The American Civil Religion: A Critical Review of its Nationalism

Abstract

The modern concept of civil religion manifests its fundamental purpose through inculcating nationalism and diminishing loyalty to other local communities in the name of church/state separation. This article wishes to explore the roots of the modern concept in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robespierre, and the French Revolution and their attempt to replace the church with the state. It proceeds to exemplify the new etatism or loyalty to the state through examining the Inaugural Addresses of US Presidents and displaying the many facets of the civil religion in America that promote its national identity. Some scholars fail to appreciate the intimate relation between the civil religion and nationalism and try to make this form of religion an ideal calling for the people, often centered upon their own political agenda. These scholars fail to recognize that its strict view of church/state separation loses the possibility of providing a prophetic witness outside the state or holding it accountable to a higher court. This article rejects the strict separation of the civil religion and finds true religion developing from below within the affections of the people, not from above in some civic establishment. It is these religious affections that hold the state accountable and must find expression in public.