Ken Dobson's Queer Ruminations from Thailand
Search this site
  • Life in Thailand
  • Queer Issues in Thailand
  • Queer Christian Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Stories

American Civil Religion

4/30/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
American civil religion is now generally recognized as a variety of faith.  It has been expounded in academic tomes and enshrined in national monuments.  The term “civil religion” entered the lexicon based on a 1967 article by Robert Bellah of Harvard.  It came into widespread use during the 1976 US Bicentennial celebrations, but is standard today.
 
Bellah's definition of American civil religion is that it is "an institutionalized collection of sacred beliefs about the American nation," which he sees symbolically expressed in America's founding documents and presidential inaugural addresses. It includes a belief in the existence of a transcendent being called "God," an idea that the American nation is subject to God's laws, and an assurance that God will guide and protect the United States. [quoted from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society article on “Civil Religion”]
 
In brief, American Civil Religion is an aggregation of narratives and expressions about the USA as a religious nation.  Those expressions include various celebrations, symbols and monuments that show how the country reflects its divinely mandated mission and destiny.  The purpose of these symbols, Christine Serva reminds us, is national unity: the symbols are “the elements of cultural and political life that connect to a higher purpose and meaning, often bonding the people of a nation together.”  At the epitome of these manifestations is the supreme dedication shown by persons in the armed services; military monuments and memorials are most revered semi-sacred symbols of American Civil Religion.
 
What is not so well understood, and is therefore controversial and divisive, is the fact that American civil religion is often exclusionary.  Here are some examples:
 
  • Despite the diverse nature of the American immigrant population, no parts of the rituals and narratives of American Civil Religion refer in any way to non-Christian symbols or concepts.  Furthermore, attempts to expand such events as the National Day of Prayer to include non-Christian referents or leaders have been met with criticism and resistance.
  • Military sacrifices are a basic aspect of American Civil Religion, but other sacrifices that have contributed to American expansion, security and development are excluded from consideration.  It is a matter of national pride that the USA was a leading pioneer in fields of health, industrialization, and progressive public policy.  But such things do not figure in American Civil Religion’s narratives and commemorations.  Indeed, in the course of time most holidays become freighted with memories of military actions and sacrifices.
  • American Civil Religion tends to favor the concept of American exceptionalism, which is exclusionary by definition.  Not only is America the outstanding example of such things as democratic government and liberty, America is the exception to the rules under which other governments and empires operate.  Richard Rose commented in 1989 in the Political Science Quarterly, “America marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. Explanations of the growth of government in Europe are not expected to fit American experience, and vice versa.”
  • The core images of American Civil Religion retain original notions of the USA as a divine gift, fulfilling an age-old “covenantal mandate” (as did Israel in the occupation of the ‘Promised Land’), with a mission to expand and impose civilization on the peoples of the world, even though those people are racially handicapped.  This set of notions, naturally, implies a hierarchy of privilege and unilateral responsibility.  Outsiders are excluded.
 
It is being suggested, now, that American Civil Religion is being eclipsed by cynicism about all things religious and that the high purposes of American Civil Religion are being ignored.  Whereas, in the past, there were prophets to keep reminding us that “without an awareness that our nation stands under higher judgment, the tradition of the civil religion would be dangerous indeed,” (to use Bellah’s later warning at the time of the US Bicentennial), the prophets are ominously missing.  In the past, America stood for “service and sacrifice” and America was a leader bringing nations of the world into greatness to stand beside us.  Recent political expression uses degraded rhetoric with an emphasis on separation, division, hate, partisanship and the absence of higher authority (although there is the assumption of blessing, without any compensating assumption of accountability).  Furthermore, as American Civil Religion’s loftiness has seemed to be surrendered to political expediency, it is being abandoned and doubted by those who abhor the drift toward confrontation, increased religious hatred and rivalry, and radical motivation to violence.  Rather than unity, division is expanding.
 
Nevertheless, altered and diminished as it may be, American Civil Religion persists and exerts a still powerful pull.  We will probably wrap a flag around the Bible on July 4. We are still urged to put our hands over our hearts when we sing the National Anthem and pledge allegiance to the flag … one nation, under God ….  And our authenticity as American citizens is doubted if we do not do these things.
2 Comments
Roy DeBolt
5/1/2017 08:24:39 am

This is a very sad commentary on America. It seems to me the government is not anti-religion, but it is becoming more and more anti-Christian. We should be proud to be an American as well as a Christian and as such we should also be inclusive.

Reply
Kenneth Chester Dobson
5/1/2017 11:19:46 am

There are 4 overlapping forms of faith in America. Civil religion is one of them. Almost all Americans have all four types of faith. A person might be a patriot, Methodist, vegetarian for spiritual reasons, and expect to be reunited with Mom in heaven. We mix up our faith practices and beliefs.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson posts his weekly reflections on this blog. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2023 Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson