Ideology of Civil Religion

1
Ideology of Civil Religion
2
First Amendment Establishment Clause

• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
  free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom
  of speech, or the press or the right of the
  people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
  government for a redress of grievances.

3
Declaration of Independence (excerpt)

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
  men are created equal that they are endowed by
  their Creator with certain unalienable rights
  that among these are life, liberty and the
  pursuit of happiness.

4
Civil Religion vs. Common Religion

• Viewed as different from common religion-
  Protestant Christianity has dominated
• - separate from state
• Civil religion as deep-seated values / visions
  that Americans share

5
Bellahs Definition of Civil Religion

• Collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals with
  respect to sacred things and institutionalized in
  a collectivity . . . and while sharing much in
  common with Christianity, is neither sectarian
  nor in any specific sense Christian.

6
Civil Religion Another Definition

• American civil religion is not a religious
  institution, but a celebration of the point and
  purpose of the American adventure, and thus the
  definition of what it means to be an American.
• Leroy S. RounerProfessor of Philosophy,
  Religion, and TheologyHarvard

7
Bellahs Article Key Points

• Presidential references to God as a concept
• Challenges posed by JFKs Catholicism
• Sacred texts of American civil religion- Declarat
  ion of Independence- Constitution
• - Gettysburg Address
• Will of American people or destiny equated
  with Gods will

8
Bellahs Key Points (continued)

• Civil religion and the American revolution-
  shapes the view of Americas purpose
• Civil War- challenges meaning of the nation
• Current challenge- responsible action consonant
  with Americas power

9
Challenges to Civil Religion

• Easily distorted into justification
  for- genocide- enslavement- imperialism /
  colonialism
• Question of values / visions is central to
  concerns of pluralism

10
Painting of Manifest Destiny by John Gast - 1845
11
Quote 1 1845 Newspaper Editorial

• California will, probably, next fall away from
  Mexico . . . The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on
  its borders. Already the advance guard of the
  irresistible army of Anglo-Saxon emigration has
  begun to pour down upon it, armed with the plough
  and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools
  and colleges, courts, and representative halls,
  mills, and meeting houses.
• 1845 Review

12
Quote 2 John L. OSullivan

• .... the right of our manifest destiny to over
  spread and to possess the whole of the continent
  which Providence has given us for the development
  of the great experiment of liberty and
  federaltive development of self government
  entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the
  tree to the space of air and the earth suitable
  for the full expansion of its principle and
  destiny of growth.
• 1845 The NY Morning News

13
Quote 3 Another 1845 Editorial

• Yes, more, more, more! Will be the unresting
  cry, till our national destiny is fulfilled, and
  The whole boundless continent is ours! Texas,
  Oregon, California, Canada, yes all, all, are
  sooner or later to be embraced within the
  ever-widening circle . . . of our peaceful union
  of free and independent States . . . For this
  great destiny, purpose, and necessity, we want .
  . . The whole, and nothing short of the whole
  and wanting it, we shall have it, we must have
  it, we will have it.
• 1845 New York Morning News

14
Americas Purpose Modern Example