I realized that ACR existed before I had ever heard about the idea. I remember the moment. I was a Memorial Day service at a very nice and large cemetery. There was a large crowd seated facing speakers who were set up on a dais in front of a large, white marble building which helps several crypts. There was a band playing patriotic songs and people sang along. The whole ceremony opened with a prayer and at some point, one of the speakers said that we were there to remember those who had “been sacrificed on the altar of freedom.” At that moment, it suddenly all clicked.
It's not just those who die in a war who are "sacrificed on the altar of freedom." We could add those who have to die so that Americans may continue to bear arms. More generally, human sacrifice has been a major part of the culture and religion of the Americas for thousands of years. Like the Incas and Aztecs, Americans also expect their allies to shed their blood and give their lives.
Americans have been deluding themselves for centuries. Europeans noted in the 18th century that the colonists shouting about their right to be free also slaughtered Indians and kept slaves.
@@AureliusLaurentius1099 Of course! The colonists in America and elsewhere were Europeans too, or their criminal and extremist cousins. But by then Europeans were doing their genocide overseas, since the crusades in Lithuania, Old Prussia and Spain were over. Slavery was obsolete in Western Europe, so English judges had to make up common law exceptions for the African slave trade.
This makes so much sense. When you look at the past decade of political upheaval, you see stuff that more closely resembles religious sects fighting each other.
Erik Hoffer wrote a book on it called “The True Believer” One of the examples he actually used was the Apostle Paul: originally a tenacious butcher turned into a literal Apostle. Religion is replaced by politics often because politics is often a religion. Think about how the Soviets and so many other governments elevates themselves above Gods: they want to become religions
@user Well, we're approaching it. Empires have emperors. America has a problem with power becoming increasingly centralized to the executive branch, but it's not complete yet and there's still something we can do about it. Problem is that Republicans want to increase this centralization and Democrats want to use the centralization that the Repubs set up because congress isn't working due to the Filibuster.
Mikhail Bakunin (a well-known anarcho-communist, although he did not use the label "communist") asserted in his writing (most notably God and the State) that states required a religion, an element of sacredness in order to legitimise their authority, their elitist institutions and their leaders, including secular states. I'm in no way a Bakuninist, but I find the parallel we can make between this idea of civil religion and Bakunin's ideas to be interesting. Maybe he had a point there.
If you use Durkheim's definition of religion, then you could definitely argue all states use religion to legitimize their existence. I would add, though, that this may be one area were Bakunin was heavily influenced by his anti-semitism, as he specifically opposed the concept of states because he thought that Jews controlled them.
@@sagebias2251 There is definitely bottom up mythologizing happening here, but that's not the exclusive direction. There is a lot of top down myth making. The educational curriculum, founding documents and the imagery of the state commissioned art and architecture are all statements from the top. Even the flag is treated as sacred object with laws prescribing display and ritual handling as a form of veneration. The practice of soldier worship after 911 is another example. I believe that it is safe to say that there is a dialogue happening here.
As a non-American viewer, I would love to see a serie of videos on American Civil Religion, as it is a part of American culture that always felt really alien to me
It feels alien to many Americans too. Aside from the citizens and residents who are specifically excluded by some would-be ministers of an American civil religion, regional differences in history and culture influence how one views the concepts of sacred and sacrilege.
I am interested in a comparative video between American civil religion and the imperial cult of ancient Rome, particularly the claim I once heard was that the ancient Romans did not "really believe that" their emperors were literally divine, but that it was simply a form of civic patriotism and duty.
Roman Catholics recognise three levels of worship. "Dulia" or veneration is given to the saints. "Hyperdulia" is given to the Virgin Mary. "Latreia" is reserved for the three gods of the Trinity. Modern Americans have a low level veneration for the live rich and powerful, and something greater for the dead rich and and powerful, including titans of crime. Presidents are regarded with the awe they used to expect American Indians to show for the "Great White Father." Dead presidents are practically canonised. The US generally does not have the road-side shrines or temples seen in some other countries, but it has a superfluity of flags, which serve a similar purpose. The "hand on heart" thing invented during WWII looks awfully like Catholics crossing themselves.
In France it's possible to baptize your children in the townhall. It's a "civil baptism" that was originally intended to replace church baptisms (right after the French REvolution, which was also directed against the catholic church). Nowadays many towns still practice these "civil baptisms", but not all.
“The state? What is that? Well then, open your ears to me, for now I shall speak to you about the death of peoples. ‘State’ is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it tells lies too; and this lie crawls out of its mouth: “I, the State, am the People.” That is a lie! Creators were they who created peoples, and hung a faith and a love over them: thus they served life. Destroyers are they who lay snares for many, and call it the State.” - Frederich Nietzsche (from Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
Never knew about the “Apotheosis of Washington” fresco in DC, thats not something they teach in school, (and never been) but I have seen the Duomo in the Vatican, weird how theres ‘separation of church and state’ written in the official documents, but the architecture and behavior is very contrary, almost making a religion for the state. Thank you for making this!
Actually, "separation of church and state" is not written in the official documents. "No establishment of religion" is what's in the official documents. They're not the same thing. And just because you weren't taught about the Apotheosis of Washington, don't assume that's something that was never taught in school.
@@bigscarysteve exactly, and this means that there can be no “Church of America” or any official sect of religion in the US recognized under law. Laws can be inspired by religion in a broad sense, even explicitly inspired by religion, as long as it doesn’t respect or attack any specific religious organizations or ‘establishments’. The founders were fearing the US would develop a Church of America as the British had developed a Church of England, and in Britain this caused serious civil strife as that church persecuted other sects. As a result, they made that impossible.
@Sanctus Paulus Mostly my point was that, when I think of defending sacred spaces/objects, I think of people risking their lives to defend what they believe in. Saying "This is the most sacred" in a tone not even worthy of scolding a child is a performative contradiction in my books. But since you bring it up, sure, let's talk about actions. Let's talk about the fact that the capitol police did almost nothing in the face of a literal storming of the capitol. Let's talk about the fact that cops are happy to choke and shoot people to death for jaywalking, but won't fight to protect "the most sacred place" from fascists. I think this says volumes about whether cops support liberal democracy or fascism. He may have nominally opposed them, but his (lack of) action shows tacit support for the fascists.
@@Salsmachev I’m trying to remember - wasn’t it dozens of civilians who were beaten by these rioters? 17 police officers still are unable to work due to their injuries. We have the infamous video of Daniel Hodges being assaulted there, and also the videos of the police driving them out. If that makes the police on the “side of the rioters” for driving them out, then I would guess the vast majority of the American people are on that side if they supported kicking them out of the Capitol. A police officer literally died for the Capitol - was he a fascist, too? The bloodied fascist face of Hodges is somewhat bizarre, too, then.
@@randomperson2078 The capitol was invaded and the police killed one person? Again, how many people have been killed or severely assaulted for minor infractions, or even nothing at all? The comparison is shocking. I'm pretty sure if I got together my communist, anarchist, syndicalist, Black nationalist, etc. buddies and we went to storm the capitol we would not be treated so well.
@@Salsmachev Wait, are you complaining that more people didn’t die? Or that only about a hundred police officers were injured and just a couple of them died?
Every Latin American country does the same as the USA. Colombia and Venezuela worship Simon Bolivar. Argentina and Perú worship José de San Martín... etc
@@VincenzoRutiglianoDiaz In brazil its different. There's one "leader" that I would say is very liked, emperor dom Pedro II. But even then, it's not like people care much about him and what he represents (empire, royalty and to some degree the catholic church) is pretty much opposite to the secular republic we've been trying to create (with bumps along the way) since 1889. In fact, the first president is pretty much regarded as having been bad overall. I feel like we don't have a "civic religion" in brazil but I coulb be wrong
Here in Ecuador (South America) we have 2 main poloitical personages that come to mind, and each is venerated by their respective political aligned parties. Eloy Alfaro by the liberals, who was practically ¨martyred¨ by the conservatives in a very romantic way, he was shot, stabbed with machetes and then his corpse was tied to a horse and dragged around the Palace of Carondelet (The Ecuadorian equivalent of the White House). And then Gabriel Garcia Moreno, also ¨Martyred¨ but by the liberals, he was shot right outside of Carondelet and also stabbed, his dying words being ¨God never dies¨, making reference to his trumped effort to turn Catholicism and Christian values into a cornerstone of Ecuadorian culture and government, some Catholic conservatives even refer to him as St. Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
@@ReligionForBreakfast how about a Let's Play. of Bioshock. It would be really interesting to compare real world religious philosophy with in game RG. From your POV.
