*This* is Religio Americana

Or at least one manifestation of it… Anne over at The Gods Are Bored links to a YouTube video of a remarkable Verizon commercial that aired over 9/11 (see below). This is a near-perfect example of what the concept of Religio Americana means to me – not “worshiping the government”, as some have called it, but expressing and trying to bring to the forefront the highest of the ideals that went into the founding of my country. I know full well that we have rarely lived up to those ideals, but that is why I believe it is so critically important to do the work of lifting them up. And yes, I also realize this is just a PR commercial from a sometimes questionably ethical giant corporation – but in this day and age I will take my religious expressions where I find them, and this is without doubt the most pagan commercial I’ve seen since the famous Guinness “Poseidon” ad (which also powerfully expresses a great pagan ideal, arete).

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