civil religion
Ghana’s plans for a national cathedral are mired in controversy and delays − but also reflect religion’s strong role in the nation’s identity
By Nicolette Manglos-Weber — August 15, 2023
(The Conversation) — With modern borders drawn up by colonial powers, some African governments have turned to religion to try to forge national unity since independence.
Impeachment and the decline of constitutional faith
By Mark Silk — January 31, 2020
(RNS) — In the language of both Democrats and Republicans, the Constitution is not the sacred document it used to be.
Donald Trump and the battering of civil religion
By John D. Carlson — January 19, 2018
(RNS) — American civil religion is the moral backbone of our body politic — a heritage of shared beliefs, stories, ideas, symbols and events that explains the American experience of self-government with reference to a moral order that transcends it.
How Robert Bellah helped Martin Luther King oppose the Vietnam War
By Mark Silk — April 4, 2017
He (must have) read 'Civil Religion in America.'
Obama’s weary civil religion
By Mark Silk — March 11, 2015
It's the rhetoric of a different time and place.
Occupying Wall Street religiously
By Mark Silk — November 1, 2011
What do the OWS demonstrations have to do with religion? Over at the Scoop, Lee Gilmore notes the rather modest role traditional religious representation has played thus far, and decides that the most active presence has been neo-pagan. My son Ezra, a newspaperman who has just set out to cover the demonstrations nationwide–check out his […]
At Virginia Tech
By Mark Silk — October 29, 2011
I’m at Virginia Tech to participate in a symposium on the Judeo-Christian tradition and yesterday had a chance to visit the memorial erected to the victims of the April 16, 2007 massacre perpetrated on campus by Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally disturbed student. The memorial sits at the head of the the Drillfield, the large open […]
A New Pledge of Allegiance?
By Mark Silk — October 25, 2011
I was discussing the history of the Pledge of Allegiance in my class on religion and the media today, and was astonished to learn that some of my students–one from Santa Barbara, others from upstate New York–had been accustomed to recite the Pledge in public school with the words “under all” replacing “under God.” As […]
How not to pray at Ground Zero
By Mark Silk — September 9, 2011
The usual suspects plus some unusual ones are unhappy with Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to conduct the 10th anniversary commemoration ceremonies at Ground Zero without benefit of clergy, and at first blush, the decision is a little hard to comprehend. After all, these days Americans do tend to solemnize such occasions with some sort of joint […]
The Religious Newt
By Mark Silk — March 30, 2011
Amy Sullivan, may her blog posts increase, has a fine one up on Swampland explaining why the Gingrichian outreach to evangelicals is likely to go nowhere. Among other things, the guy seems incapable of showing remorse (read: repentance) for his well-known sins (ah, those adulteries), and unaware that evangelicals really like to be told your […]
Hating on the Judeo-Christian Tradition
By Mark Silk — January 23, 2011
Over at Religion Dispatches, Shalom Goldman is the latest Jewish writer to try to kill off “the Judeo-Christian tradition.” Inspired by a new “Judeo-Christian Voter Guide,” he resuscitates the claim that the phrase does little more than paper over the long history of Jewish-Christian animosity, subordinating Jewish distinctiveness to ecumenical public relations. In a study […]
Schönborn v. Sodano
By Mark Silk — May 10, 2010
It is a rare thing when one Catholic cardinal publicly attacks another. The most famous example occurred in the middle of the 11th century, when Humbert of Silva Candida bitterly criticized Peter Damian for claiming that bishops who had purchased their offices were still valid bishops. The saintly (later sainted) Damian was one of the […]
Glendon on Cicero
By Mark Silk — January 6, 2010
Mary Ann Glendon’s fulsome appreciation of Cicero in the current issue of First Things is one lawyer/public figure’s tribute to her most distinguished predecessor, but given Glendon’s own involvement with issues of religion in public life–and the main preoccupation of the magazine she’s writing for–it’s curious that she didn’t manage, in nearly 4,000 words, to […]
Civil Religion at Fort Hood
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2009
From the president’s remarks: It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know – no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will […]
Camp (David) Meeting
By Mark Silk — June 29, 2009
Amy Sullivan has the scoop on the Obamas’ choice of church: Camp David’s Evergreen Chapel. A politic move, and probably a wise one: Not only do the Obamas seem to want to be together as a family at Camp David whenever possible (so where else go to church?), but it was going to be a […]
Page 1 of 2