These things overlap. Coronations sometimes have an element of the people acclaiming the king, as if their will or at least consent was required, and not just their submission. The Catholic church is a very top-down institution, with appointments being made by someone at a higher level, but they retain a pretence that bishops are elected, but that's only after the canons are sent a licence to elect one particular priest. Some kings used to take over that power, by agreement with the Holy See. The Church of England is like that: the Prime Minister sends the Queen a list of three candidates, she uses a bodkin to prick a hole beside the top name, and that name is sent to the canons of the cathedral to elect as their bishop. There remains a feeling that the divine will requires an election. Maybe this has transferred from an earlier practice of drawing lots, allowing the decision to be made by "chance." Even dictators like Lukashenko and Saddam Hussein felt the need for the ritual of elections where they got 99% of the votes.
I cannot get over that "Apotheosis of Washington" fresco! That is without question the epitome of religiously inspired classical American political art and I can't believe I've never seen it before! And of course, as a ☦️, now I really really want to see a Byzantine version 😄
Taking Bellah's ideas in mind, would he analyze MLK's I Have a Dream speech's references to G-d and the Bible not just as MLK's Christian clergyhood seeping through, but as MLK acting as a so-to-speak "Priest" of American Civil Religion on behalf of African-Americans?
Perhaps. I would argue that the American Civil religions view of "god-ordained Rights of man" not being extended to African Americans of the time could be interpreted as MLK being a priest of sorts who is espousing the doctrine of said civil religion. Regardless of American Civil religion being accurately defined as such, I would argue that American Civil religion has had a very heavy influence on American brands of Christianity, and the reverse is well, American Christianity heavily influencing American Civil religion. The two I would argue are tied together in some places, which makes it very hard to distinguish the two at times.
@@pennyforyourthots Actually, given that there is a monument dedicated to him in Washington, DC, and the fact that besides Washington and Lincoln (Presidents' Day), MLK is the only American historical figure to have a holiday, he may be a "prophet" of AC.
People generally cannot easily separate temporal power from spiritual power in their minds, particularly when the temporal power tries to justify itself by reference to divinely mandated rights, therefore when you try to separate church and state, you simply end up deifying the state and it's varying apparatus.
Here in Melbourne (Oz), if anyone talks about "hallowed ground", the first thing that comes to mind is a sporting arena, namely the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
It's getting to a point where either everything is sacred or nothing is and at this junction I would rather err on the side of nothing being sacred. Their are certain things just don't deserve to be Sacred, and Government is the prime example.
I'd be particularly interested in a video on Science/Academia and religion; specifically how academic figures have replaced religious ones in the realms of healing (doctors replacing priests and holy-men) and prophecy (meteorologists predicting the weather; think-tanks evaluating and drafting policy; climatologists predicting world-ending events only to be ignored by those in power). I feel like of I saw this in an ancient society, the narrative is draw out is that at some point (probably around the time of the enlightenment), the state religion split in two, with what today we call the church taking up spiritual, ritual and communal power, whilst academic interoffice institutions took up temporal, physical, and civic power.
As an American I def feel that there are people who worship the idea of America here, but I also think there's always sacredness baked into every kind of government. In a way, there has to be some thing or set of things that are untouchable. Some Constitution or foundation or institution or individual person who represents the long-term authority and legality of the system
The idea of civil religion is kinda cringe. I always get weirded out when people refer to government buildings as “sacred/hallow ground” or the founding fathers as prophets or saints. Like I get being patriotic and taking pride in your country but taking it to religious extremes is downright cultish. It’s bad enough when it happens in actual religions like Christianity or Islam but at that makes sense when it talking divine forces beyond human comprehension. But when talking about a bunch of fallible men who died 200+ years ago and some man made buildings as if they’re divine is just weird af. It’s like in fascist dictatorships where the leader is worshipped like a god. So gross.
Its absolutely a religion..that is exactly the civil religion he is falsely calling the american civil religion. George washington laying the founding stone was done as a freemason ceremony, dressed in the freemason ceremonial garb which was done for centuries before
@@republiccooper this is done because freemasonry is a secret religion that functions on deception and the keeping of secret knowledge that gives them power over the common people. This "secret knowledge" is basically whatever you learn from abandonning all pretense of morals, creating a "will-to-power" world that you exist in above the rest which live in a world controlled by morals and laws. This is also done because most freemasons would not be a part of or support the group if they saw it as its own religion, especially the many that belong to other religions. You learn more about the truth of the group as you ascend the degrees masonry and if you hold to your morals and religion as you go through the various rituals to enter the next degree, then you will be made to believe that you had advanced, but will not be let in any further on the secret purposes of the group. You can learn all of this from top freemasons own public writings such as Albert Pike, considered the top freemason to have ever lived. There are many videos explaining what is involved on youtube. One that i like is on the channel Based Spaceman and if you go back a numbrr of months, hw has posted a few documenatries qbout freemasonry reposted under names like the widow's sun, if you want to learn more quickly.
Interesting timing. Today is Canada Day, and I just arrived home from visiting a small Indigenous festival in a city park, in the context of the recent discoveries of mass burials at residential school sites. Ground can be hallowed for many very wrong reasons...
@@TalgarSunPraiser Oh boy. Yes they are. Please do a quick Google search. My initial number may be a high estimate, but the confirmed found bodies are in the hundreds
The most incredibly interesting thing about this channel and this series is that, you can get into the headspace pretty easily that "religion is a thing that happens to other people." When really it's so much more a part of the world than we or at least I could imagine
My wife and I were just discussing this when we saw this video. We came to the conclusion that the US is a DEEPLY religious nation, but that the "God" we worship is Mammon; that makes all of the "In God we trust" rhetoric make sense. It also explains why "Building Back" the US economy has been the highest priority to lawmakers, during a time when hundreds of thousands of human lives have been lost.
Our motto is "In God We Trust" It never says which god. In my opinion there is no such thing as secularism. There are only different religious beliefs, actions, rituals, and aimes.
Well, saving the economy is going to prevent starvation, economic instability, crime, and in general save life. Those who have been rich their entire life, like nearly all Americans, have never encountered the deadliness of poverty and do not fear it sufficiently. I went to Afghanistan in 2014 and for 13 years I had been hearing about all the good things we were doing for their society and equality. Reality is that they were worried about feeding themselves that day, they had bigger problems than making sure their daughter went to school. The majority of the "fighters" were people being paid to plant bombs, because it was worth it to risk getting bombed into oblivion by the most technologically advanced and lethal military in the world because they were literally dead without the money. Afghanistan is one of the most extreme examples so I'll bring it closer to home. Two weeks ago I was the first one to stop at a car crash. A man had fallen asleep on I-70 40 miles from the nearest town in some of the most remote places in Utah. He had crashed directly into the back of a semi that had slowed down while going up hill. He was pinned by his steering wheel and we had to wait an hour for an extraction team. I have some medical training and a nurse came on the scene later. As we were talking to him and trying to comfort him he started showing signs of a collapsed lung, a fatal condition that can easily be remedied with a decompression needle. We were so glad when the sheriff arrived, 30 minutes after the crash. We told him we needed a decompression needle, something I as a soldier had been trained in basic training and regularly recertified in because it's stupid simple to use. The sheriff informed me that the county had taken the needles out of their trauma kits because they couldn't afford to be recertified. No biggie, next was a highway patrol... they had taken the needles out of his kit too..... and then the ambulance.... had also had their needles taken out, and so had the firefighters. A collapsed lung is a very painful way to die, and it can take an hour or so. They had asked us to clear out to allow life flight to land, so I don't know if the life flight had a needle. But I know if they didn't that man likely suffocated before reaching the hospital. -Find the clavicle, count 3 ribs down, put the 14 gauge needle on top of the fourth rib and slide needle in over the top of that rib following the curve of the rib into the chest cavity. Avoid striking the nerve under the ribs. You may or may not hear air release, however the patient should feel relief immediately. - This simple training the state simply didn't have the budget for. Literally 12 people knew how to do it, but everyone that should have had the needle had them taken away because the state couldn't afford to keep them certified. My 1st aid kit now includes decompression needles because I never want to be in that situation again, especially if it's my life on the line; because I can no longer trust the budget office of the government to give EMS and law enforcement the tools essential to preserving life. You paying your taxes saves lives. You voting for people who spend money wisely saves lives. Money saves lives. ----------------- Do I think we utterly failed as a country during the pandemic? Yes, but it wasn't the people who were worried about having jobs and businesses. It's the politicians who couldn't give clear decisive, and moderate action, then made the problem worse with polarized finger-pointing. This is what caused us as a nation to fail. Slamming the breaks on the economy, blowing out trillions of dollars, will likely cause more death and suffering in the coming decades than had we done nothing at all. I'm not calling for us to have done nothing, that was also a very bad option, but instead I use Taiwan and an exemplar of what we should have done. Despite being one of the first countries effected due to their close, if not rocky, relationship with the People Republic of China. Their cases remained extraordinarily low up until they began opening up their borders. Prior to May 12 of this year their cases were in the low thousands, with a dozen deaths.. Taiwan's current Total cases 14,005 Recovered 1,133 Deaths 549. Taiwan's population is 23.5 million Utah on the other hand Total Cases 416K Deaths 2,378. Utah's population 3.2 million And frankly we aren't as population dense as Taiwan, just stupid and don't like being told to wear masks. Especially when it irrationally became a Left "DO WHAT WE SAY OR WE"LL ALL DIE" and a Right "LIBS ARE TAKING AWAY MUH FREEDOMS AGAIN" debate. precise
Been waiting for this video! Wrote my undergrad capstone on this last semester! Using the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’ as justifications and rationalizations on behalf of the protestors and lawmakers.
