps. While many contemporary Muslim American leaders believe that community service engagements will help Muslims overcome discrimination by demonstrating that they also make vital contributions to the U.S., several current factors call that possibility into questionnot least of which is the history of only partial acceptance earlier religious minorities enjoyed as a result of their efforts. |
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ISSN: | 1533-8568 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion and American culture
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1525/rac.2016.26.2.227 |