On the Heuristic Value of the Concept of Political Religion and its Application

Abstract

The thesis here is that the concept of political religion (PR) is useful as a heuristic device or model to explore certain unique features of modern secular revolutionary and/or ultra‐nationalist movements and regimes which develop elaborate ideologies and public rituals. It depends on a broad or ‘Durkheimian’ definition of religion and is not to be confused with the politicisation of traditional religion, which can be found in varying forms in nearly all historic polities. The differences between modern civil religion (CR) and PR are examined, and some of the principal regimes and movements for whom PR may be a useful concept are analysed with regard to their similarities and differences. The conclusion is that both the politicisation of religion and the cultic forms of PR continue to characterise in varying ways some of the major radical new forces of the twentieth century, while much of the Western world tends toward an inchoate kind of incipient, not fully coded PR most simply characterised as Multicultural Political Correctness.