Forum: American Civil Religion Revisited

Hammond, Phillip E.; Porterfield, Amanda; Moseley, James G.; Sarna, Jonathan D.

doi:10.1525/rac.1994.4.1.03a00010

Cited by 21 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Bellah's dismissal of the term notwithstanding, scholars have repeatedly returned to it, albeit sometimes reluctantly, continuing to challenge his version while also offering alternative and revised understandings of it. Far from disappearing at the close of the 1980s, it has been revived regularly, especially in the post-9/11 period, as seen in studies of the civil religious rhetoric of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump (see Hammond 1994;Angrosino 2002; Kao and Copulsky 2007;Roof 2009;Williams 2013;Gorski 2017;Marcus and Balaji 2017). Although some continue to argue that the concept is counterproductive, a much larger cohort of scholars have embraced it, albeit in more empirical, contextual, and qualified ways, so that the study of civil religion has become, in the words of Catherine L. Albanese, "more chastened and circumspect, more complex and nuanced, more tentative than that of the past" (Albanese 2010; see also Chernus 2010; Sehat 2011, p. 284).…”

Section: Conceptualizing Civil Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion

Lienesch

2019

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this essay, “In God We Trust”, the official motto of the United States, is discussed as an illustration of the contested character of American civil religion. Applying and evaluating assumptions from Robert N. Bellah and his critics, a conceptual history of the motto is presented, showing how from its first appearance to today it has inspired debates about the place of civil religion in American culture, law, and politics. Examining these debates, the changing character of the motto is explored: its creation as a religious response to the Civil War; its secularization as a symbol on the nation’s currency at the turn of the twentieth century; its state-sponsored institutionalization during the Cold War; its part in the litigation that challenged the constitutionality of civil religious symbolism in the era of the culture wars; and its continuing role in the increasingly partisan political battles of our own time. In this essay, I make the case that, while seemingly timeless, the meaning of the motto has been repeatedly reinterpreted, with culture, law, and politics interacting in sometimes surprising ways to form one of the nation’s most commonly accepted and frequently challenged symbols. In concluding, I speculate on the future of the motto, as well as on the changing place of civil religion in a nation that is increasingly pluralistic in its religion and polarized in its politics.

show abstract

Section: Conceptualizing Civil Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion

Lienesch

2019

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hence, when Jimmy Carter attempted, in his so-called "malaise" speech of 1979, to revive a "prophetic, judgmental version of the American civil religion," he was widely mocked (Hammond 1994, p. 3). Post-1960s Americans much preferred being praised to being to judged, and the result was the rise of an ersatz civil religion that transformed a once fallible nation into an object of uncritical veneration-a religion whose most important prophet was Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan (Hammond 1994).…”

Section: Conclusion: How the Covenant Was Brokenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why the Covenant Worked: On the Institutional Foundations of the American Civil Religion

Compton

2019

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scholars of American civil religion (ACR) have paid insufficient attention to the micro-level processes through which civil religious ideas have historically influenced beliefs and behavior. We know little about what makes such appeals meaningful to average Americans (assuming they are meaningful); nor do we know much about the mechanisms through which abstract religious themes and imagery come to be associated with specific policy aims, or what Robert Bellah called “national goals.” This article argues that a renewed focus on the relationship between civil religion and organized religion can help fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, I draw attention to three mainline Protestant institutions that for much of the twentieth-century were instrumental both in cultivating respect for the national civic faith and in connecting its abstract ideals to concrete reform programs: namely, the clergy, the state and local church councils, and the policy-oriented departments of the National Council of Churches (NCC). Finally, I argue that a fresh look at the relationship between civil religion and “church religion” sheds new light on the (arguably) diminished role of civil religious appeals in the present. If, as Bellah claimed in his later writings, ACR appeals have lost much of their power to motivate support for shared national goals, it is at least in part because the formal religious networks through which they once were transmitted and interpreted have largely collapsed.

show abstract

“…Others have posited competing civil religious traditions, one prophetic and critical, the other celebratory and approaching religious nationalism (Marty ; Wuthnow ). Another critique was less convinced of civil religion's existence as a “social fact,” and described it instead as a “legitimating myth” (Hammond ) or a “discourse” (Demerath and Williams ; Williams and Alexander ) used by a variety of political and social actors to place themselves within American traditions and add persuasive symbolics to their claims. In these cases, civil religion was often parsed analytically as either “culture” or “ideology” (Cristi ; Cristi and Dawson ; Williams ).…”

Section: Civil Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Williams

2013

Scientific Study of Religion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Forum: American Civil Religion Revisited

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

“In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion

“In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion

Why the Covenant Worked: On the Institutional Foundations of the American Civil Religion

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About