Thursday, May 1, National Day of 
Prayer
Now is an excellent time to discuss religion in America and to get a basic understanding for what has been called America’s “civil religion”.
When I’ve used this phrase recently, I was surprised to hear from otherwise educated adults, “what is civil religion? Is that something you invented?” No, I assured them, I stole it from someone else. Actually it has been around a long time in certain areas of study such as The Sociology of Religion, etc. It is a very helpful concept for anyone trying to get a handle on how religion in general actually functions, and has functioned almost from the beginning, in These United States of America. It is not a very good idea to get into a discussion, at least in public, on such themes as “Separation of Church and State” and a host of other contemporary issues without having a basic understanding of America’s only real religion.
I want to blog this week as I said about The National Day of Prayer and this is an excellent time to discuss the concept of civil religion with my blogroll partners. So please, leave your comments and let me know if you’ve already encountered this in your own life experience or not. Here is as good a place to start as any. As you can see it is from a course that is taught in various universities and has been for sometime. It is so fundamental that I think it should be taught at every middle school in America. 
“While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith, and others that church and synagogue celebrate only the generalized religion of “the American Way of Life,” few have realized that there actually exists alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America. This article argues not only that there is such a thing, but also that this religion–or perhaps better, this religious dimension–has its own seriousness and integrity and requires the same care in understanding that any other religion does.” -Robert Bellah,Civil Religion in America
Baptism in Blood essay by Harry Stout
May 1, 2008 at 1:34 pm
John,
May 1st is the international Labor day. It is only in US that has set a different day to honor the labor class. It reminds me of using english systems in measurements during my studies in US universities!! Again, only in US and perhaps a few other countries.
It would be interesting if you could explain more about the terminology you have used “civil religion”!! I didn’t get time to read that long article you gave the link in the post.
May 2, 2008 at 11:38 am
Thank you Cyrus, I was hoping that you would comment on this and you did not disappoint me. Your two comments are directly related. As a student from Persia, may I say that with great respect, you were of course required to learn another culture. When in Rome, you have to study the way the Romans teach.
The fact that May Day has been hijacked for our own National purpose and agenda should not surprise anyone. The fact that it is fashioned “Day of Prayer” should not fool us either. The great number of North Americans did not celebrate it as such but went right on with what they usually celebrate. There were lots of posts on the web decrying the fact that in many local celebrations of prayer, they were not truly reflective of people of other Faiths except christians. Evidently the National Committee and most local organizers were of the conservative, evangelical persuasion and wrongly took advantage of that.
Civil religion is the official religion of the U.S.A. and must be because of the way the country was set up in the begining to not allow the Government to impose any one religion on the citizens, but to allow for free exercise of religion for all Americans. It is not Christianity, it is not Judaism, and it is not Islam, nor any other religion. It should not be confused with any of these Faiths for it is much more generic in its attitude toward God than either of these great Monotheistic Faiths are.
I will be posting more on this as I firmly believe it is one of the most misunderstood realities about this country. You can do us a great service, because I believe you know what it’s like to hear so much criticism of Islam by those who do not understand the larger picture of what it is and what it isn’t. So to begin with I have insisted that Civil religion in the U.S.A. should not be confused with Christianity as defined by Christ himself.