Civil Religion

Coleman, John A.

doi:10.2307/3710057

Cited by 72 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…For example, John A. Coleman (1970), following Bellah, defined civil religion as "the set of beliefs, rites, and symbols which relates a man's role as citizen and his society's place in space, time, and history to the conditions of ultimate existence and meaning" (70). Also in 1974, Martin Marty identified two, broader poles in the understanding of civil religion: 'the nation under God' and 'the nation as self-transcendent.'…”

Section: Definitional Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Civil Religion

Fuist¹,

Williams²

2015

International Encyclopedia of the Social &Amp; Behavioral Sciences

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The concept of 'civil religion' suggests that a pervasive, nonsectarian understanding of morality and transcendence sacralizes the nation-state, the polity, and the history and destiny of a society. The concept became popular in social science circles following Robert Bellah's (1967) article. Civil religion has generally been credited with functioning as a source of cohesion and coherence in political life. However, recent empirical and theoretical developments have undermined the notion that civil religion is inherently an expression of social solidarity. We first explore definitional distinctions in the literature on civil religion, focusing on the United States, where the concept became important for understanding 'American exceptionalism' with regard to religiosity. We then turn to three developments that complicate the use and application of the civil religion concept as initially formulated: increasing religious pluralism, increasing religio-political polarization, and cross-national comparisons.

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Section: Definitional Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Civil Religion

Fuist¹,

Williams²

2015

International Encyclopedia of the Social &Amp; Behavioral Sciences

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“…Thus, general religiosity, civil religion, and traditionalist values may be an expected part of the same structure of cultural hegemony. When civil religious ceremonies are taken as examples in the case of the United States, they usually have to do with events commemorating the past, such as Memorial Day (Coleman 1970). At a more general level, celebrating society as a whole always needs to invoke the past, where support for society's legitimacy as authority is to be found.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalizing the Civil Religion Concept at a Cross‐Cultural Level

Flere

Lavrič

2007

Scientific Study of Religion

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This study represents an attempt to operationalize and validate the civil religion concept on four different national samples. The cultural heritage of these countries varies greatly, and according to Samuel Huntington's (1994) classification, they belong to three different civilizations. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to confirm the statistical adequacy of a proposed civil religion scale at the national and at the cross-cultural level. Civil religion proved to be a separate dimension from general religiosity, as well as from traditionalism, both at the cross-cultural and at the national level, although closely linked to these. Of the latter two background variables, civil religion proved to be linked more to traditionalism.

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“…It defines Americans' mutual values and goals and is often invoked by politicians on solemn occasions. Coleman (1970) argued that civil religion can point to an aspect of religion which is neither the domain of the State, nor the ecclesiastical hierarchy and yet still about how religion and the State are related to each other, especially through the emergence of a greater role for the laity in determining the common goals and values of the nation. 26 I propose 'uncivil religion' as a means of highlighting how the forced incorporation into the modern Chinese state has transformed Tibetans' relationship to what they perceive to be the State (the P.R.C., the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, other high lamas and former lords).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Hope and Sorrow: Uncivil Religion, Tibetan Music Videos, and YouTube

Warner

2013

Ethnos

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Tibetan activists and their supporters are interpreting the lyrical and visual symbolism of contemporary Tibetan music videos from China as a call for Tibetans to return to a shared Tibetan identity, centered around religious piety and implied civil disobedience, in order to counter fears of cultural assimilation. As the popularity of some videos on social-networking sites dovetailed with the 2008 protests in Tibet, viewers employed a progressive hermeneutical strategy which demanded a sectarian political interpretation of the lyrics and imagery of the most popular videos out of Tibet. Within China, Tibetans have begun to add these videos to the growing canon of an emerging uncivil religion, which emphasizes Tibetan cultural, linguistic, and religious autonomy within China. Through comparing online and offline ethnography, this article explores the relationship between offline and online worlds and the connections between Tibetans in China and their supporters.

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Civil Religion

Cited by 72 publications

References 1 publication

Civil Religion

Civil Religion

Operationalizing the Civil Religion Concept at a Cross‐Cultural Level

Hope and Sorrow: Uncivil Religion, Tibetan Music Videos, and YouTube

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