Civil Religion In America

Question 1

BELLAH: interested in how religion unified society such as American society

Answer 1

• he says that what unifies American society is a civil religion
• a civil religion is a belief system that attached sacred qualities to society
• in America, civil religion is a faith in Americanism

Question 2

America’s ‘National faith’

Answer 2

BELLAH: civil religion integrates society in a way that individual religions can’t

• America’s institutionalised civil religion involves loyalty to the nation state and a belief in god (true American)
• expressed through rituals, symbols and beliefs: e.g. pledge allegiance to flag, national anthem, Lincoln Memorial etc

Question 3

Behind America’s civil religion is based on biblical models

Answer 3

• e.g. Exodus, Chosen people, promised land and new Jerusalem, death and rebirth
• it sacralises the American way of life and binds Americans from many ethnic and religious backgrounds

Question 4

Symbols of Americanism

Answer 4

• Wagon trail and Abraham Lincoln being born in a log cabin and becoming the president to demolish slavery.
• this means that it highlights the American way of life; everything is possible
• this is because symbols shows America’s history and America is the land of the free.