“(1850) The Psychic Highway,” an essay by Professor of Religious Studies S.B. Rodriguez-Plate for the Under Gods project of Indiana University, was recently published in the IU journal American Religion.
Rodriguez-Plate wrote about how the Erie Canal was an engineering marvel that carried not only lumber, goods, and passengers, but also religion. The essay describes the infrastructure project that accelerated Adventism, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, abolitionism, and spiritualism.
According to its description on the Indiana University Press website, American Religion provides “a forum for intellectual and creative engagement with religion in the Americas.” The Under Gods Project features 25 contributed essays telling “25 stories of religious diversity in the United States—one for each decade of 250 years—demonstrating the influence of the nation's many people and their gods, past and present.”
The “s” is added to “Under God” in recognition of “the variety of religions that have shaped the US from its beginnings.”
Posted July 10, 2026
