AAR...Pirates and Civil Religion...

Session two at the AAR conference:Rethinking Civil Religion. No, it has nothing to do with being rude at church, although you should never be rude at church (or really anywhere.)

To sum up: Civil Religion is the sum of religious concepts, rituals and dialogue that are adopted by the state and become part of the fabric of the social consciousness of that state. Robert Bellah coined the concept back in 1967. Think of it this way: the USA has a constitutional separation of church and state. But...the money says in "In God we Trust", political functions start with prayer, and every president has invoked terminology like "sacred trust" and "moral duty", the language of religion to rally the citizenry. The pledge of allegiance and singing of the national anthem at sports events, are two of the rituals and pronouncements like "my country right or wrong" complete the "religious" mythology of the USA. Tied up with this is the idea of being God's chosen people; a nation of destiny; the shining beacon to the world.

So is this a good thing or bad? Well, here is where our speakers were undecided. They all agreed that the recent events have shaken America's self perception. Maybe the USA is not invincible; maybe they won't always prevail. That was an almost unthinkable admission not long ago. But should America, and well all country and even the world have a civil religion?

Can there be a civil religion without God? Well maybe yes the speakers argued, as long as there is some idea of transcedence; something bigger, greater than ourselves. Something to aspire to like universal moral principles. Sound very lofty. But I wonder...do people readily give their lives for abstract concepts? Or do they give their lives for something personally important to themselves: love for family, community and God?

OK, no pirates in this session, but remember the "code of the brethren" from the Pirates of the Caribbean? Sounds like civil religion to me. :)