The Christian religion and American civil religion seem to go hand in hand, but if we look closely we can clearly see that the two are very different. Robert N. Bellah makes this clear in his essay “Civil Religion in America”. The use of God’s name can be found throughout the birth of the American republic. Civil religion was used to bridge the gap between government and the people. As Bellah states,”…it borrowed selectively from the religious tradition in such a way that the average American saw no conflict between the two.” Civil religion created a powerful symbol of national unity beyond the church, as a result the nation began to strive for goals that would benefit the entire nation not just one single religious group.
Our founding fathers blatantly used God’s name as a battle cry that reached the common man, igniting not only their bodies, but their souls to fight for their freedom from the tyranny that had corrupted the nation for so many years. But their intent was never to link the birth of the nation with Christianity. The founding fathers, especially the first few presidents, carefully crafted the religion by borrowing exclusively from Christianity, but they made sure not to invoke the name of Christ. This was done on purpose to separate the two. In Christianity God and Christ are figures that invoke deep spiritual feelings about love and salvation, while the God in civil religion is more interested in establishing laws, order, and the rights of man.
Civil Religion has evolved to its present day state the same way other religions have evolved, through suffering and death. Through these struggles civil religion has established its own holy scriptures, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, its own prophets, and its own days of prayer. These are powerful symbols that have united the nation. There is no clearer example of this than in the national outcry that occurred after the devastation that toppled the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. These events put America at the center of a new war that pinned religious and cultural differences. These events also created a new symbol of America’s undivided unity that is commemorated every year as a sacred day.
Every religion has its own practices and traditions, civil religion is no different. These traditions and practices provide Americans with the basic human need to explain the past and provide hope for the future. It is this basic need that keeps Americans striving for the utopia the founding fathers envisioned. Bellah puts it best when he says, “…American civil religion is not the worship of the American nation but an understanding of the American experience…”
Bellah, Robert N. "Civil religion in America." Daedalus, Journal of American Academy of Arts and Science (Winter 1967): 1-21.
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Very well put. I think this will set the stage perfectly to discuss the controversies of religion in American culture.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how our founding fathers were able to remove their own, personal religious beliefs when first establishing laws and personal rights, for the good of others. They borrowed certain moralistic aspects from Christianity, yet were able to put aside their differences and work together to achieve a nation of more unified individuals than anywhere else.
ReplyDelete. It seems they were even more tolerant than we are today.
It is clear to us now that religions have played role in man's survival. It has encouraged cooperation and unity. The earliest forms of religion have shown so, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and so on. Would you think that x years from now, would civil religion, or to me is American religion, become a TRUE religion after the American society deteriorates and other societies emerge?
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