User:WaitingforGodot/ACR

American Civil Religion is a term used by academics to describe the religious like aspects of the American culture and American identity. While it is not a religion, proper, the American culture exerts similar social controls on people in all aspects of their life from their world view and their social values. While there is no requirement for Americans to be Christian, Christianity forms a huge part of the American identity, like it or not.

It should also be noted that as we are moving into a global society, much of this is changing; many people who grew up in the computer age are less threatened by supposedly "non-American" ideas.

Aspects of ACR
When talking about a civil religion, it is important to note that scholars look at the aspects of religion outside of any discussion of the supernatural. Generally, civil religions show aspects of mythology, ritual, sacred space, shared moral codes, shared values, (others?).

Mythology
There is a variety of myths that make up parts of the American identity that raise to the non-academic use of "myth", such as Johnny Appleseed, or Washington and the Cherry tree, but the more compelling myths are ones that permeate to the deepest core.
 * The Protestant work ethic - Anyone who works hard will succeed. The rich, therefore, deserve to be rich; the poor clearly are simply not working hard enough.
 * America as the Greatest Country Ever - maybe not quite so strong, but Americans generally focus on America, their knowledge of history is limited to interactions Americans have had with others.
 * We won our war of independence because we deserved to win, because we were the best. In reality we won because of several miscalculations of the British, the help of the French, and the fact that the Kingdom has several other tiny skirmishes going on. This attitude has been carried over into the American view of their importance in WWI and WWII.

Values

 * Americans have a strong sense of independence and self-sufficiency, informed in no small measure by the Protestant work ethic.
 * They have a sort of ingrained fear of government and government control; it is an American view that you should not have to carry ID to walk the streets, nor should a cop be able to ask you your name when you are not an actual suspect.
 * Education is valued and important for all.

Christianity and ACR
Fundamentalist Christians like to argue that "We are a Christian Nation", and they would be right. Not in the way they intend - that we formally favor Christianity and are favored by god, but rather that Christianity informs who we are as a Nation. Our secular holidays by and large have Christian roots. Jewish, Native American, Buddhist or Atheist children simply living their lives will grow up with a solid knowledge of Christianity that differs from their knowledge of any other religion (other than their own), and is acquired without intent on anyone's part.