Definition

• American "civil religion" is a concept in sociological theory proposing that a nonsectarian "faith" is observed in the United States, complete with sacred symbols drawn from national history.
• According to Bellah, that "faith" is supported by biblical archetypes that substantiate national sacred symbols and ideals.

I think it should be clear ... that I conceive of the central tradition of the American civil religion not as a form of national self-worship but as the subordination of the nation to ethical principles that transcend it in terms of which it should be judged. (Bellah)

• According to Bellah, civil religion refers to the institutionalized religion that exists alongside churches.
• In other words, it is a different form of "religion," but one shaped by Judeo-Christian concerns.

• Yet, the ideal of a separation between Church and State exists in the U.S.
• When Kennedy, for example, invoked God but did not refer to his personal beliefs (Catholic Christian), or to Moses, Jesus, or the Church, he invoked a concept almost all Americans could accept.

Considering the separation of church and state, how is a president justified in using the word "God" at all? The answer is that the separation of church and state has not denied the political realm a religious dimension. Although matters of personal religious belief, worship, and association are considered to be strictly private affairs, there are, at the same time, certain common elements of religious orientation that the great majority of Americans share. (Bellah)

In short, "civil religion" refers to a religious dimension of political life.

• Bellah takes the term from Rousseau's The Social Contract (see the handout).
• He maintains that American civil religion is an understanding of the American experience in light of ultimate and universal reality.

God

Examples:

• Presidents invoke God as a sovereign authority above the highest authority the country.
• God is invoked on solemn occasions and often frames a speech (invoked at the beginning and the end). For example ...

Kennedy's inaugural address (Jan. 20, 1961) began with:

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom-symbolizing an end as well as a beginning-signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

It ended with,

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice that we shall ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Obama's second-term inaugural address (Jan. 21, 2013) began with,

Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: "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."

It ended with,

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. ... Thank you. God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.

Does the framing invoke ritual? That is, are references to God merely symbolic?

Perhaps, but as Wuthnow stated,

Ritual proclaims an objectified collective force that the individual cannot escape, whether that be the innocent frivolity of the charivari or the horrifying inhumanity of the Holocaust.

Sovereignty

Beyond the Constitution, then, the president's obligation extends not only to the people but to God. In American political theory, sovereignty rests, of course, with the people, but implicitly, and often explicitly, the ultimate sovereignty has been attributed to God. This is the meaning of the motto, "In God we trust," as well as the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the pledge to the flag. What difference does it make that sovereignty belongs to God? Though the will of the people as expressed in the majority vote is carefully institutionalized as the operative source of political authority, it is deprived of an ultimate significance. The will of the people is not itself the criterion of right and wrong. There is a higher criterion in terms of which this will can be judged; it is possible that the people may be wrong. The president's obligation extends to the higher criterion. (Bellah)

The motto, In God We Trust, and the phrase "under God" in the pledge to the flag remind us that the sovereignty of the State is subordinate to the sovereignty of God.

Law(s)

In the Declaration of Independence, there are four references to God.

1. An appeal to the laws of nature and of nature's God that entitle any people to be independent
2. "All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights..."
3. An appeal to the "Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions"
4. Expression of reliance upon the protection of divine providence

Bellah claims that #3, and #4 invoke the biblical concept of a God who stands in judgment over history.

Conflicts With an Evil Other

Presidential justification for wars often invokes a conflict between good and evil.

The following viewpoints reflect those who believe that America has gotten away from its true purpose and identity as a sovereign nation under God.

Five Prominent Archetypes

• Exodus
• Chosen People
• Promised Land
• New Jerusalem
• Sacrificial Death and Rebirth

Recall that Bellah maintains that American civil religion is not a worship of the nation but an understanding of the American experience in light of ultimate and universal reality.

That experience, from oppression to liberation, sacrifice to rebirth, is given meaning through its connection to biblical archetypes.

Trial as an Archetype

Times of trial evoke the sentiment of suffering for the glory of a higher authority.

Americans tend to view the "republican experiment" as an example for the world.

• Tyranny is rebuked.
• The rights of "all" individuals (citizens?) are safeguarded.
• Creation (repetition of an archetype?) is encouraged through invention and technological innovation.
• The status of world power is realized.