Super interesting analysis. My daily plug: We direly need to teach rational skepticism in all high schools as a required course. And financial literacy also.
Financial literacy. Lol there's no such thing. If they started teaching something like that then the facade of our economic system would collapse because it's as corrupt as feudalism. The corporate model taught in schools is feudalism.
I find your videos really informative. They are the perfect balance between being religious and being secular. I'm a Christian myself from Scotland and always enjoy your work 👍🏻
As with many other questions, the answer depends on how certain words are defined or understood. Here’s my preferred definition of “religion”: Religion is the sum of those beliefs, practices and prohibitions that pertain to a person’s concept of the highest powers of the universe. Some people have postulated that three are three “estates” in most societies and that priests or/and other clergy (the first estate) predated the concept of royalty (the second estate). That leaves everybody else to comprise the third estate. The U.S. capitol building was constructed as a monument to the third estate - i.e. the idea that we the people (who are neither clergy nor royalty) need neither clergy nor royalty to tell us what to believe or what to do. The idea that created the great American experiment has, in the opinion of some, been nearly eclipsed by a philosophy I can illustrate by reference to something that happened some years ago (and in another state than where my wife and I now live). Upon hearing about a particular bill being introduced in the house of representatives of the state legislature, I put on a suit and went to the capitol building in the hope of finding the person who ostensibly represented our district. When I attempted to engage her on the subject of whether the proposed legislation was needed or desirable, her response was “How are the people going to know what is right and wrong if we don’t tell them?” My best guess is that the aforementioned legislator saw herself only as a priest - not as the high priest - of this new religion but, to the extent that legislative fiat has replaced special revelation from a supernatural God or gods, capitol buildings in general and the U.S. capitol building in particular have become religious buildings. I receive “newsletters” from legislators. All of them brag about what they have done and what they are trying to do. With very few exceptions, everything they brag about is inimical to the ideal that created the United States. What we need is a groundswell of articulation of the idea that we don’t need priests or monarchs to tell us what to believe and what to do - not even if those priests profess to promote a “secular” religion. For sure I don’t want taxpayers’ money to be employed for the purpose of promoting religious beliefs (not even mine)! For sure I don’t want religious practices or religious prohibitions to be required or enforced by ANY branch of civil government! But when I try to discuss these needs with my friends, almost all of them would rather extol one political ideology or another than to try to engage in actual problem-solving. (Yes, I have friends in both of the major political parties of the day.) May God help us!
As a person who lives in Japan, it is frankly laughable to, in the same breath compare Shinto and American Civil Religion and then say that calling American rituals religion would stretch the definition too far. Americans worship their country to a far greater degree than the average Japanese person buys into Shinto. Even when I studied State Shinto in university, the thing it reminded me most of was .... American Civil Religion.
I stand by that. Shinto has priesthoods, mythology, countless kami and shrines. In what meaningful way does ACR mirror those? I’d say Shinto falls under the category “religion” far more easily than ACR. But yes, I agree State Shinto and ACR have similarities.
@@ReligionForBreakfast Nobody is saying that Shinto isn't a religion. I'm saying that you picked a very similar religion to compare American Civil Religion too and then go on to say that American Civil Religion isn't a religion. America has mythology, and many of the rituals of American Civil Religion are heavily syncretized with Christianity. Unless one actually buys into the idea of "ceremonial deism" it's pretty hard to argue that putting refferences to god into the pledge and on the money aren't religious.
@@ReligionForBreakfast From the way americans speak about their constitution, flag and founding fathers, as well as the pledge of allegiance in american schools, I do have the impression that most americans really have a more religious believe in "american civil religion" then most modern shinoist have in their own religion. From what I've seen they believe in it like modern pagans believe in their gods, Kami and pagan gods are cool and all, but most people who practice those religions don't really believe in them. Shinto festivals or more for tradition and fun then any real belief in it nowadays. More like folklore festivals then religion.
The confusion between US Gov and "religion" is understandable since politicians have been appropriating religious language for many years to dignify- and perhaps obfuscate- their activities. Also- prayers are commonly heard before sports events. Does that make the game that follows a religious pageant?
Idk about the Stateism and worship thereof.. but I do know that when I was in Washington with my eldest son, on his 6th grade field trip in 1999.. prior to the events that have led to our current political debacles, while we were inside the halls of Congress.. it actually felt sacred. Sadly, the hypocrisy of the political establishment has stripped the dignity from my heart and left me longing for folks whose true intentions and interests are.. " For the People ", rather than their own 'legacies' and individual investments. Perhaps it was never more than this.. but I'd like to believe it began with sincere souls.. albeit imperfect individuals. If politics weren't such a fierce foe.. folks might actually find that our futures must be shared, to not end up despaired.
Abel Marin Thanks 🙏 angel. But it's ok. It was written as in hopes that the Grace that hears us all, is really the only Audience to reach, so that Providence recalls our own Faithfulness from time to time. Blessings 🤗
This is a great topic, and there's a lot of free masonic history to support the temple concept. In fact, capital hill is full of ancient symbolism dating back to ancient Egypt.
I practice my American religion at the voting polls. Once a yr. locally, and once every two yrs state and federal. I encourage every person who is eligible to vote to do it too. :) And for funzies I heckle the snot out of the politicians that I vote against. It's a tradition.
I am a Christian, and a fairly politically conservative one, and I really appreciate your content. You do a really good job of being objective, even when I disagree personally. You do a good job providing educational and intriguing content. While I think the idea of the capital, flag, or any governmental symbol being sacred is goofy, I appreciate your analysis of people on both sides who really believe this. It really is fascinating to watch both sides view our nation as something sacred. Reminds me of Rome. Anyways, thank you for continuing to put out awesome content!
@ReligionForBreakfast I'd like to go deeper, and see a discussion of whether a secular republic is truly possible. I truly don't really know what to think of that. Does the exercise of government and the endorsement of a constitution and bill of rights necessarily preempt some normative space that might otherwise be captured by religion? OR can a republic endorse its own values yet remain neutral relative to all and any religion (or at least any "non-extreme" religion, whatever that means)?
If you've read any of the Federalist papers or the essays of the Founding Fathers, then you would know they explicitly invoked "God" and "morality" to be cornerstones in how America was to be governed. However the context is not so much about the biblical conception of God but rather idea of God as conveyed in 18th century Deism
Here's a question to be good for thought: If secularism is supposed to be the "lack of ideological or religious" belief, at what point does that secularism start becoming a pseudo ideology/religion of sorts as well? Do we need common values in order to be a self governing republic or do we act in the "let's leave each other alone" type faith and live to see the rise of and ideology that is completely alien from anything that preceded it?
