Write a short response essay (1-2 pages, double-spaced) to Robert Bellah’s “Civil Religion in America.” Do you think he is on track or off base in his analysis? What are some contemporary examples of “American Civil Religion” you observe today? 

Due in 8 hrs 9pm est

CHRISTIANITY IN THE NEW WORLD II:
North America

IS THE UNITED STATES A CHRISTIAN
NATION?

SPANISH AND FRENCH TERRITORIES

• The earliest form of
Christianity to come to North
America was Roman
Catholicism.

• Catholicism has continued
to remain strong in many of
these areas, such as New
Orleans, St. Augustine, and
St. Louis.

BRITISH COLONIES

• Church of England established
in Colony of Virginia in 1619.

• Pilgrims arrive in Massachusetts
in 1620 wishing to separate
from the English state church.

• Puritans arrive in Massachusetts
in 1629 wishing to purify the
Church of England in the New
World of Traces of Roman
Catholicism.

18TH CENTURY

• Great Awakening:
Northeastern Protestant
revival movement.

• American Revolution

• U.S. Constitution: Separation
of Church and State

• Local State Constitutions:
Massachusetts

19TH CENTURY

• Second Great Awakening in
response to growing skepticism
and deism.

• First Great Awakening had
focused on reviving spirituality
in established churches;
Second Great Awakening
focused on unchurched and
instilling deep sense of personal
salvation as experienced at
revival meetings.

• Abolition

• Civil War

WHAT IS MEANT BY “CHRISTIAN”
NATION?

• Nicene?

• Chalcedonian?

• Roman Catholic or Eastern
Orthodox? (Filioque?)

• Roman Catholic or
Protestant?

WHAT IS AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION?

• Who is the God of American
Civil Religion?

• Church?

• Beliefs?

• Symbols?

• Rituals?

• Scriptures?

• Activist, moralistic, social vs.
contemplative, theologically or
innerly spiritual

BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND AMERICA

• Exodus

• Covenant (Chosen People)

• Promised Land

• Jerusalem

• Sacrificial Death and
Martyrdom

• Rebirth