A morsel from Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which I'll be using in my secularism class. (Remarkably many are the issues concerning the nature of religion, America, etc., which you can find in these passages.)Our protagonist Shadow is traveling with two gods marooned in America by immigrant communities whose descendants have lost interest in them, the Russian Czernobog and the West African Anansi, toward a meeting with the newer gods who are trying to eliminate them. The meeting will take place at the geographical center of America. Other important events take place at roadside attractions like The House on the Rock and Rock City, places of real power, though tourists no longer know quite why they go there. This meeting, however, has to be at a different kind of place.
As far as anyone could figure it out, the exact center of the continental United States was several miles from Lebanon, Kansas, on Johnny Grib's hog farm. By the 1930s the people of Lebanon were all ready to put a monument up in the middle of the hog farm, but Johnny Grib said that he didn't want millions of tourists 
coming in and tramping all over and upsetting the hogs, so they put the monument to the geographical center of the United States two miles north of the town. They built a park, and a stone monument to go in the park, and a brass plaque on the monument. They blacktopped the road from the town, and, certain of the in[/]flux of tourists waiting to arrive, they even built a motel by the monument. Then they waited.
The tourists did not come. Nobody came. ..."Which is why," concluded Mr. Nancy, ... "the exact center of America is a tiny run-down park, an empty church, a pile of stones, and a derelict motel."
"Hog farm," said Czernobog. "You just said that the real center of America was a hog farm."
"This isn't about what is," said Mr. Nancy. "It's about what people think. It's all imaginary anyway. That's why it's important. People only
fight over imaginary things." (426-7)
"That," said Czernobog, "is why we are meeting at the center. Is . . ." He frowned. "What is the word for it? The opposite of sacred?"
"Profane," said Shadow, without thinking.
"No," said Czernobog. "I mean, when a place is less sacred than any other place. Of negative sacredness. Places where they can build no temples. Places where people will not come, and will leave as soon as they can. Places where gods only walk if they are forced to."
"I don't know," said Shadow. "I don't think there is a word for it."
"All of America has it, a little," said Czernobog. "That is why we are not welcome here." (430)
coming in and tramping all over and upsetting the hogs, so they put the monument to the geographical center of the United States two miles north of the town. They built a park, and a stone monument to go in the park, and a brass plaque on the monument. They blacktopped the road from the town, and, certain of the in[/]flux of tourists waiting to arrive, they even built a motel by the monument. Then they waited. The tourists did not come. Nobody came. ..."Which is why," concluded Mr. Nancy, ... "the exact center of America is a tiny run-down park, an empty church, a pile of stones, and a derelict motel."
"Hog farm," said Czernobog. "You just said that the real center of America was a hog farm."
"This isn't about what is," said Mr. Nancy. "It's about what people think. It's all imaginary anyway. That's why it's important. People only
fight over imaginary things." (426-7)"That," said Czernobog, "is why we are meeting at the center. Is . . ." He frowned. "What is the word for it? The opposite of sacred?"
"Profane," said Shadow, without thinking.
"No," said Czernobog. "I mean, when a place is less sacred than any other place. Of negative sacredness. Places where they can build no temples. Places where people will not come, and will leave as soon as they can. Places where gods only walk if they are forced to."
"I don't know," said Shadow. "I don't think there is a word for it."
"All of America has it, a little," said Czernobog. "That is why we are not welcome here." (430)
(My page numbers refer to the US mass market edition, whose cover is pictured first above. The British edition, pictured next, is, methinks, the coolest, though there's bound to be some lesson in the different ways British and American designers imagine this not quite not anti-American novel by a Brit about America...) (I've ordered the British "Author's preferred version," apparently longer by 12,000 words, both because of the scholarly habit which kicks in around courses, and because I'm curious what the presumably American editors insisted on cutting.)
