By Mark Tooley, Juicy Ecumenism.
Sam Goldman smartly advocates a revival of American Civil Religion in a Washington Post column today. He says:
Rather than an embrace of Christian nationalism or an affirmation of secularism, the United States needs a revival of American civil religion — a system of belief distinct from Christian orthodoxy and secular neutrality.
And:
Civil religion is not a magic spell for producing consensus. Like adherents of other religions, Americans can fight bitterly over the meaning and priority of the same symbols. And it is uncertain whether civil religion can survive if its origins are forgotten. There is a strong case for restoring biblical and classical sources to educational prominence — not to convert but to prepare students for membership in what sociologist Philip Gorski calls an “American covenant.”
Finally:
Despite these challenges, a revival of American civil religion seems more promising than any alternative. America’s Christian majority is not going to disappear. But neither are its significant minority of non-Christians and substantial cohort of Christians uncomfortable with Christian nationalism. To borrow Lincoln’s words, civil religion might be “the last best hope” for a divided people. It always has been.
Goldman doesn’t explain who would orchestrate civil religion’s revival. No one group created it. It arose organically, early in the republic, as statesmen and clergy, at public events and in public documents, inclusively talked of God’s relationship with America without getting too specific. It was mostly a Protestant project, specifically from what later became known as “Mainline.” But its inclusivity allowed Catholics, Jews, and others later to meld in without too much difficulty. “In God We Trust,” could bind the nation together so long as the details about God’s identity were left to individuals and religious groups.
The unofficial stewards of America’s Civil Religion were the Mainline Protestants, whose clergy were America’s spiritual leaders, and whose laity provided most of America’s political leadership. Across many decades Mainline clergy easily led invocations at presidential inaugurals and local Rotary clubs with this inclusive language that pleased most people and upset very few if any. Ingrained into American public life, it was reassuring even to non-religious people as a symbol of continuity, moral purpose, and wider obligation.
Sadly, Mainline Protestantism has sadly retreated into near obscurity. Catholic priests when called upon can still do it well. And many Evangelical clergy can fulfill the role if asked. Billy Graham was expert at it.