Overview:
We have seen that civil religion is a recent name for religious nationalism
as institutionalized in a loose religious system. Its foundations were laid
by the New England Puritans and, later, by the patriots of the American
Revolution, who linked Puritan millennial themes to Enlightenment religion
and the experience and remembrance of their own deeds in the war. By the
time of George Washington's first inauguration, the creed, code, and cultus
of the civil religion were firmly in place, and through them the ordinary
history of the country was linked to extraordinary religion.
The creed proclaimed the United States as a chosen and millennial nation, saddled with the twin charge of providing an example and fulfilling a mission to raise up others to democracy. The code emphasized patriotic behavior by citizens and government, with a view to setting example and accomplishing an American mission. But the code also institutionalized the jeremiad, the public lament about American guilt that substituted language for action to correct problems. Inter-linked with creed and code, the cultus of the civil faith designated sacred space and time in national shrines and patriotic holy days. It offered national "saints," revered objects, and ritual practices to encourage Americans to keep connection with creed and code. Although there were many ambiguities in the meaning of creed, code, and cultus, the central affirmation was the millennial politics of making history by deeds of greatness.
In the nineteenth century, the War of 1812 and the Civil War carried
forward the millennial theme, while the doctrine of manifest destiny applied
the theme to the acquisition of land. Then in the twentieth century, World
Wars I and II heightened millennial fervor. Beginning in the fifties, though,
a long period of decline set in for civil religion. Celebration of the cultus
was muted at, for example, Memorial Day observances and during the bicentennial.
Against this background, a scholarly revitalization movement explored the
meaning of the civil faith and tried to revivify and strengthen it. Beleaguered
by its problems, civil religion could not create authentic community: it
was the religion of, at best, many of the people some of the time. Yet it
did offer a framework within which many could come together as Americans
and still pursue their separate religions. And it did provide a focus for
national response during public crisis moments from 1980. However, civil
religion was only one piece of the religious territory, so to speak. Although
they were many, Americans in their public space had created a dominant culture
that, as one, told them who they were, advised them how to act, and provided
them with rituals to express these meanings. George Washington was not the
only divine man for Americans. Arguing politics and celebrating the Fourth
of July were not the only American rituals. Beyond the civil religion there
was general American culture. Thus, further examination of the culture's
religious dimensions is needed to gain a clearer sense of what ordinary
religion means in its American setting. As we will see, George Washington
shared his power with Elvis Presley and the Grateful Dead, and arguing politics
yielded before the American game of baseball.
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