God's Democracy: American Religion after September 11 (Religion, Politics, and Public Life Under the auspices of the Leonard E. Greenb)

206 Pages·2008·1.19 MB·English

by  Emilio Gentile

God’s Democracy
RecentTitlesin
Religion,Politics,andPublicLife
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God’s Democracy
American Religion after September 11
Emilio Gentile
Jennifer Pudney and Suzanne D. Jaus, Translators
Religion,Politics,andPublicLife
UndertheauspicesoftheLeonardE.GreenbergCenterfortheStudyof
ReligioninPublicLife,TrinityCollege,Hartford,CT
MarkSilk,SeriesEditor
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Gentile,Emilio,1946–
[DemocraziadiDio.English]
God’sdemocracy:AmericanreligionafterSeptember11/EmilioGentile;JenniferPudney
andSuzanneD.Jaus,translators.
p.cm.— (Religion,politics,andpubliclife,ISSN1934–290X)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex.
ISBN978–0–313–35336–9(alk.paper)
1. UnitedStates—Religion—21stcentury.2. Religionandpolitics—UnitedStates—History—
21stcentury.3. September11TerroristAttacks,2001—Religiousaspects.4. UnitedStates—
Politicsandgovernment—2001– I.Title.
BL2525.G472008
200.973’090511—dc22 2008020077
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright©2008byEmilioGentile
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2008020077
ISBN:978–0–313–35336–9
ISSN:1934–290X
Firstpublishedin2008
OriginalItalianedition,LademocraziadiDio
©2006,Gius.Latertza&Figli
Primaedizione2006
©2006,EmilioGentile
perlalinguainglese
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10987654321
Contents
SeriesForeword vii
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Chapter1 AmericaViolated 1
Chapter2 WhereWasGod? 21
Chapter3 AttheWhiteHouse 39
Chapter4 MosesofAmerica 59
Chapter5 GoingtoWar,withGod 69
Chapter6 SacredImperialAmerica 83
Chapter7 TheGreatAwakening 101
Chapter8 TheGoldenCalf 119
Chapter9 APoliticalReligion,AmericanStyle? 139
Notes 149
Bibliography 173
Index 181
This page intentionally left blank
Series Foreword
Alexis de Tocqueville, that acute foreign observer of democracy in Andrew
Jackson’sAmerica,claimedthatwhilereligiontooknodirectpartinAmericans’
government,itwasnevertheless“thefirstoftheirpoliticalinstitutions.”InToc-
queville’s view, religion exerted its powerful political influence by schooling
the citizens of theUnitedStates in the proper exerciseof their freedom. This,
hebelieved,wasfarpreferabletothedirectpartplayedbytheRomanCatholic
ChurchinthepoliticsofhisnativeFrance.
In this exploration of the role of religion in George W. Bush’s America,
EmilioGentile,anotheracuteforeign observer,updatesand addsacautionary
notetoTocqueville’sassessment.AlongtimestudentofItalianfascismandof
religiouspoliticsinWesternEuropegenerally,Gentileunderstandsasfewschol-
arsdothewaysthatreligionservestobindnationalcommunitiestogetherinthe
modernworld.LookingatreligioninAmericanpubliclifefromatransatlantic
perspective,heprovidesauniqueportraitofacountrystrugglingtogetaspiri-
tualgriponitselfinthewakeofthetraumaticattacksofSeptember11,2001.
ThoseattacksmadeforarevivalofwhathascometobeknownasAmerican
civilreligion.RootedintheProtestantismthatoriginallydominatedtheAmeri-
can religious landscape, American civil religion over the years grew into an
inclusivefaiththatencompassedAmericansofagreatvarietyofreligioustradi-
tionsandenabledthemtoviewtheircountryasendowedwithasacredcharacter
thatinnowayexcludedthem.Itwasareligionthatnotonlysacralizedthenation
in the abstract but even extended to such concrete manifestations of it as the
nationalflag—OldGlory.ItwashardlyasurprisethattheeventsofSeptember11
should revivify the cultofOld Glory, buttheextentofthat revivificationwas
neverthelessremarkable.
Warsdohavesucheffectsonthesoulsofnations,andthe“waronterror,”asit
cametobecalled,hasbeennoexception.PreviousAmericanwarshave,tovary-
ingdegrees,connectedthereligioussensibilitiesofthepopulacetothenation’s
ownpurposes.America,conceivedasaspeciallyGod-favoredplacethatisalso