@@sonicluffypucca96 I do believe that any state and any government requires a set of common values. It seems pretty obvious. But in some explicitly secular countries (there aren't that many of those), some claim that then contrary values (usually resulting from immigration) are being discriminated against. In a non-secular country, you could say something like "tough luck". Also are those contrary values really religuous values - highly debatable, but that's not really the point here. In a country that proclaims to be neutral in regards to religion, is this truly possible on a fundamental level? No if you say that all values are somehow "religious" in nature. Yes probably if values are not necessarily religious in nature. I think the question merits deeper investigation.
Mount Rushmore MIGHT not have been the best choice of words there... since the mountain is in and of itself a desecration of an actual holy site to some religions. Really, the only good thing you can say about Mount Rushmore is that the bison burgers in the cafeteria are pretty good.
An off-topic question that I hope you'll tackle at some point: Berger's interpretation of the "sacred" is something that I struggle to get my head fully around, yet it's fundamental to a modern understanding of religion. If you could go into this, I think it would help bridge the gap between the colloquial and academic understanding of religion...
The romans had this but as an actual religion, the goddess "Concordia" for example was revered as a symbol of the peace between patricians and plebes. The Tribunes of the Plebe were declared "sacred" in a religiuos ceremony as a mean for legal and physical inmunity. These are just a few examples, many emperors were declared gods by the senate after the died as a mean of public recognition.
I disagree. American Democracy is just as much a religion as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other religion. Its a religion. These buildings are basically places of worship especially at this point.
I saw a similar ceiling painting in a grand villa by Lake Como which once belonged to the Bonaparte family. It showed Napoleon ascending into heaven on a cloud to meet the angels. It may have been a contemporary of the apotheosis of George Washington. No doubt we will see something similar for Donald Trump, if his golden statue is any indicator.
The video being ruled " Not suitable for ads " mean they will still run ads, will still charge for those ads but will not pay anything to the creator of the video.
The House Chamber is technically a sumerian temple since the portrait of Utu (supposed to be Hammurabi) hangs on the wall. Maybe with enough goat's blood we can fix what's broken...
It's not a religious building but it is impressively built and decorated by hand I might add. As a relatively new country it is grandly built and should be honored as an American. There are 2 kinds of people in this world...builders or destroyers.
I agree strongly with your concluding sentence. It takes no talent to maim, kill, and destroy. It takes talent to create, repair, and build. That's why I found it more sublime to be a worker than a soldier. If you quote my second and third sentences, cite me as the source, since it's original as far as I know.
@@whathell6t Most of US liken the US Gov to a can of worms. Only people worshiping the government are politically insane extremists. Like the tRump supporters who think he is the second coming!!! People who should be committed if you know what I mean.
@@hackman669 The mind of a right winger is influenced by his instinct for pyramidal society. Thus, a right-winger wants competition (like if natural selection was God's first and only commandment), and instinctively worships an alpha male. Either in real life, worshiping Trump (or Putin in Russia), or a heavenly alpha male (either God the Father, or the Son - Jesus. nobody worships the holy spirit because its the least material, and right-wingers are material people - they want concrete physical things - which is why Jesus is perceived as the "main" God. Personally when I was little and was reading the bible, Jesus seemed like a tool sent by God, a sort of prophet. Anyways, notice there's no heavenly mother, since our instinct to bow/kneel/crawl on the ground/give offerings comes from our animal instinct to submit to a powerful alpha male. While the opposite - standing tall and as large as possible is the universal signal for challenging - fighting. An all loving heavenly mother would not make us crawl before her). Anyways, just like the right-wingers cannot conceive of spirituality (a spirit is a virtual entity, like a software running on multiple hardware brains, thus it first needs the hardware support before it can exist), like-wise they don't understand that the Gov is a condensed form of the people so that it can rule. Thus democracy (the ruling done by the people). No. They just want competition and the people which raise to the top of the social pyramid to rule them. Now, if you ask me, i have a problem with our type of representative democracy. I'm also against direct democracy. I'm in favor of a Rational Democracy - where its our rational side that does the "voting". Meaning that the Gov should be a national internet Forum for Policy Proposals, and we can transparently see what's the best policy with concrete arguments (how may people it advantages, by what degree - according to Maslow's pyramid of human needs, how many people it disadvantages, etc). Thus we can have a transparent score for each policy and thus rule in a rational way,
@@ubuntuposix not what Christianity teaches at all. Trinity one in substance and undivided. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Not three gods but one God. I as an Orthodox Christian, worship the Holy Trinity.
The US capitol is a Cultist building inspired by free-masonry. The goddess on top of the building is Persephone a goddess of underworld also a representation of Venus. The apotheosis of George Washington is the sacred marriage between him and Venus. The Babylonian believed that the king would merge with the goddess at his death (Sacred marriage between Innana (Venus) and Dumuzid (Mars) . The patron of the US is not the president but Persephone the goddess of the underworld same as the goddess of war (Athena).
You seem to have got your goddesses mixed up, if you equate Persephone to Venus, Athena and the goddess of war: unless of course you think that there's only one goddess? And what about Lady Justice, who stands blindfolded with a sword and scales over law courts: she was admitted to the Roman pantheon by Augustus under the name of Justicia, but that was their name for Ma'at, the goddess who presided over Egyptian courts.
@@faithlesshound5621 It's exactly that, all those goddesses stem from the early archetype of the goddess associated to the queen of Heaven i.e. Inanna and the planet Venus. And Ma'at is the guardian of the field of reeds (the place of afterlife) which later became Elysium field in Greek mythology which is also associated to Venus in Babylonian lore and in Jewish stories to the garden of Eden. Inanna had double association of garden of fertility and goddess of war.
It is interesting to see that American Civil Piety (I use piety to avoid confusion in the following texts) is heavily influenced by Christian bias among government officials and lawmakers and Christian nationalism. As an increasing number of immigrants do not practice Abrahamic religions and Americans are losing interest in religion in general, what will this populational shift do to American Civil Piety? Will it shift away from Christianity as well?
Lest we forget, Bioshock Infinite's take on philosophy was to represent a theoretical scenario where American Civil Religion is warped into literal religion - the city-state of Columbia features a heavily mythologised version of America and later Columbia's founding as the dominant religion, with the founding fathers warped into a holy trinity of pseudo-gods representing industry, law and justice, and Comstock's actions turned from revolutionary entrepeneur to literal divine right. Obviously, this is fiction, but it's a clear satire of American Civil Religion - I've heard it said that America's favourite religion is America.
It's kind of like the South Park episode where in the future religions don't exist. Yet the science communities still fight. It seems no matter what, humans need something. Something to deify and worship.
When I lived in the US I was obligated and peer-pressured frequently to submit to the American Civil Religion. Only realized this as I got older. Looking back all of my friends were immigrants. This being Washington D.C's suburbs. We literally had to praise the flag every morning, every single day. It's very interesting, and exhausting, that such an enriched country with so many opportunities ignores educating its people, labeling humanities as worthless lol.
Another fun fact is that Washington D.C., like Rome is built on seven hills. Another interesting fact that D.C., Rome, & the City of London, not London itself, is that they each have a Obelisk in their city. Rome, the City State of Religion. The City of London, the City State of Currency. Washington D.C., the City State of Warfare.
Very interesting video! It takes bravery to make a video so closely related to such a controversial topic as the events of Jan 6, 2021 and you handled it perfectly. I'm surprised you didn't mention the tearing down and replacement of the American Flag with the Trump Flag, considering how the former is viewed as a "sacred" symbol by many Americans.
Makes sense that Americans tend to sacralize everything, considering how a considerable part of them descend from very religious people like the Puritans. From the worldview of these people comes also their view of America being the City in the Hill, Manifest Destiny and all that jab.
yes that religion is called Nationalism and it is not exclusively Americans, there are many denominations across the worlds and their sacred book is called "Constitution"
My mother did not vote for Kennedy. You see, he was Catholic and the Pope would be able to tell Kennedy how to run the country. Religion does play a huge part in the country. That's a huge part of why the country is so the way it is.
