Reply #16: more about civil religion

[erniesam]

Civil religion: good or bad?

In the political context, the language of civil religion can be used to inspire, but it can also be abused and used to manipulate.

“So much of it out there goes unacknowledged and unstudied that can be more dangerous than useful; it can be used to create fraudulent sentiments,” Sherrill said.
On the other hand, “civil religion involves some of the best resources we have as a nation. The power to compel and to elicit a sense of bonded-ness to one’s fellow countryperson is the best part of civil religion when it works. But it is potentially some of the most destructive stuff because it can be manipulated so easily by cynical people.
“I believe civil religion, if done with integrity and honesty, does represent the source of common aspirations if you don’t push it too hard and make it too specific,” he said.

Sherrill urged journalists, when they detect a politician using the language of civil religion, to make note and follow up with more questions.
“It would lift the level of political and religious discourse if you would stop and say, ‘Wait just one fine minute, what do you mean by that? What does ‘covenant’ mean?’ ” Sherrill said.

Summary

Bellah said he avoids using the term “civil religion” because it is so difficult to define, and ends up being the source of arguments about conflicting definitions.
“Inevitably, civil religion was understood by many people to mean the idolatrous worship of the state,” he said during the Santa Barbara lecture. “But, nonetheless, what I think is the significance of a public church is a church, which keeps its distance from power, which claims no constitutional authority – but which is actively involved in the common discourse about matters of public concern. The public church is a critical element in a society that must operate to keep that religious understanding of the nation viable.”

Sherrill believes civil religion is here to stay, in whatever form.
“Civil religion has gone through permutation after permutation throughout the course of our history. Every significant historical event that the country passed through had to get folded into it somehow,” he said. “There are signs and remnants of religion in places where you don't expect it. Civil religion is voracious and will gobble up anything it thinks useful.”

http://www.facsnet.org/issues/faith/sherrill_indy.php#bad