a beacon of hope and freedom to the rest of the world, has long seen itself as
“God’sdemocracy.”Whatmadethepost-September11eradifferent,however,
wasthatwellbeforetheattacksofthatday,thecountryexperiencedanunprec-
edented degree of faith-based partisanship in its politics. Simply put, religion
viii Series Foreword
hadbecomedirectlyengagedingovernmenttoadegreethat,onemaysurmise,
wouldhaveconcernedTocqueville.
Beginninginthe1980s,aresurgentevangelicalProtestantism,consumedwith
concernsaboutliberalizingmoresinthecultureatlarge,begantoassociateitself
with the Republican Party. On issues ranging from abortion and gay rights to
prayerinthepublicschoolsandDarwinianevolution,conservativewhiteevan-
gelicalsprovedsusceptibletoatypeofpoliticsbasedonreligiousvalues,and
withtheactiveeffortsofRepublicanpoliticaloperatives,theyquicklycameto
seetheGOPastheinstrumentofthosevalues.Ifthepartydidnotoftendeliver
ontheirpolicydesires,themoodmusicandtheaccesstotheearsofthepowerful
wereneverlacking.FromthepresidencyofRonaldReaganon,whiteevangeli-
calsbecamethelargestblocofGOPvoters,aswellasthesourceofamajorpor-
tionofpartyactivists.
Partisan religiosity was not, however, restricted to them. Beginning in the
1990s, asubstantialdivisionopenedupintheAmericanelectorateasawhole
betweenthemoreandthelessreligious,regardlessofdenominationalaffiliation.
By 2000, voters who said they attended worship at least weekly were voting
Republicaninpresidentialandcongressionalracesbyamarginof60percentto
40 percent;lessfrequentattenderswerevotingDemocraticbyaboutthesame
amount.Inaword,religious“values”wereincreasinglyseenbyAmericansas
the special province of the GOP, while the Democratic Party seemed to have
become,ifnotabastionofirreligion,thenatleastunfriendlytotheissuesthat
mostofthecountry’smostreligiouscitizensdefinedasmostimportant.Inthe
culture wars of the late twentieth century, the Democrats were arrayed on the
secularside.
Theattacks ofSeptember 11thuscameata momentwhenreligionwasnot
spreadevenlyacrossAmerica’spubliclandscape.PresidentBushhimselfwas
morethanfamiliarwiththepartisanusesofreligion.In1988,notlongafterhis
ownadultconversion,hechosetoparticipateinhisfather’ssuccessfulcampaign
forpresidentbyworkingonoutreachtoreligiousvoters.Althoughhewasnotthe
mostfavoredcandidateoftheReligiousRightin the2000 GOP primarycam-
paign, heunderstoodreligiousconservativesand knewhowtoappealtothem
as one of their own. Two decades of garnering votes on the basis of religious
faith had created a machine by which the distress of September 11 could be
exploited.
And exploit it the Bush administration did. What Gentile shows is how a
revival of American civil religion began to be transformed from a common
American cause into something more like a political religion—no longer an
inclusivefaithdesignedtobringallAmericansunderasinglespiritualumbrella
butapartisancreedthatcouldbeusedasaweaponagainstthoseAmericanswho
werenotpreparedtoenlistintheCauseofBush.
In the event, the effort proved of limited success. The ability of American
societytoresisttotalisticreligiousideologiesprovedstrongerthanseemedpos-
sibleintheimmediateaftermathoftheattacks.Nolessimportant,themanifest
SeriesForeword ix
failureoftheBushadministrationtobringthewarinIraqtoaswiftandsuccess-
ful conclusion undermined what Gentile terms President Bush’s “messianic
nationalism.”Bythe2006midtermelections,theBushenchantmentwas,toall
intentsandpurposes,over.Twoyearsafterthat,Americansseemedhardlyaware
that they had recently been flirting with an “exclusive and intolerant political
religion.”
God’s Democracy provides an authoritative account of how that nascent
political religion came to be. Written originally to explain America in the
September11eratoItalians,thebookcapturesaperiodinAmerica’sreligious
historythatwillbepondered—andwonderedat—foryearstocome.
MarkSilk
Director
TheLeonardE.GreenbergCenterfor
theStudyofReligioninPublicLife
TrinityCollege
Hartford