In preserving a prophetic standard for critique, civil religion offers a reason why America remains exceptional and worthy of its peoples’ love-in spite of its failings. How such ideals are implemented in history-or ignored or violated-are all part of the uneven story of American progress that civil religion tells. Yet, the canon also remains open to new or undiscovered sources that strengthen the moral and spiritual ideals of the republic-as Philip Gorski’s new history of civil religion, American Covenant, reveals through figures such as Jane Addams, Reinhold Niebuhr, and John Courtney Murray.įreedom, democracy, equality, individual rights, and human dignity-these are the moral pillars of civil religion, the shared truths on which America rests. Bellah’s canon includes Winthrop’s Arbella (“city upon a hill”) sermon, Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, Thoreau’s defense of civil disobedience, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It is one part Jeremiah, one part Madison. It blends Hebraic and Christian notions of calling, piety, and accountability with republican ideas of virtue, self-government, and natural rights. Civil religion offers a moral vocabulary, not a theology. Yet this common faith-others have called it a “public moral philosophy”-is decidedly non-sectarian. Like traditional religions, it binds people together. E pluribus unum as the national motto goes. For a country of immigrants and diverse peoples-where national identity is based not upon ethnic or tribal belonging or cultural homogeneity-civil religion provides a shared basis for citizenship. It is the collective effort to understand the American experience of self-government in light of higher truths and through reference to a shared heritage of beliefs, stories, ideas, symbols, and events. What is American civil religion? Simply put, it is the moral backbone of our body politic.
This year marks fiftieth anniversary of sociologist Robert Bellah’s seminal essay “Civil Religion in America.” The civil religion Bellah first extolled there and engaged throughout his career is needed now more than ever to unify a divided citizenry at home and to restore American leadership in the world. This tradition is what unites Americans in a common moral and political enterprise despite their many regional, political, racial, ethnic, and other differences. While not spelled out in the Constitution, this institution is as important as those that are. While the president has attacked numerous institutions, one vital democratic tradition in particular has suffered gravely under his administration and stands in need of urgent repair and renewal. He has exacerbated various divisions fraying the country while eroding the shared heritage and vision needed to restore unity and move the country forward-a pattern exhibited in his weekend condemnation of National Football League players and owners. President Trump’s unbridled rhetorical rampage since taking office has stripped the presidency of its moral ambition and authority. (Getty/Doug Mills) President Trump arrives on the platform for inauguration.
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