American civil religion is a sociological theory that a nonsectarian civil religion exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from the national history of the United States. Scholars have portrayed it as a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. The ritualistic elements of ceremonial deism found in American ceremonies and presidential invocations of God can be seen as expressions of the American civil religion.
The concept goes back to the 19th century, but the current form of this theory was developed by sociologist Robert Bellah in 1967 in the article "Civil Religion in America". According to him, many Americans embrace a common civil religion with certain fundamental beliefs, values, symbols, holidays, and rituals in parallel to, or independent of, their chosen religion. Bellah's article soon became the major focus at religious sociology conferences, and numerous articles and books were written on the subject. Interest in the topic peaked with the United States Bicentennial celebration in 1976. Other names which have been used include "religion of the republic," "civic faith," or "public piety."
Theory Bellah posits that Americans have come to see the document of the United States Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, as cornerstones of a type of civil religion or political religion. Political sociologist Anthony Squiers argues that these texts act as the sacred writ of the American civil religion because they are used as authoritative symbols in what he calls the politics of the sacred. The politics of the sacred, according to Squiers, are "the attempt to define and dictate what is in accord with the civil religious sacred and what is not. It is a battle to define what can and cannot be and what should and should not be tolerated and accepted in the community, based on its relation to that which is sacred for that community."
Bellah later revised his assessment of American civil religion. In The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion In Time of Trial, he argued that the United States had broken the moral covenant implicit in its founding ideals, and that American civil religion had become "an empty and broken shell," no longer capable of providing the moral resources needed to sustain democratic life. Written against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, the book contended that a pervasive culture of individualism and materialism had eroded the shared civic faith Bellah had described in 1967, and that the continuing deterioration of civil religion risked producing political instability.
The nation provides quasi-religious central roles to its presidents and honors to its martyrs, such as Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers killed in the American Civil War.Harry S. Stout, Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War (2006) Historians have noted presidential-level use of civil religion rhetoric in profoundly moving episodes such as World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the September 11 attacks.
Development
Alexis de Tocqueville believed Christianity was the source of the basic principles of liberal democracy and the only religion capable of maintaining liberty in a democratic era. He was keenly aware of the mutual hatred between Christians and liberals in 19th-century France, rooted in the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In France, Christianity was allied with the Old Regime before 1789 and the reactionary Bourbon Restoration of 1815–1830. However, he said Christianity was not antagonistic to democracy in the United States, where it was a bulwark against dangerous tendencies toward individualism and materialism, which would lead to atheism and tyranny.Sanford Kessler, "Tocqueville on Civil Religion and Liberal Democracy," Journal of Politics, 39#1 (1977), pp. 119–146.
Also significant were the contributions of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and French sociologist Émile Durkheim. Rousseau introduced the concept of civil religion in The Social Contract, arguing that a stable democratic society required a set of shared civic beliefs — distinct from institutional Christianity — that bound citizens together through common moral commitments. Durkheim's later work expanded this foundation, arguing in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life that religion functions primarily as a social phenomenon, producing collective rituals and shared symbols that reinforce group identity and solidarity. Bellah drew directly on both thinkers in formulating his account of American civil religion.
The American case Most students of American civil religion follow the basic interpretation by Bellah and Durkheim.Marcela Cristi, From civil to political religion: the intersection of culture, religion and politics (2001) p. 7 Other sources of this idea include these: philosopher John Dewey who spoke of "common faith" (1934); sociologist Robin Murphy Williams's American Society: A Sociological Interpretation (1951) which describes a "common religion" in America; sociologist Lloyd Warner's analysis of the Memorial Day celebrations in "Yankee City" (1953 ); historian Martin Marty's "religion in general" (1959); theologian Will Herberg who spoke of "the American Way of Life" (1960, 1974); historian Sidney Mead's "religion of the Republic" (1963); and British writer G. K. Chesterton, who said 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".
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.
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.
Today, according to social scientists Ronald Wimberley and William Swatos, there seems to be a firm consensus among social scientists that a part of Americanism 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.
