After watching the Presidential Inauguration this morning (with the boss’s permission) I was appreciative of the historic nature of the ceremony.  One aspect is that while we have a long and drawn-out, maybe even chaotic, process for selecting our leaders, somehow it still seems to work.  We have now had 43 orderly, even decently and orderly if you will, transitions between different chief executives.  And the fact that the new President is not a white male of northern European descent is also an important historical milestone.  So, President Obama, may God be with you and you are in my prayers.

Just as I appreciate “high church” liturgies, I am a bit of a sucker for the pomp and circumstance of national ritual events, especially Presidential Inaugurations which must be the pinnacle of our national rituals.  Every move that I watched this morning was carefully scripted and sent some sort of signal in its action.  For America, this is the height of “civil religion.”

The Wikipedia page for Civil Religion notes several varied meanings of the word, but notes that the term originated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and says that “For Rousseau, civil religion was intended simply as a form of social
cement, helping to unify the state by providing it with sacred
authority.”  It is not a religion with a supreme being at its head, it is a religion of the state.  It is the glue that holds us together as a country.

Alternate meanings include the inclusion of God and religion in civil affairs, such as the plethora of prayers, invocations, benedictions, and prayer services that have occurred over the last few days around all the inauguration events.  While this is not acceptable to everyone, it is a part of our cultural fabric at the present time and expected in our high rituals of civil religion (first definition).  And for a beautiful example of the interaction of culture and religion you need look no further than Rev. Lowery’s benediction.  It was a religious prayer delivered at a civil event, but it was a prayer packed full of cultural and religious references from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to Amos 5:24.

But today, throughout the campaign, and every day, there was and is always a question whether “civil religion” is an oxymoron in an additional possible meaning of “religion acting in a civil (or orderly) manner.” 

One aspect of being civil with religion was the invitations to give prayers at the various events.  Rev. Warren was not approved of by some, Rev. Robinson opposed by others.  And even the content of their prayers were, and will be, parsed for how they did or did not invoke God at public events and how their words may be offending to some.

But the Bible is clear that (1) we can’t put God in a box to do what we want in the way we want it and (2) many times the message of the Bible should offend.  In the Old Testament you need look no further than the prophets that approached the kings of Israel calling them to account for their misdeeds.  The kings may have been the LORD’s anointed for that time, but they still fell short and messengers such as Samuel, Nathan, and Elijah bluntly reminded them of that.  In the New Testament Jesus says “take up your cross and follow me,” a statement that would have sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it in first century Palestine but has list its deathly and criminal image for us modern hearers.  And Paul writes (I Cor. 1:23). “but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”  At times it is hard to see the Gospel as “good news.”  And at times it is hardly civil.

(As a bit of an aside, there have recently been two well publicized cases of the “offense of the cross.”  In the first, a crucifix was removed from a church in England because it was “a horrifying depiction of pain and suffering.”  In the second, a film crew blocked the view of the communion table cross when shooting a TV soap opera episode so as not to offend viewers.)

There is a place for honest, heartfelt prayers for our leaders both in public and especially in our private prayer lives.  Yes, as Christians we have an assurance of salvation.  But let us not lose sight of the fact that our religious participation is not always to just make us feel good, but also to challenge us to a deeper faith and more energetic service to God.  And our political lives are always subordinate to our faith, not tailoring our faith to our political beliefs.

So a new president has taken office and this election cycle is over, just in time for the next round of campaigning to begin.  The Washington Post has an interesting article by Eli Saslow titled Obama’s Path To Faith Was Eclectic.  And there is an interesting comment on the article at GetReligion.  In light of what this article says and what we have seen so far, it will be interesting to see the interaction of the civil and faith realms in the next four years.

And having had enough civil politics for a while, I now return to church issues.