The Relevance of the Concept of Civil Religion from a (West) German Perspective

Heike Bungert,Jana Weiss

doi:10.3390/rel10060366

Abstract

The paper argues for the continued importance and usefulness of the term “civil religion” in light of the (West) German discussion and the situation in Europe. For non-Americans, and especially for Germans for whom terms like “political religion” are tied to the National Socialist past, the concept of civil religion helps explain the relationship of religion and politics, both in modern democracies in general and in Germany and the United States in particular.

Highlights

The paper argues for the continued importance and usefulness of the term “civil religion” in light of the (West) German discussion and the situation in Europe
For non-Americans, and especially for Germans for whom terms like “political religion” are tied to the National Socialist past, the concept of civil religion helps explain the relationship of religion and politics, both in modern democracies in general and in Germany and the United States in particular
So far, a transnational exchange on the concept is lacking as most of the literature published in languages other than English is not acknowledged in the United States

Summary

Introduction

“Obama as Pontifex maximus” ran the headline of a German newspaper in 2013 explaining to its readers that the U.S.-American inauguration was the “high mass” of the nation’s civil religion (Main 2013). They have trouble understanding how the U.S experience is interpreted in a religious frame. By (re)introducing the concept of civil religion and applying it to U.S.-American society in the late 1960s, Robert N Bellah both furthered and complicated our understanding of religion in U.S. politics and culture (Bellah 1967). More importantly, while scholars have repeatedly suggested the abolition of the term, we argue that from the perspective of non-Americans the term is necessary and useful It serves both as an explanation of the (to outsiders) strange mix of religion and politics in the United States and as a helpful concept for other countries such as Germany, in academic circles as well as in the wider public.

The Beginnings of the Debate in Germany

Civil Religion and Political Religion

The Debate on Alternative Terms and Definitions

The Lutheran Debate

Helping to Explain Recent Developments and the Present

Conclusions