President Obama’s Inaugural Speech and American Civil Religion

Michael A Rizzotti

This essay is a follow-up to “Religio and American Civil Religion” in response to President Obama’s inaugural speech. The contents will reveal a continuity with traditional themes delivered by past Presidents. The speech also includes some departures that show a novel development in respect to typical tenets of American civil religion.

American civil religion was developed by Robert N. Bellah. The term was originally coined in 1967. The idea was expanded in his books Beyond Belief and Broken Covenant published in the nineteen seventies. American civil religion consists of references to God or divine providence present in The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the content of inaugural speeches delivered by American Presidents.

Although American civil religion has Judeo-Christian tenets and background, Bellah dispels any suggestion that it has rigid traditional Christian doctrinal content or origin, or is a substitute for Christianity. He contends that civil religion has a similar unifying role and function as religion, but is specifically political. As such, it appeals to all the people with different religious backgrounds.

To Bellah, American civil religion is an expression of the American experience in terms of a transcendental ethical vision. This interpretation is only meaningful if made in relation to the origin and destiny of the U.S. political model of freedom and democracy. Bellah further points out that the God of civil religion is a God of order and freedom rather than of love and forgiveness. It is a God mostly concerned with the history and destiny of the United States of America.

The term “civil religion” was taken from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract. It referred to a belief system that supports the political authority of the State. In order to favor the endorsement of civic authority, Rousseau recommended the development of social harmony through the Roman concept of pietas —piety. A term that has a wider meaning than “religion” and extends to the correct relationships with parents, friends, fellow-citizens and the gods: “Piety is justice with regards to the gods” wrote Cicero —On the Nature of the Gods.

At the turn of the millennium the Religious Right’s political activism had somewhat changed the landscape of American civil religion, inaugurating a state of religious and political exceptionalism. Shattering the idea of a cultural and political inclusiveness inherent in civil religion. The change was reflected in the inaugural speeches delivered by George W Bush. Every four years the inauguration is reenacted as a ritual of democracy. President Obama’s inaugural speech allows us to review to what extent he abides by traditional tenets of American civil religion.

President Obama Inaugural Speech

On the solemn day of January 20^th 2009 the author was on jury duty, fulfilling his unconditional responsibility as a US citizen. The call began at 7:45 AM. After jury instructions he joined an attentive audience gathered around a television set in an adjacent room. The crammed room blocked the view of the President but not the words of the ongoing speech. It was an emotional experience in a kafkaesque setting. At the end of the President's elocution the women sitting next to your captive listener began to weep (1).

The gathering of over 1.5 million people coming from all parts of the country was unprecedented. The congregation that filled the National Mall can be qualified as a pilgrimage. The assembly, which is another word for “church”, congregated under a cold winter sky along a park containing a triad of the capital’s landmarks: The Capitol, the Washington National Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. All gathered to witness a historical political “change”. A change that for many meant a redemption of injustices of the past.

The inaugural speech was labeled by some journalists as a “sermon”, reinforcing the nature of the ceremonial as a ritual of American civil religion (2). The word sermon is usually reserved for a discourse delivered from a pulpit based on a text of the Scripture for the purpose of religious instruction. The term is not typically used to describe inaugural speeches. The correlation reveals to what degree the elocution evoked a spiritual significance to the listeners, validating in the process the enduring essence of American civil religion.

The first reference to religion and the constitution are related in the following paragraph:

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

The general term of Scripture is used rather than New Testament. The words “childish things” is taken from 1 Corinthians 13:11. Depending on which New Testament version is used, the passage is translated either into “childish things” or “childish ways”.

The words “pursue” and “happiness” is a reference to the Declaration of Independence: “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. And the words “God-given promise” is an implicit connection between the “promise” of God to his chosen people and the ongoing “promise” of God to the nation founded by the Founding Fathers. This type of correlation is typical of American civil religion and has been made by many previous presidents.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

One can only guess what Albert Einstein would have thought of being labeled a “non-believer” (3). Einstein denied the “belief” in a personal God, but did acknowledge the existence of a “high degree of order” and “the harmony of the Universe”. And we can only surmise what notable atheists like Daniel Dennett, Noam Chomsky, Sam Harris, to name only a few, think of being labeled as such. In the US it is still taboo to refer to “non-believers” by their proper designation of atheists. More so in an inaugural speech. Especially if one keeps in mind that approximately 50% of the US population has a “negative” view of people who don’t believe in God.

In referring to Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus, the President left out close to 40% of the world’s religious belief systems. Most prominent of which is the Chinese moral and philosophical tenets based on ancestral respect and Confucianism.

Buddhism, not mentioned, is now the fastest growing religious belief system in the United States. Hank Johnson the newly elected congressman of Georgia, who is African American, is a Buddhist. And Mazie Hirono, congresswoman of Hawaii, is also a Buddhist by way of her Japanese cultural upbringing.

Hank Johnson is a member of Soka Gakkai, a Japanese New Religious Movement (NRM). The designation is used by scholars of sociology of religion to describe the more recent alternative religious forms of expression other than the traditional religions. It is used as a substitute to the more pejorative definition of “cult”. Some noted examples of NRM are: Bahá'í Faith, Christian Scientists, Jews for Jesus, PTL  and TBN (Tele Evangelism), Moral Majority Inc, The Rapture and Left Behind.

Among the other forms of religious expressions not alluded in the elocution are ancestral world religions representing a myriad of aboriginal cosmologies. These native religious belief systems can be found in every corner of the land and have a deep connection to the Spirit and nature. They are a living legacy of the world’s religious forms of expression.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy…

The President then proceeds to address the moral and political issue of Islam especially in connection with the US military involvement in the Middle-East. Recent surveys reveal that two thirds of the Muslims living in the US are foreign born. Most have immigrated to the US since 1990. One third of Muslims are converts. And the majority of these converts are African Americans. A notable example is the recently elected Andre Carson who will join the first Muslim Keith Ellison in Congress.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.