American civil religion

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American civil religion is a term coined by sociologist Robert Bellah in 1967. The article in which the term is coined, "Civil Religion in America", sparked one of the most controversial debates in United States sociology. Soon after the paper was published, the topic became the major focus at religious sociology conferences and numerous articles and books were written on the subject. The debate reached it peak with the American Bicentennial celebration in 1976.[1][2][3][4][5]

According to Bellah, Americans embrace a common "civil religion" with certain fundamental beliefs, values, holidays, and rituals, parallel to, or independent of, their chosen religion.[2] This belief system has historically been used to attack nonconformist and liberal ideas and groups.[1]

Contents

[edit] Three periods of crisis

In the book The Broken Covenant Bellah argued that America has experienced three periods when a large number of Americans were cynical about the American creed:

“ Once in each of the last three centuries America has faced a time of trial, a time of testing so severe that...the existence of our nation has been called in question...the spiritual glue that had bound the nation together in previous years had simply collapsed. ”

The founding of the nation is the first period. The Civil War and the 1960s were the other two periods.[6][7]

[edit] Historical background

Bellah's ideas about civil religion were not novel. Before Bellah wrote his paper in 1967 coining the term "American civil religion" several prominent scholars had alluded to the concept. But there was no common conceptual term to describe, interpret or analyze civic religious faith in America.[4]

Scholarly progenitors of this idea include John Dewey who spoke of "common faith" (1934); Robin Williams's American Society: A Sociological Interpretation (1951) which stated there was a "common religion" in America; Lloyd Warner's analysis of the Memorial Day celebrations in "Yankee City" (1953 [1974]); Martin Marty's "religion in general" (1959); Will Herberg who spoke of "the American Way of Life" (1960, 1974); Sidney Mead's "religion of the Republic" (1963); and G. K. Chesterton advanced the thesis that the United States was "the only nation...founded on a creed" and also coined the phrase "a nation with a soul of a church".[4][5]

In the same period, several distinguished historians such as Yehoshua Arieli, Daniel Boorstin, and Ralph Gabriel "assessed the religious dimension of 'nationalism', the 'American creed', 'cultural religion' and the 'democratic faith'".[4]

Premier sociologist Seymour Lipset (1963) referred to "Americanism" and the "American Creed" to characterize a distinct set of values that Americans hold with a quasi-religious fervor.[4]

Today, according to social scientist Rondald Wimberley and William Swatos, there seems to be a firm consensus among social scientists that there is a part of Americanism that is especially religious in nature, which may be termed civil religion. But this religious nature is less significant than the "transcendent universal religion of the nation" which late eighteenth century French intellectuals such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about.[5]

[edit] Empirical evidence supporting Bellah

Ronald Wimberley (1976) and other researchers collected large surveys and factor analytic studies which gave empirical support to Bellah's argument that civil religion is a distinct cultural phenomena within American society which is not embodied in American politics or denominational religion.[5]

Examples of civil religious beliefs are reflected in statements used in the research such as the following:

  • "America is God's chosen nation today."
  • "A president's authority...is from God."
  • "Social justice cannot only be based on laws; it must also come from religion."
  • "God can be known through the experiences of the American people."
  • "Holidays like the Fourth of July are religious as well as patriotic."[5]

Later research sought to determine who is civil religious. In a 1978 study by James Christenson and Ronald Wimberley, the researchers found that a wide cross section of American citizens have civil religious beliefs. In general though, college graduates and political or religious liberals appear to be somewhat less civil religious. Protestants and Catholics have the same level of civil religiosity. Religions that were created in the United States, the Mormons, Adventists, and Pentecostals, have the highest civil religiosity. Jews, Unitarians and those with no religious preference have the lowest civil religion. Even though there is variation in the scores, the "great majority" of Americans are found to share the types of civil religious beliefs which Bellah wrote about.[5]

Further research found that civil religion plays a role in people's preferences for political candidates and policy positions. In 1980 Ronald Wimberley found that civil religious beliefs were more important than loyalties to a political party in predicting support for Nixon over McGovern with a sample of Sunday morning church goers who were surveyed near the election date and a general group of residents in the same community. In 1982 James Christenson and Ronald Wimberley found that civil religion was second only to occupation in predicting a person's political policy views.[5]

[edit] Quotes

“ While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith...few have realized that there actually exists alongside...the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America ”

—Robert Bellah, [1]
“ The greatest part of...America was peopled by men who...brought with them into the New World a form of Christianity...by styling it a democratic and republican religion ”

—Alexis de Tocqueville, [1]
“ Civil religion is neither bona fide religion nor ordinary patriotism, but a new alloy formed by blending religion with nationalism. If civil religions were bona fide religions then one would expect to find a soft side to them, teaching love of neighbor and upholding peace and compassion. But this is not the case. ”

—Stjepan Mestrovic , [8][9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Bellah, Robert Neelly (Winter 1967). "Civil Religion in America". Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96 (1): 1–21.  From the issue entitled "Religion in America".
  2. ^ a b Kaplan, Dana Evan (Aug 15, 2005). The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82204-1.  p. 118.
  3. ^ Meštrović, Stjepan G (1993). The Road from Paradise. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1827-1.  p. 129
  4. ^ a b c d e Cristi, Marcela (2001). From Civil to Political Religion: The Intersection of Culture, Religion and Politics. University Press. ISBN 0889203687. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Swatos, William H. (1998). Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 0761989560.  p. 94. "The article caused an almost unprecedented burst of excitement among sociologists and other scholars of religion."
  6. ^ Hughes, Richard T. (July 6, 2004). Myths America Lives By. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-07220-0.  p. 3.
  7. ^ Bellah, Robert Neelly; University of Chicago Press (August 15, 1992). The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial. ISBN 0-226-04199-9.  p. 1
  8. ^ Parsons, Gerald A. (September 22 2004). "From nationalism to internationalism: civil religion and the festival of Saint Catherine of Siena, 1940-2003". Journal of Church and State. 
  9. ^ Meštrović, Stjepan Gabriel. The Road from Paradise: Prospects for Democracy in Eastern Europe.  p. 125, 130

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] American civil religion

[edit] American exceptionalism

Further information: American exceptionalism