Evidence supporting Bellah Ronald Wimberley (1976) and other researchers collected large surveys and factor analytic studies, which supported Bellah's argument that civil religion is a distinct cultural phenomenon within American society that is not embodied in American politics or denominational religion.
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." "God Bless America"
A 1978 study by James Christenson and Ronald Wimberley found that many Americans hold civil-religious beliefs, though college graduates and political or religious liberals tended to be less so. Protestants and Catholics shared the same level of civil religiosity. Religions that originated in the United States—the Mormons, Adventists, and Pentecostals—had the highest civil religiosity. Jews, Unitarians, and those with no religious preference had the lowest civil religiosity. Even though there is variation in the scores, the "great majority" of Americans are found to share the types of civil religious beliefs that Bellah wrote about.
Further research revealed that civil religion affects preferences for political candidates and policies. In 1980, Wimberley found that civil religious beliefs were more influential than party loyalties in predicting support for Nixon over McGovern among Sunday churchgoers and local residents. In 1982, Christenson and Wimberley found that civil religion was second only to occupation in predicting a person's policy views.
Coleman has argued that civil religion is a widespread theme in history. He posits that it typically evolves in three phases: undifferentiation, state sponsorship in the period of modernization, and differentiation. He supports his argument with comparative historical data from Japan, Imperial Rome, the Soviet Union, Turkey, France, and the United States.John A. Coleman, "Civil Religion", Sociological Analysis, Summer 1970, 31#2 pp. 67–77
Scholarly Debate Academic interest in the concept of American civil religion peaked in the early 1970s and subsequently declined. James A. Mathisen, surveying two decades of scholarship in "Twenty Years after Bellah: Whatever Happened to American Civil Religion?", published in Sociological Analysis in 1989, identified four phases in the academic debate since Bellah's 1967 essay and noted a sharp contraction in scholarly attention from the 1970s onward. Critics questioned whether civil religion was analytically distinct enough from nationalism or denominational religion to constitute a meaningful independent category, and whether the concept was defined with sufficient precision to be empirically tested. Some scholars accepted that Bellah had identified a genuine cultural phenomenon while arguing that he had overstated its internal coherence and its integration across different segments of American society.
In practice
American Revolution
Catherine L. Albanese writes that the American Revolution is the main source of civil religion. Albanese's book Sons of the Fathers: The Civil Religion of the American Revolution says it produced these religious properties: a Moses-like leader in George Washington; prophets such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine; apostles such as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin; martyrs such as those who perished in the Boston Massacre and in Nathan Hale; devils such as Benedict Arnold and Hessian "mercenaries"; sacred places such as Independence Hall and Valley Forge; rituals such as raising the Liberty Pole; symbols such as the Betsy Ross flag; sacred holidays such as Independence Day; and a holy scripture based on the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
Some of the founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, called for a "public religion" or encouraged disassociation with sects and denominations in favor of an individualized religious expression. However, careful specification was made to clarify that this public religion was still to be Christian-oriented. When discussing his idea of public religion, Franklin extolled "the Excellency of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION above all others ancient or modern."
Ceremonies in the early Republic The leaders of the Federalist Party were conscious of the need to boost voter identification with their party. Elections remained of central importance but for the rest of the political year, celebrations, parades, festivals, and visual sensationalism were used. They employed multiple festivities, exciting parades, and even quasi-religious pilgrimages and "sacred" days that became incorporated into the American civil religion. George Washington was always its hero, and after his death he became a sort of demigod looking down from heaven to instill his blessings on the nation.
At first the Federalists focused on commemoration of the ratification of the Constitution; they organized parades to demonstrate widespread popular support for the new Federalist Party. The parade organizers incorporated secular versions of traditional religious themes and rituals, thereby fostering a highly visible celebration of the nation's new civil religion.Jürgen Heideking, "The federal processions of 1788 and the origins of American civil religion." Soundings (1994): 367–87.