What Is Civil Religion and How Does It Affect Christians?

Abstract:

What is civil religion and how does it affect Christians? That is the question that this

paper will examine. This paper identifies what civil religion is and how it has evolved over the

years. In the Literature Review, this paper examines and summarizes the different sources’

opinions and definitions of civil religion. It also discusses how politicians do not actually use the

term “civil religion,” but imply it in their speeches. This paper discusses the themes of civil

religion and how various authors predict that this may become a universalized religion. Then it

will discuss all four authors’ different conclusions on civil religion and how they think that civil

religion will affect America and religion. The paper concludes by looking into the future and

explaining how civil religion does and might affect Christians.

Introduction:

Robert Bellah defines civil religion as “the public religious dimension that plays a crucial

role in the development of American institutions that is expressed in a set of beliefs, symbols,

and rituals”(228). The term “civil religion” was first coined in the 8th chapter of Jean-Jacques

Rousseau’s book The Social Contract (1762). For Rousseau, civil religion was simply a form of

social cement, providing the state with sacred authority to help unify itself. Rousseau’s simple

outline of the principles of civil religion is: (1) Deity, (2) life to come, (3) the reward of virtue

and the punishment of vice, and (4) the exclusion of religious intolerance (252). Rousseau

believed that this group of religious beliefs is universal and that the government has a right to

sustain it. He also said that individuals’ religious opinions are outside the bounds of the

government (252-253). History has made many different references to forms of civil religion,

but the main study done by Robert Bellah and Martin Marty took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

They studied