Civil Religion and the Cultural Politics of National Identity in Obama's America

Abstract

American civil religion (ACR) burst on to the scholarly scene in 1967, and has been periodically revived as a source of analytic insight and normative hope since that time. It posited a universalist, prophetic, nonsectarian faith, referenced on the nation, that served as both a source of unity for the American people and a discursive resource for political leaders and protest movements. Using recent political events as illustrative cases, I argue that ACR is not only a universalist, prophetic creed, it is also an expression of tribal identity that ascribes a particular character and purpose to the American people. In particular, this “tribal” civil religion has an often‐unstated assumption about the inseparability of religion, race, and national identity—that is, white, Christian, and American. Recent events have disrupted those implicit connections, leading to a vociferous reemphasis of their centrality to the national story. I maintain that neither ACR, nor recent politics involving immigration and Barack Obama's presidency, can be understood fully without considering the religion‐race‐national identity nexus.

Christian nationalism and white racial boundaries: examining whites' opposition to interracial marriage

“…Christian nationalism and white supremacy in the USA Beyond mere attachment to national religious history or belief in a divine, but nonsectarian covenant with the USA, Christian nationalists argue that the USA has been and should always be distinctively Christian in its identity, values, sacred symbols and policies (Aho 2013;Goldberg 2006;Gorski 2009Gorski , 2010McDaniel, Nooruddin, and Shortle 2011;Williams 2013). Following Bellah (1967;but see Williams 2013), Gorski (2010, 7) distinguishes Christian nationalism from 'American civil religion' in that civil religion views the religious and political spheres as 'independent but interconnected', while Christian nationalists 'advocate a total fusion' between the two spheres.…”

“…Simply put, Christian nationalists envision 'the boundaries of the religious and political communities to be as coterminous as possible' (Gorski 2010, 7). Scholars point out that Christian nationalist ideology has historically had highly racialized and imperialist underpinnings; and some theorize that a resurgence of Christian nationalism in the public sphere will likely serve to buttress notions of white purity and systemic non-white exclusion in American social life (Aho 2013;Goldberg 2006;Williams 2013). Despite its plausibility, little empirical research exists to substantiate this theory or to flesh out the potential mechanisms at work in this relationship.…”

“…Beyond perceived phenotypical differences, these symbolic criteria have included language, class, gender, economic ideology, sexual orientation and perhaps most prominently, national origins and religion (Edgell and Tranby 2010;Lamont and Molnár 2002;Omi and Winant 1994). Historically, white Americans have been reluctant to relax the boundaries of whiteness and extend in-group privileges to persons outside of the white-majority national (Anglo-European) or religious (Protestant) heritage (Bonilla-Silva 1999;Edgell, Gerteis, and Hartmann 2006;Lee and Bean 2010;Williams 2013). Although research has shown that white Americans who identify as more politically traditionalist or who identify with more exclusivist, sectarian religious groups are relatively more likely to maintain rigid racial boundaries (Edgell and Tranby 2010;Emerson and Smith 2000;Lamont and Molnár 2002), little empirical work as focused on the ways in which social identities that blur the lines between national and religious group membership may also fortify white racial boundaries in the USA in ways that are above and beyond the independent influences of political conservatism or religious exclusivism.…”

We the (Christian) People: Christianity and American Identity from 1996 to 2014

“…Americans reacted to the attacks with both increases in national pride as well as decreased trust of non-Christian religious groups, especially Muslims. Assumptions about American identity became suffused with ethnic, racial, and religious meaning (Williams 2010(Williams , 2013. The rhetoric of American leaders at the time, particularly George W. Bush, placed the nation's reaction to the September 11 th terrorist attacks in a religious framework (Bostdorff 2003;Simons 2007) However, the association between feelings of national identity and Christianity faded by 2014.…”

Public Islam in the Contemporary World: A View on the American Case

“…In a country founded by and overwhelmingly populated by northern and western European Protestants, the variation in acceptance has been embedded in racial and religious identities. Many of the fears about immigrants seem to revolve around similar themes-for example, the threat to national or cultural identity, or the economic threat of low-wage work-but these memes are applied to groups differentially, usually based on racial or religious 'otherness' (see Williams 2013).…”