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Although the United States was established with a distinctly Christian framework, over time the religious landscape has changed. American civil religion has adapted to make room for growing religious pluralism and the rise of secularism.
The book concludes with recommendations for the future of religion in America, suggesting that a commitment to pluralism and inclusive civil religion is necessary to maintain one, indivisible nation. The authors make a case for allowing for public and private expressions of religion, promoting respectful religious pluralism, carefully balancing religious mission and activism, and broadening American civil religion beyond Judeo-Christianity to foster a vibrant American religious landscape.
This chapter explores an often-overlooked religious group in the United States: those who are not affiliated with religion. The chapter discusses the quantitative and qualitative challenges in measuring religious “nones” and considers historical patterns of stigma and prejudice against the religiously unaffiliated. The number of secular Americans is growing and they need a seat at the table of civil religion.
American culture is evolving rapidly as a result of shifts in its religious landscape. American civil religion is robust enough to make room for new perspectives, as religious pluralism is foundational for democracy. Moreover, as Amy Black and Douglas L. Koopman argue, American religion and politics are indivisible. In this study, they interrogate three visions of American identity: Christian nationalism, strict secularism, and civil religion. Whereas the growth of Christian nationalism and strict secularism foster division and threaten consensus, by contrast, a dynamic, self-critical civil religion strengthens democracy. When civil religion makes room for robust religious pluralism to thrive, religious and nonreligious people can coexist peacefully in the public square. Integrating insights from political science, history, religious studies, and sociology, Black and Koopman trace the role of religion in American politics and culture, assess the current religious and political landscape, and offer insights into paths by which the United States might reach a new working consensus that strengthens democracy.
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