As I was reading Prof Christine Hayas book a coworker & I talked about wht denotes a " cult " & we thought how government fits the characteristics of a " cult "
So annoying they relly could have torched that place if they wanted to but like there messehia of a clown all they did was smash some mirrors and run around the lobbies
I don't know, those attackers saying a prayer seems to me more like the French Revolutionists celebrating the Cult of Reason in Notre Dame - it's not devout in and of itself, its actually quite sinister.
I realized that ACR existed before I had ever heard about the idea. I remember the moment. I was a Memorial Day service at a very nice and large cemetery. There was a large crowd seated facing speakers who were set up on a dais in front of a large, white marble building which helps several crypts. There was a band playing patriotic songs and people sang along. The whole ceremony opened with a prayer and at some point, one of the speakers said that we were there to remember those who had “been sacrificed on the altar of freedom.” At that moment, it suddenly all clicked.
It's not just those who die in a war who are "sacrificed on the altar of freedom." We could add those who have to die so that Americans may continue to bear arms. More generally, human sacrifice has been a major part of the culture and religion of the Americas for thousands of years. Like the Incas and Aztecs, Americans also expect their allies to shed their blood and give their lives.
I've been in less religious church sermons than that event you're describing
I didn't realize just how literally America worshipped itself until this video.
Americans have been deluding themselves for centuries. Europeans noted in the 18th century that the colonists shouting about their right to be free also slaughtered Indians and kept slaves.
@@faithlesshound5621
Said the very same Europeans who were doing the exact same thing
@@AureliusLaurentius1099 Of course! The colonists in America and elsewhere were Europeans too, or their criminal and extremist cousins. But by then Europeans were doing their genocide overseas, since the crusades in Lithuania, Old Prussia and Spain were over. Slavery was obsolete in Western Europe, so English judges had to make up common law exceptions for the African slave trade.
@@Saint_nobody wat
As someone that’s not from the US, it’s something I’ve noticed a long time ago
Very creepy also
This makes so much sense. When you look at the past decade of political upheaval, you see stuff that more closely resembles religious sects fighting each other.
Erik Hoffer wrote a book on it called “The True Believer” One of the examples he actually used was the Apostle Paul: originally a tenacious butcher turned into a literal Apostle. Religion is replaced by politics often because politics is often a religion. Think about how the Soviets and so many other governments elevates themselves above Gods: they want to become religions
Indeed, their 'arguments' dont make sense they just keep shouting them at each other.
Washington and Lincoln on our coins do look a lot like roman imperial coins.
@user Well, we're approaching it. Empires have emperors. America has a problem with power becoming increasingly centralized to the executive branch, but it's not complete yet and there's still something we can do about it.
Problem is that Republicans want to increase this centralization and Democrats want to use the centralization that the Repubs set up because congress isn't working due to the Filibuster.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 I think he's talking about US foreign policy
@user I think it's less because of that, and more because of America's founding being inspired by the Roman Republic
@@mustafaamin9516 Yea that's right, the Founding Father's were huge fans of classical antiquity
Human faces haven't evolved much in 2000 years.
Mikhail Bakunin (a well-known anarcho-communist, although he did not use the label "communist") asserted in his writing (most notably God and the State) that states required a religion, an element of sacredness in order to legitimise their authority, their elitist institutions and their leaders, including secular states.
I'm in no way a Bakuninist, but I find the parallel we can make between this idea of civil religion and Bakunin's ideas to be interesting. Maybe he had a point there.
If you use Durkheim's definition of religion, then you could definitely argue all states use religion to legitimize their existence. I would add, though, that this may be one area were Bakunin was heavily influenced by his anti-semitism, as he specifically opposed the concept of states because he thought that Jews controlled them.
He has it backwards. The American mythology evolved bottom up, not top down.
@@sagebias2251 Thats what they tell you
@@sagebias2251 prove it
@@sagebias2251 There is definitely bottom up mythologizing happening here, but that's not the exclusive direction. There is a lot of top down myth making. The educational curriculum, founding documents and the imagery of the state commissioned art and architecture are all statements from the top. Even the flag is treated as sacred object with laws prescribing display and ritual handling as a form of veneration. The practice of soldier worship after 911 is another example.
I believe that it is safe to say that there is a dialogue happening here.
As a non-American viewer, I would love to see a serie of videos on American Civil Religion, as it is a part of American culture that always felt really alien to me
There are already several videos on this channel on that very topic. I highly recommend those.
He already has! th-cam.com/video/x49n90lWi0s/w-d-xo.html
@@CameronK665 thank you, mate! :)
It feels alien to many Americans too. Aside from the citizens and residents who are specifically excluded by some would-be ministers of an American civil religion, regional differences in history and culture influence how one views the concepts of sacred and sacrilege.
10:53
This series is some of the most fascinating content on youtube. Thanks for what you do.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate the encouragement!
@@ReligionForBreakfast I was looking for part 5 of this series, took a while lol. Loved the first 4. ❤️
last episode was the best presentation of why I don't pledge the flag. TY
I am interested in a comparative video between American civil religion and the imperial cult of ancient Rome, particularly the claim I once heard was that the ancient Romans did not "really believe that" their emperors were literally divine, but that it was simply a form of civic patriotism and duty.
Roman Catholics recognise three levels of worship. "Dulia" or veneration is given to the saints. "Hyperdulia" is given to the Virgin Mary. "Latreia" is reserved for the three gods of the Trinity.
Modern Americans have a low level veneration for the live rich and powerful, and something greater for the dead rich and and powerful, including titans of crime. Presidents are regarded with the awe they used to expect American Indians to show for the "Great White Father." Dead presidents are practically canonised.
The US generally does not have the road-side shrines or temples seen in some other countries, but it has a superfluity of flags, which serve a similar purpose. The "hand on heart" thing invented during WWII looks awfully like Catholics crossing themselves.
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What a terminally anti-social thing our censorship is
In France it's possible to baptize your children in the townhall.
It's a "civil baptism" that was originally intended to replace church baptisms (right after the French REvolution, which was also directed against the catholic church).
Nowadays many towns still practice these "civil baptisms", but not all.
disgusting
“The state? What is that? Well then, open your ears to me, for now I shall speak to you about the death of peoples. ‘State’ is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it tells lies too; and this lie crawls out of its mouth: “I, the State, am the People.”
That is a lie! Creators were they who created peoples, and hung a faith and a love over them: thus they served life. Destroyers are they who lay snares for many, and call it the State.”
- Frederich Nietzsche
(from Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
yeah, any way to tug at the heart strings of the masses.
Based Neitzsche.
Never knew about the “Apotheosis of Washington” fresco in DC, thats not something they teach in school, (and never been) but I have seen the Duomo in the Vatican, weird how theres ‘separation of church and state’ written in the official documents, but the architecture and behavior is very contrary, almost making a religion for the state. Thank you for making this!
He's already done a video on the American civic religion.
Actually, "separation of church and state" is not written in the official documents. "No establishment of religion" is what's in the official documents. They're not the same thing. And just because you weren't taught about the Apotheosis of Washington, don't assume that's something that was never taught in school.
I learned about it in school. Same with the statue of Washington as Zeus.
@@bigscarysteve exactly, and this means that there can be no “Church of America” or any official sect of religion in the US recognized under law. Laws can be inspired by religion in a broad sense, even explicitly inspired by religion, as long as it doesn’t respect or attack any specific religious organizations or ‘establishments’. The founders were fearing the US would develop a Church of America as the British had developed a Church of England, and in Britain this caused serious civil strife as that church persecuted other sects. As a result, they made that impossible.
@@fifthcolumn388 Thanks for making this comment!
Like bro , this is the saceredest place.
It's so sacred I'm gonna stand here doing the bare minimum and basically let you defile this thing I supposedly think is sacred!
@Sanctus Paulus Mostly my point was that, when I think of defending sacred spaces/objects, I think of people risking their lives to defend what they believe in. Saying "This is the most sacred" in a tone not even worthy of scolding a child is a performative contradiction in my books.
But since you bring it up, sure, let's talk about actions. Let's talk about the fact that the capitol police did almost nothing in the face of a literal storming of the capitol. Let's talk about the fact that cops are happy to choke and shoot people to death for jaywalking, but won't fight to protect "the most sacred place" from fascists. I think this says volumes about whether cops support liberal democracy or fascism. He may have nominally opposed them, but his (lack of) action shows tacit support for the fascists.
