On Flag Day, a historian of religions in America explains how the Pledge of Allegiance, which honors the American flag, is part of American civil religion.
‘Valley of the Yosemite’ by the 19th-century artist Albert Bierstadt, owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images
The idea of Manifest Destiny inspired Americans to push west, leading to the creation of the first national parks. But those beliefs spelled removal for many Native American groups.
The cathedral is being built in Accra, not far from the shoreline.
Wirestock/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Student activists are losing faith in the legacies of anti-apartheid heroes like Nelson Mandela. Perhaps all South Africans should do the same. It may just be what the country needs for its future.
The Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon of the civil religion that is the contemporary faith in human rights.
Pixabay.com
The tradition of republicanism offered us civil religion, a foundation of belief that could counter any politics or policy that demands sacrifice in this world to be compensated in some “beyond”.
Professor of Public Theology in the Department of Beliefs and Practices, Faculty of Theology, at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University of Amsterdam), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam