Description Reading: Book: https://www.mtsac.edu/elcw/english/documents/engl1... I want to highlig ...

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Description Reading: Book: https://www.mtsac.edu/elcw/english/documents/engl1... I want to highlight some key ideas for you as you go into this module's discussions where you make more direct connections to American civil religion and what you've read so far in Gorski's book. "Whiteness" As you hopefully reviewed and many of you discussed, Coates presents whiteness as a social construction. As you think about what you've read so far in Gorski's book, and as you continue to read going forward, I would encourage you to keep Coates' ideas here in mind as they are helpful in conversation with each other, especially as you see the development of white, religious nationalism in the U.S. It's helpful to understand race as not just a categorization of people based on the color of their skin, but as a social construction that collapses diverse ethnic identities into racial identities for the purpose of privileging some and oppressing others. This video can also be helpful to understand race as social construct (you'll read more about Du Bois in Gorski's book as well): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wny0OAz3g8 Coates is critiquing the power construct of "whiteness", even noting the ways in which it is ultimately destructive to the humanity of many people who "believe themselves to be white". "The Body" Note here Coates' emphasis on physicality and the present. There is a lot that can be said about Coates' emphasis on the body, but pay particular attention to his skepticism of religion and spirituality when they are used as a way to de-emphasize the body, downplay the cause of bodily suffering, forgive injustice in light of the afterlife, etc. This is important in this week's discussion on "forgiveness". "The Dream" This discussion continues this week in addressing Coates' ideas on the dream and violence. The "American dream" as a concept is often shaped by various experiences and can be far from uniform, but Coates helps us to examine the way some people's prosperity can come at the expense of others. While I won't unpack this entirely yet prior to discussion, it's important to see the way Coates highlights that those who hold more power and privilege in society systemically have more influence over means of violence. The violence of power typically serves the interest of those with power. "Religious Language" This discussion creates another direct connection to this week's discussion. Coates peppers his writing with religious language and metaphor throughout with varied purposes, but no doubt we can see that Coates is writing with an awareness of the religious way American identity and doctrine are expressed, using that same language to critique it (e.g. "democracy is America's god...") I look forward to seeing everyone continue discussion this week! Discussion question 1: On page 6, Coates refers to democracy as "America's god". What does he mean by this? Do you agree? Refer to his discussion of "heresies" on the same page in your answer. (cite examples from text). Discussion question 2: Coates expresses opposition in the book to religion (and church) as a means for hope and optimism (see pages 28, 43, 35-36). What are reasons for this (use examples from the text) and do you agree?