@@Salsmachev
I’m trying to remember - wasn’t it dozens of civilians who were beaten by these rioters? 17 police officers still are unable to work due to their injuries. We have the infamous video of Daniel Hodges being assaulted there, and also the videos of the police driving them out. If that makes the police on the “side of the rioters” for driving them out, then I would guess the vast majority of the American people are on that side if they supported kicking them out of the Capitol.
A police officer literally died for the Capitol - was he a fascist, too? The bloodied fascist face of Hodges is somewhat bizarre, too, then.
@@randomperson2078 The capitol was invaded and the police killed one person? Again, how many people have been killed or severely assaulted for minor infractions, or even nothing at all? The comparison is shocking. I'm pretty sure if I got together my communist, anarchist, syndicalist, Black nationalist, etc. buddies and we went to storm the capitol we would not be treated so well.
@@Salsmachev
Wait, are you complaining that more people didn’t die? Or that only about a hundred police officers were injured and just a couple of them died?
Very interesting, I wonder a lot about other civil religions. This seems like a very interesting way to look at the world
Every Latin American country does the same as the USA. Colombia and Venezuela worship Simon Bolivar. Argentina and Perú worship José de San Martín... etc
@@VincenzoRutiglianoDiaz In brazil its different. There's one "leader" that I would say is very liked, emperor dom Pedro II. But even then, it's not like people care much about him and what he represents (empire, royalty and to some degree the catholic church) is pretty much opposite to the secular republic we've been trying to create (with bumps along the way) since 1889. In fact, the first president is pretty much regarded as having been bad overall. I feel like we don't have a "civic religion" in brazil but I coulb be wrong
In France, Marianne replaced the virgin Mary.
Here in Ecuador (South America) we have 2 main poloitical personages that come to mind, and each is venerated by their respective political aligned parties. Eloy Alfaro by the liberals, who was practically ¨martyred¨ by the conservatives in a very romantic way, he was shot, stabbed with machetes and then his corpse was tied to a horse and dragged around the Palace of Carondelet (The Ecuadorian equivalent of the White House). And then Gabriel Garcia Moreno, also ¨Martyred¨ but by the liberals, he was shot right outside of Carondelet and also stabbed, his dying words being ¨God never dies¨, making reference to his trumped effort to turn Catholicism and Christian values into a cornerstone of Ecuadorian culture and government, some Catholic conservatives even refer to him as St. Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
Check out the book the most dangerous superstition by larken rose.
reminds me of the state patriotic religion in Bioshock infinite
You’re the second person to mention that. I should really check out Bioshock.
@@ReligionForBreakfast would highly recommend it. That series (especially the third one) is a goldmine of philosophy and religious thoughts
@@ReligionForBreakfast GamingForBreakfast channel when?
The whole Bioshock line of games is awesome. Loved them all!
@@ReligionForBreakfast how about a Let's Play. of Bioshock. It would be really interesting to compare real world religious philosophy with in game RG. From your POV.
Sounds a bit like being elected gives you the divine right of kings
The authority granted by the will of the people made in the image of the divine.
They think so.
These things overlap. Coronations sometimes have an element of the people acclaiming the king, as if their will or at least consent was required, and not just their submission.
The Catholic church is a very top-down institution, with appointments being made by someone at a higher level, but they retain a pretence that bishops are elected, but that's only after the canons are sent a licence to elect one particular priest. Some kings used to take over that power, by agreement with the Holy See.
The Church of England is like that: the Prime Minister sends the Queen a list of three candidates, she uses a bodkin to prick a hole beside the top name, and that name is sent to the canons of the cathedral to elect as their bishop.
There remains a feeling that the divine will requires an election. Maybe this has transferred from an earlier practice of drawing lots, allowing the decision to be made by "chance."
Even dictators like Lukashenko and Saddam Hussein felt the need for the ritual of elections where they got 99% of the votes.
And the barbarians desecrated the highest place, the holy of holies so one brave American said "This is, like, THE sacredest place."
~ The Gospel of James of Virginia 13:18
Same thing happened to Rome when they got too full of themselves, history always repeats itself.
The stars are lining, people. Say goodbye to US while you still can.
@@cgt3704 you’re so quick to wish for doom , but slow to learning how to spell.
* aligning *
Yesss. I commented on your last video about American Civil Religion hoping for you to cover this.
9:10 The comparison to Jesus at the Temple is golden
I cannot get over that "Apotheosis of Washington" fresco! That is without question the epitome of religiously inspired classical American political art and I can't believe I've never seen it before! And of course, as a ☦️, now I really really want to see a Byzantine version 😄
Taking Bellah's ideas in mind, would he analyze MLK's I Have a Dream speech's references to G-d and the Bible not just as MLK's Christian clergyhood seeping through, but as MLK acting as a so-to-speak "Priest" of American Civil Religion on behalf of African-Americans?
Perhaps. I would argue that the American Civil religions view of "god-ordained Rights of man" not being extended to African Americans of the time could be interpreted as MLK being a priest of sorts who is espousing the doctrine of said civil religion.
Regardless of American Civil religion being accurately defined as such, I would argue that American Civil religion has had a very heavy influence on American brands of Christianity, and the reverse is well, American Christianity heavily influencing American Civil religion. The two I would argue are tied together in some places, which makes it very hard to distinguish the two at times.
@@pennyforyourthots Actually, given that there is a monument dedicated to him in Washington, DC, and the fact that besides Washington and Lincoln (Presidents' Day), MLK is the only American historical figure to have a holiday, he may be a "prophet" of AC.
@@paradisecityX0 ... Haha, no.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. literally was a Minister/Pastor.
@@jakeaurod I literally said that in addition to being a Baptist Minister, MLK, according to Bellah, was also a "prophet" of ACR.
People generally cannot easily separate temporal power from spiritual power in their minds, particularly when the temporal power tries to justify itself by reference to divinely mandated rights, therefore when you try to separate church and state, you simply end up deifying the state and it's varying apparatus.
Nicely put, you can't completely take religious preconceptions from human mind no matter how much you try.
@@Adam-nc6qg man has a God shaped-hole in his heart that, if he doesn't know God, he will attempt and fail to fill it with anything.
This was so fascinating. Thank you
Here in Melbourne (Oz), if anyone talks about "hallowed ground", the first thing that comes to mind is a sporting arena, namely the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Well, for us Melbournians at any rate, the G is sacred.
lol. People really do treat sports like a religion.
It's getting to a point where either everything is sacred or nothing is and at this junction I would rather err on the side of nothing being sacred. Their are certain things just don't deserve to be Sacred, and Government is the prime example.
Aw, relax. If you are a good American raised on Star Wars, rock / hip hop, LoTR, rebellion is even more sacred.
@@ethandarcy5940 100%
I'd be particularly interested in a video on Science/Academia and religion; specifically how academic figures have replaced religious ones in the realms of healing (doctors replacing priests and holy-men) and prophecy (meteorologists predicting the weather; think-tanks evaluating and drafting policy; climatologists predicting world-ending events only to be ignored by those in power).
I feel like of I saw this in an ancient society, the narrative is draw out is that at some point (probably around the time of the enlightenment), the state religion split in two, with what today we call the church taking up spiritual, ritual and communal power, whilst academic interoffice institutions took up temporal, physical, and civic power.
As an American I def feel that there are people who worship the idea of America here, but I also think there's always sacredness baked into every kind of government. In a way, there has to be some thing or set of things that are untouchable. Some Constitution or foundation or institution or individual person who represents the long-term authority and legality of the system
The idea of civil religion is kinda cringe. I always get weirded out when people refer to government buildings as “sacred/hallow ground” or the founding fathers as prophets or saints. Like I get being patriotic and taking pride in your country but taking it to religious extremes is downright cultish. It’s bad enough when it happens in actual religions like Christianity or Islam but at that makes sense when it talking divine forces beyond human comprehension. But when talking about a bunch of fallible men who died 200+ years ago and some man made buildings as if they’re divine is just weird af. It’s like in fascist dictatorships where the leader is worshipped like a god. So gross.
Amen!
Nothing can survive without reverence. All governments would fall if this type of thing wasn't around.
