The Ecumenical Church in National Civil Religion

Abstract

After examining the contrasting evaluations of the church’s role in civil religion, the social effectiveness of joining the dynamics of spiritual inspiration and patriotism is recognized. The church, synagogue, and mosque should take their full place and responsibility in the national civil religion, while rejecting and resisting any form of ‘holy nationalism! Serving a God who interacts in history requires it. Joining religious motivation for peace with social action inevitably implies it. The power of President Lincoln’s religious rhetoric in the civil war and the continuing symbolic power of the national Lincoln Memorial is used to illustrate the place and power of civil religion in the United States. The praxis of seeking ecumenical peace in the civil religions of different societies is illustrated in the praxis of ecumenical churches during the long cold war between East and West. The fact that this struggle only recently ended provides illustration and impetus for contemporary interfaith peace action by our Abrahamic religions in our current conflicts.