Civil Religion

• Bellah (1991;2013): religion unifies multi-faith societies through civil religion
• Civil Religion: a belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society itself. In America, civil religion is a faith in Americanism or the 'American way of life'
• American Civil Religion involves loyalty to the state and a belief in god
• American Civil Religion Rituals:

  1. Pledge of Allegiance
  2. National Anthem
  3. 'One Nation Under God'
• American Civil Religion does not involve a single god involved in Judaism, Christianity and Islam but an American god
• Civil Religion sacralises the American way of life and beliefs in Meritocracy and Freedom
• Functional Alternatives: non-religious beliefs the perform the same functions of organised religion such as maintaining social cohesion
• Functional Alternatives ignore what makes religion distinctive through belief in the supernatural
• Soviet Union and example of functional alternatives through politics. Politics becomes the everything