@@islandplace7235 Yikes. Tell me you support cultish brainwashing without telling me you support cultish brainwashing.
I feel like its indicative of human nature to fall into religious-like sociopolitical systems
@@instanttregret That is both sad and not surprising.
Could you do an episode on Freemasonry? I wonder of from an academic perspective, it would qualify as a religion.
Its absolutely a religion..that is exactly the civil religion he is falsely calling the american civil religion. George washington laying the founding stone was done as a freemason ceremony, dressed in the freemason ceremonial garb which was done for centuries before
@@haydencapps Why do Freemasons insist Freemasonry is not a religion? What arguments are there to say it is not a religion?
@@republiccooper this is done because freemasonry is a secret religion that functions on deception and the keeping of secret knowledge that gives them power over the common people. This "secret knowledge" is basically whatever you learn from abandonning all pretense of morals, creating a "will-to-power" world that you exist in above the rest which live in a world controlled by morals and laws. This is also done because most freemasons would not be a part of or support the group if they saw it as its own religion, especially the many that belong to other religions. You learn more about the truth of the group as you ascend the degrees masonry and if you hold to your morals and religion as you go through the various rituals to enter the next degree, then you will be made to believe that you had advanced, but will not be let in any further on the secret purposes of the group. You can learn all of this from top freemasons own public writings such as Albert Pike, considered the top freemason to have ever lived. There are many videos explaining what is involved on youtube. One that i like is on the channel Based Spaceman and if you go back a numbrr of months, hw has posted a few documenatries qbout freemasonry reposted under names like the widow's sun, if you want to learn more quickly.
@@haydencapps thanks!
Superb material. Things like that need to be discussed academically.
Interesting timing. Today is Canada Day, and I just arrived home from visiting a small Indigenous festival in a city park, in the context of the recent discoveries of mass burials at residential school sites. Ground can be hallowed for many very wrong reasons...
@Catsquatch over 1,500 children
@@firstlast5454 no bodies found, just speculation.
@@TalgarSunPraiser Oh boy. Yes they are. Please do a quick Google search. My initial number may be a high estimate, but the confirmed found bodies are in the hundreds
I've never clicked so fast in my life (also Hi ReligionForBreakfast :))
The most incredibly interesting thing about this channel and this series is that, you can get into the headspace pretty easily that "religion is a thing that happens to other people." When really it's so much more a part of the world than we or at least I could imagine
The lady talking about "the evil of Congress" is technically not wrong
My wife and I were just discussing this when we saw this video.
We came to the conclusion that the US is a DEEPLY religious nation, but that the "God" we worship is Mammon; that makes all of the "In God we trust" rhetoric make sense.
It also explains why "Building Back" the US economy has been the highest priority to lawmakers, during a time when hundreds of thousands of human lives have been lost.
Opinion: If 'Building Back' the U.S. economy has been the highest priority to lawmakers, then those lawmakers have failed to fulfill that priority.
Our motto is "In God We Trust" It never says which god. In my opinion there is no such thing as secularism. There are only different religious beliefs, actions, rituals, and aimes.
Well, saving the economy is going to prevent starvation, economic instability, crime, and in general save life.
Those who have been rich their entire life, like nearly all Americans, have never encountered the deadliness of poverty and do not fear it sufficiently. I went to Afghanistan in 2014 and for 13 years I had been hearing about all the good things we were doing for their society and equality. Reality is that they were worried about feeding themselves that day, they had bigger problems than making sure their daughter went to school. The majority of the "fighters" were people being paid to plant bombs, because it was worth it to risk getting bombed into oblivion by the most technologically advanced and lethal military in the world because they were literally dead without the money.
Afghanistan is one of the most extreme examples so I'll bring it closer to home.
Two weeks ago I was the first one to stop at a car crash. A man had fallen asleep on I-70 40 miles from the nearest town in some of the most remote places in Utah. He had crashed directly into the back of a semi that had slowed down while going up hill. He was pinned by his steering wheel and we had to wait an hour for an extraction team. I have some medical training and a nurse came on the scene later. As we were talking to him and trying to comfort him he started showing signs of a collapsed lung, a fatal condition that can easily be remedied with a decompression needle. We were so glad when the sheriff arrived, 30 minutes after the crash. We told him we needed a decompression needle, something I as a soldier had been trained in basic training and regularly recertified in because it's stupid simple to use. The sheriff informed me that the county had taken the needles out of their trauma kits because they couldn't afford to be recertified.
No biggie, next was a highway patrol... they had taken the needles out of his kit too..... and then the ambulance.... had also had their needles taken out, and so had the firefighters.
A collapsed lung is a very painful way to die, and it can take an hour or so. They had asked us to clear out to allow life flight to land, so I don't know if the life flight had a needle. But I know if they didn't that man likely suffocated before reaching the hospital.
-Find the clavicle, count 3 ribs down, put the 14 gauge needle on top of the fourth rib and slide needle in over the top of that rib following the curve of the rib into the chest cavity. Avoid striking the nerve under the ribs. You may or may not hear air release, however the patient should feel relief immediately. -
This simple training the state simply didn't have the budget for. Literally 12 people knew how to do it, but everyone that should have had the needle had them taken away because the state couldn't afford to keep them certified. My 1st aid kit now includes decompression needles because I never want to be in that situation again, especially if it's my life on the line; because I can no longer trust the budget office of the government to give EMS and law enforcement the tools essential to preserving life.
You paying your taxes saves lives. You voting for people who spend money wisely saves lives. Money saves lives.
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Do I think we utterly failed as a country during the pandemic? Yes, but it wasn't the people who were worried about having jobs and businesses. It's the politicians who couldn't give clear decisive, and moderate action, then made the problem worse with polarized finger-pointing. This is what caused us as a nation to fail. Slamming the breaks on the economy, blowing out trillions of dollars, will likely cause more death and suffering in the coming decades than had we done nothing at all.
I'm not calling for us to have done nothing, that was also a very bad option, but instead I use Taiwan and an exemplar of what we should have done. Despite being one of the first countries effected due to their close, if not rocky, relationship with the People Republic of China. Their cases remained extraordinarily low up until they began opening up their borders. Prior to May 12 of this year their cases were in the low thousands, with a dozen deaths..
Taiwan's current Total cases 14,005 Recovered 1,133 Deaths 549. Taiwan's population is 23.5 million
Utah on the other hand Total Cases 416K Deaths 2,378. Utah's population 3.2 million And frankly we aren't as population dense as Taiwan, just stupid and don't like being told to wear masks. Especially when it irrationally became a Left "DO WHAT WE SAY OR WE"LL ALL DIE" and a Right "LIBS ARE TAKING AWAY MUH FREEDOMS AGAIN" debate.
precise
I like that you don't shy away from controversial or hot button topics. It makes me proud to support you on Patron.
It’s actually no surprise that a distinctly American religion like Mormonism would come into existence, when you consider this
Been waiting for this video! Wrote my undergrad capstone on this last semester! Using the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’ as justifications and rationalizations on behalf of the protestors and lawmakers.
Super interesting analysis.
My daily plug: We direly need to teach rational skepticism in all high schools as a required course. And financial literacy also.
Financial literacy. Lol there's no such thing. If they started teaching something like that then the facade of our economic system would collapse because it's as corrupt as feudalism. The corporate model taught in schools is feudalism.
I think we would be well-served to add a definition for the word 'sacred' if we are going to use it like that.
Americanism overexposure. I'm going to lay down for a bit
I find your videos really informative. They are the perfect balance between being religious and being secular. I'm a Christian myself from Scotland and always enjoy your work 👍🏻
We the people behave strange and sometimes delusional
As with many other questions, the answer depends on how certain words are defined or understood. Here’s my preferred definition of “religion”: Religion is the sum of those beliefs, practices and prohibitions that pertain to a person’s concept of the highest powers of the universe.
Some people have postulated that three are three “estates” in most societies and that priests or/and other clergy (the first estate) predated the concept of royalty (the second estate). That leaves everybody else to comprise the third estate.
The U.S. capitol building was constructed as a monument to the third estate - i.e. the idea that we the people (who are neither clergy nor royalty) need neither clergy nor royalty to tell us what to believe or what to do.
The idea that created the great American experiment has, in the opinion of some, been nearly eclipsed by a philosophy I can illustrate by reference to something that happened some years ago (and in another state than where my wife and I now live).
