American law is closely related to the American civil religion, is its written basis, is regularly updated, refined and improved. Civil religion in the United States plays an important role both in legitimizing the decisions of the country’s leadership, especially those of a foreign policy nature, and in shaping the values of the American nation. Religion is generally able to form those processes, the totality of which can significantly determine the nature of the flow of world political processes. It is essential to analyze the importance and role of religion in modern American society.
For the first time, the problem of the connection between civil religion and American legislation was raised in R. Bell’s article “Civil Religion in America”. The researcher borrowed the concept of civil religion from the treatise “On the Social Contract” by J.J. Rousseau, who, however, cannot be considered the inventor of civil religion, since it was already characteristic of most ancient societies to one degree or another (Pearce & Gilliland 43). According to Rousseau, civil religion should encourage people to direct their religious devotion to the improvement of society, to the creation of suitable laws (Pearce & Gilliland 45). The general will of the people, which is sovereign, in turn, must be expressed in the religious life of the state.
However, some scholars consider unfounded the view that the Founding Fathers actually had clear plan for building a civil religion or a systematic set of beliefs. Rather, they each had a common drive and desire to liberate Americans from deep theological disputes and support a form of religion that would not place too much power in the hands of any one religious organization, would not promote their claims to political power. R. Bella noted that the true birth of a “civil religion” in America occurred only in the era of the Civil War (Stivers & Laan 84). The American Revolution came to be seen as the final act of the exodus from Egypt across the Atlantic, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as the sacred writings of the new civil religion (Pearce & Gilliland 73). George Washington in this context is like Moses leading his people from tyranny to freedom. However, before the civil war, this was not expressed so clearly.
In the writings of scholars who study the American civil religion, one can find discussions about the functions of “civil religion” in a certain sense. For example, that the strength of the civil religion is its desire to assimilate religious and constitutional ideals, or that constitutionalism is a form of the American civil religion. The article by Yehuda Mirsky and the article by Michael Maddigan pointed out that the civil religion must be recognized and approved by the courts (Stivers & Laan 89). This was explained by the fact that it is necessary to distinguish between the spheres of civil power and religious activity and is directed against any form of state support for any religion. Moreover this topic was partially touched upon in the works of D. Davis, where the question was raised whether, in this case, the Constitutional Court does not grant a special status to civil religion and its constitutional protection (Stivers & Laan 76). Based on the position of D. Davis about the existence in American society of two basic ideas about the American civil religion, it is important to conside their fundamental differences (Stivers & Laan 38). There is a conservative version of the civil religion and a liberal one. In particular, conservatives advocate laws that reflect biblical morality.
Liberals add to them the principles of utilitarianism and Kantian liberalism, defend the ideals of equality of all Americans as citizens. Conservatives, as a rule, assign a special role to Christianity, but at the same time they consider as Christians, not only those who profess this religion, but also all those who share Christian moral principles. From a liberal point of view, the idea of a “nation under God” seems dubious, since God created people equal and all nations deserve God’s favor (Stivers & Laan 54). According to this logic, the Americans play a special role in the world, not because they are the chosen people, but because they have received a blessing for this, which is expressed, in particular, by the resources available to the United States.
In this study, we used the methods of system analysis, comparative, meaningful content analysis and interpretation of sources; method of systematization and classification; comparative analysis. The problematic method has become the main structure-forming principle. From the point of view of the codification of dogmas, the American civil religion is a kind of conciliar system – its provisions are contained and collected from various documents, including those of a legal nature (Stivers & Laan 89). The sources of American civil religion include the following:
- Declaration of Independence of the United States, which speaks of the formation of a sovereign American state by the will of God, since the mother country – the British Empire – does not fulfill its obligations and violates the will of the Creator;
- The Constitution of the United States, including the preamble, main text and amendments to it;
- Regulations that established the American Stars and Stripes flag in the United States and the oath to this flag, the motto, the seal – the official symbols of this state, containing appeals to God;
- Regulations containing the texts of the oath for the President of the United States, members of the US Congress, other government civil servants, judges, law enforcement officers and military personnel, since these texts also contain references to God;
- Laws adopted by the US Congress and concerning the rights and freedoms of American citizens, guarantees of these rights and freedoms;
- Decisions of American courts, including the Supreme Court, which, in particular, clarify issues of a religious nature, the limits of the permissibility of expressing religious preferences in public, as well as issues of protecting other rights of American citizens;
- Regulations adopted at the level of the Republican and local authorities, containing references to the values of the American civil religion.
As a result of the study, it was concluded that the foundation for the American civil religion is American legislation – all documents adopted since the formation of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. There are four references to God in the US Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Independence affirms the fundamental values of the new state – American democracy, the “American dream”, but also forms the basis of the concept of “civil religion” (White & Silk 101). The US Constitution is the fundamental law of the United States, which has the highest legal force, adopted on September 17, 1787 at a meeting of the Constitutional Convention, which began with the prayer of its chaplain (White & Silk 64). The preamble to the Constitution describes liberty as a value and the highest good, comparable to justice, domestic harmony and defense, and the main provisions regarding the American civil religion are contained not in the text of the Constitution itself, but in amendments to it. Despite religious pluralism actually proclaimed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, the ban on the establishment by the US Congress of any religion as a state religion does not prevent the functioning in this country.
Thus, the issue of amending legislative sources seems to reflect the fixation of values in it, which can be clearly seen in the history of building the American state and improving the legal system. For example, since the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, America has been in a heated debate about how to interpret the principle of freedom of religion, which was laid down in amendments to the Constitution. Also of interest are the disputes in Congress during the adoption of laws relating to the rights and freedoms of American citizens, guarantees of these rights and freedoms. In 1941, the so-called case “Everson v. City Department of Education” broke out. Arch Everson sued the New Jersey township for using taxpayer money to support the Catholic Church – which is against the Constitution (White & Silk 47). The State Court and then the Federal Court and the Supreme Court found this case an unacceptable precedent. The Supreme Court decision reformulated the First Amendment, expanding it from 10 words to 100 and replacing its diplomatic flexibility with undeniable directness (Goff et al. 84). Neither the federal government nor the states have the right to support one religion, or all religions, or prefer one over another.
In general, the relationship between American civil religion and American law is of a dual nature, since they are, to a certain extent, an expression of each other. Thus, American legislation contains the provisions, ideals and values of the American civil religion, starting from the law that has the highest legal force in the United States – the Constitution. In turn, the American civil religion considers American legislation itself to be its value and calls on American citizens to its unconditional observance. From the point of view of the American civil religion, American laws are sacred, and not only for the inhabitants of the United States, but in general they are something of a standard for the rest of the world.
As a conclusion, it must be emphasized that religion retains its relevance and necessity in society, despite the changes of time. However, there are several problems that the field has faced, in particular, the interpretation of religious goals. As indicated, scientists are divided in opinion in such a way that it is difficult to draw a correct point of view. This suggests that any opinion is acceptable and depends solely on the outlook of the individual. However, it is wrong to say that religion is a relic of the past or an irrelevant social institution.
Works Cited
Goff, Philip, Haberski, Raymond Jr. and Williams, Rhys H. (Eds.). (2021). Civil religion today. Religion and the American nation in the twenty-first century. NYU Press.
Pearce, Lisa D. and Gilliland, Claire C. (2020). Religion in America. University of California Press.
Stivers, Richard and Laan, J. M. (2021). Religion in America today. Wipf & Stock Publishers.
White, Christopher and Silk, Mark. (Eds.). (2021). The future of metaphysical religion in America. Springer International Publishing.