Actually, it has been much longer than that but the center piece of this essay is William Jennings Bryan who was a commanding figure in the religious involvement in politics while setting the standard for sentimental piety in choosing our leaders right down to this day.

It was a given that any leader of this country must have had roots in Christian ethics even if only in a passive way. The founding fathers of this country knew very well that the previous religious wars in monarchical countries were to be avoided when they took the dangerous step in breaking off from the mother country and go into uncharted seas in a very leaky boat.  They gave nominal and certainly not maniacal attention to the religious foundations of their faiths.  It was much better to declare independence from England and Europe whose Christians were still killing each other over differences in belief. The election of the Catholic, Jack Kennedy, was a Post World War II gasp of relief from the monotony of political sameness – each professing a belief in Jesus and his salvation.  Things haven’t changed much in a century the beginning of which was dominated by the pious sentimentality of a mid-westerner who tried but could not get elected to the Presidency.  His unswerving belief in Christian morality, derived from his conviction in the inerrant truth of scripture, made him the hero as well as target of all thinkers who thought about the father-hood of God and the place of Jesus in the tenets of Christianity.

The popularity of “Will” Bryan with a huge swath of Americans preceded the enormous investment by later groups in the Billy Sundays and other evangelists. Americans flocked to Chautauqua sessions, tent meetings and huge revivalist gatherings in overflowing halls.  The Mega Churches of today have managed to grow without Bryan’s erudition and mellifluous handling of the English Language in the service of Christ. He was an original and his appearance on the scene marked the necessity to accept and deal with the believers amongst us.

The message that Bryan gave to politics in his ringing “Cross of Gold” speech mingled American political processes with religious power that has never receded or disappeared.  It is still very much alive today and the personage of William Jennings Bryan was Christ-like in the adulation that was heaped on him wherever he went. Despite his poor showing in the “Monkey Trial” which pitted him against Darwin, that battle is ongoing today although out of place in the Twenty-First Century.  Things haven’t changed much. Americans still require a test of religious devoutness of its political adventurers

Whether simple morality, abortion or gay predilections; little has changed.