Dec 1 Civil Religion, ChurchState Boundaries, and Globalization

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Dec 1-- Civil Religion, Church/State Boundaries,
and Globalization

• Church and State (Ye-Jee)
• American Civil Religion (Mike)
• Globalization of Religion (Katie)

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CHURCH AND STATE
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MODELS OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

• Secular Model Strict separation religion is
  strongly institutionalized and privatized
  
• Civil Religion Model there is an important
  public role for religion but any religion is just
  as good as any other for filling it
  
• Establishment Model there is one established
  church but liberty for all others
  
• Anti-Establishment Model there is a history of
  establishment that is now obsolete
  

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PERCEIVED CULTURAL SEPARABLITY

• Extreme Separation France, Japan
• Extreme Fusion Iran, North Korea
• Debate and Confusion USA, Israel, Egypt, Iraq,
  Nigeria
  
• The important issue of taxation of religion

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AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION
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WHATS IN? WHATS OUT?

• Beliefs, practices, organization
• God?
• The 10 Commandments
• The Golden Rule
• Just wars
• When does life begin and end?
• Weekend practices

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CIVIL RELIGION AS A DIALECTIC SYNTHESIS

• Thesis State religion as a force of social and
  cultural cohesion
  
• Antithesis Religious pluralism as a force of
  individual and sub-cultural liberty
  
• Synthesis Civil religion as a force providing
  sacred legitimization of the social order without
  privileging any specific religious organization

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POST-CHRISTIANITY Is this a religious or
cultural term?

• Why does Harold Bloom speak of America as a
  post-Christian nation?
  
• What has gnosticism to do with it?
• Can Christians be post-Christian? Was Martin
  Luther perhaps the first Christian
  post-Christian?
  
• Is Mormonism Christian or post-Christian?

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GLOBALIZATION
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• Important to distinguish two aspects
• 1. Globalization of specific religions, like
  Christianity, Buddhism
  
• 2. Globalization of the general institution of
  religion in terms of a common set of
  understandings as to what is religious.

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THE R5

• Christianity
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Judaism
• (contrast with earlier Christian, Jewish,
  Mohammedan, Pagan/Heathen)

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DIFFUSION OF RELIGION

• Simultaneous diffusion of religions and the idea
  of religion.
  
• Widespread diffusion of a concept of religiosity
  that can be and has been treated as a common
  currency among various quite different
  religions.
• Complex process of imposition and imposition and
  appropriation