Upon hearing about a particular bill being introduced in the house of representatives of the state legislature, I put on a suit and went to the capitol building in the hope of finding the person who ostensibly represented our district. When I attempted to engage her on the subject of whether the proposed legislation was needed or desirable, her response was “How are the people going to know what is right and wrong if we don’t tell them?”
My best guess is that the aforementioned legislator saw herself only as a priest - not as the high priest - of this new religion but, to the extent that legislative fiat has replaced special revelation from a supernatural God or gods, capitol buildings in general and the U.S. capitol building in particular have become religious buildings.
I receive “newsletters” from legislators. All of them brag about what they have done and what they are trying to do. With very few exceptions, everything they brag about is inimical to the ideal that created the United States. What we need is a groundswell of articulation of the idea that we don’t need priests or monarchs to tell us what to believe and what to do - not even if those priests profess to promote a “secular” religion.
For sure I don’t want taxpayers’ money to be employed for the purpose of promoting religious beliefs (not even mine)! For sure I don’t want religious practices or religious prohibitions to be required or enforced by ANY branch of civil government! But when I try to discuss these needs with my friends, almost all of them would rather extol one political ideology or another than to try to engage in actual problem-solving. (Yes, I have friends in both of the major political parties of the day.) May God help us!
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
-John Lennon
As a person who lives in Japan, it is frankly laughable to, in the same breath compare Shinto and American Civil Religion and then say that calling American rituals religion would stretch the definition too far. Americans worship their country to a far greater degree than the average Japanese person buys into Shinto.
Even when I studied State Shinto in university, the thing it reminded me most of was .... American Civil Religion.
I stand by that. Shinto has priesthoods, mythology, countless kami and shrines. In what meaningful way does ACR mirror those? I’d say Shinto falls under the category “religion” far more easily than ACR. But yes, I agree State Shinto and ACR have similarities.
@@ReligionForBreakfast Nobody is saying that Shinto isn't a religion. I'm saying that you picked a very similar religion to compare American Civil Religion too and then go on to say that American Civil Religion isn't a religion.
America has mythology, and many of the rituals of American Civil Religion are heavily syncretized with Christianity. Unless one actually buys into the idea of "ceremonial deism" it's pretty hard to argue that putting refferences to god into the pledge and on the money aren't religious.
@@ReligionForBreakfast
From the way americans speak about their constitution, flag and founding fathers, as well as the pledge of allegiance in american schools, I do have the impression that most americans really have a more religious believe in "american civil religion" then most modern shinoist have in their own religion.
From what I've seen they believe in it like modern pagans believe in their gods, Kami and pagan gods are cool and all, but most people who practice those religions don't really believe in them. Shinto festivals or more for tradition and fun then any real belief in it nowadays. More like folklore festivals then religion.
So much for our govt. NOT establishing a religion. Govt. AS religion is about as bad an idea as one can come up with.
High quality content! Looking forward to more videos about religious behaviour in the modern world
The confusion between US Gov and "religion" is understandable since politicians have been appropriating religious language for many years to dignify- and perhaps obfuscate- their activities.
Also- prayers are commonly heard before sports events. Does that make the game that follows a religious pageant?
Idk about the Stateism and worship thereof.. but I do know that when I was in Washington with my eldest son, on his 6th grade field trip in 1999.. prior to the events that have led to our current political debacles, while we were inside the halls of Congress.. it actually felt sacred.
Sadly, the hypocrisy of the political establishment has stripped the dignity from my heart and left me longing for folks whose true intentions and interests are.. " For the People ", rather than their own 'legacies' and individual investments.
Perhaps it was never more than this.. but I'd like to believe it began with sincere souls.. albeit imperfect individuals.
If politics weren't such a fierce foe.. folks might actually find that our futures must be shared, to not end up despaired.
Abel Marin
Thanks 🙏 angel.
But it's ok. It was written as in hopes that the Grace that hears us all, is really the only Audience to reach, so that Providence recalls our own Faithfulness from time to time.
Blessings 🤗
This was SO good. It is the most eye opening look at the capitol riot I’ve seen so far
This is a great topic, and there's a lot of free masonic history to support the temple concept. In fact, capital hill is full of ancient symbolism dating back to ancient Egypt.
Don't forget monuments like Mount Rushmore (and its antithesis at Stone Mountain) which take hubris to the level of Ozymandias.
I practice my American religion at the voting polls. Once a yr. locally, and once every two yrs state and federal. I encourage every person who is eligible to vote to do it too. :) And for funzies I heckle the snot out of the politicians that I vote against. It's a tradition.
I am a Christian, and a fairly politically conservative one, and I really appreciate your content. You do a really good job of being objective, even when I disagree personally. You do a good job providing educational and intriguing content. While I think the idea of the capital, flag, or any governmental symbol being sacred is goofy, I appreciate your analysis of people on both sides who really believe this. It really is fascinating to watch both sides view our nation as something sacred. Reminds me of Rome. Anyways, thank you for continuing to put out awesome content!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I appreciate it!
Great video, you in an intelligent way to discuss Jan 6 without it feeling blindly partisan.
@ReligionForBreakfast
I'd like to go deeper, and see a discussion of whether a secular republic is truly possible.
I truly don't really know what to think of that.
Does the exercise of government and the endorsement of a constitution and bill of rights necessarily preempt some normative space that might otherwise be captured by religion?
OR can a republic endorse its own values yet remain neutral relative to all and any religion (or at least any "non-extreme" religion, whatever that means)?
If you've read any of the Federalist papers or the essays of the Founding Fathers, then you would know they explicitly invoked "God" and "morality" to be cornerstones in how America was to be governed. However the context is not so much about the biblical conception of God but rather idea of God as conveyed in 18th century Deism
Here's a question to be good for thought: If secularism is supposed to be the "lack of ideological or religious" belief, at what point does that secularism start becoming a pseudo ideology/religion of sorts as well? Do we need common values in order to be a self governing republic or do we act in the "let's leave each other alone" type faith and live to see the rise of and ideology that is completely alien from anything that preceded it?
@@sonicluffypucca96 I do believe that any state and any government requires a set of common values. It seems pretty obvious.
But in some explicitly secular countries (there aren't that many of those), some claim that then contrary values (usually resulting from immigration) are being discriminated against.
In a non-secular country, you could say something like "tough luck".
Also are those contrary values really religuous values - highly debatable, but that's not really the point here.
In a country that proclaims to be neutral in regards to religion, is this truly possible on a fundamental level?
No if you say that all values are somehow "religious" in nature.
Yes probably if values are not necessarily religious in nature.
I think the question merits deeper investigation.
Mount Rushmore MIGHT not have been the best choice of words there... since the mountain is in and of itself a desecration of an actual holy site to some religions.
Really, the only good thing you can say about Mount Rushmore is that the bison burgers in the cafeteria are pretty good.
An off-topic question that I hope you'll tackle at some point: Berger's interpretation of the "sacred" is something that I struggle to get my head fully around, yet it's fundamental to a modern understanding of religion. If you could go into this, I think it would help bridge the gap between the colloquial and academic understanding of religion...
Thanks for the suggestion Aaron. I really think a video on Berger is necessary too. I'll see what i can do.
If the capital is a religious building that is a direct repudiation of the first amendment.
No religious, historic!!!
The romans had this but as an actual religion, the goddess "Concordia" for example was revered as a symbol of the peace between patricians and plebes. The Tribunes of the Plebe were declared "sacred" in a religiuos ceremony as a mean for legal and physical inmunity. These are just a few examples, many emperors were declared gods by the senate after the died as a mean of public recognition.
I disagree. American Democracy is just as much a religion as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other religion. Its a religion. These buildings are basically places of worship especially at this point.
@Macon Love yeah, it's much better that 49 people should be able to violate the rights of 51 people.
I love the UncleSam/Sistine Chapel God graphic 🤣
I saw a similar ceiling painting in a grand villa by Lake Como which once belonged to the Bonaparte family. It showed Napoleon ascending into heaven on a cloud to meet the angels. It may have been a contemporary of the apotheosis of George Washington.
No doubt we will see something similar for Donald Trump, if his golden statue is any indicator.
The video being ruled " Not suitable for ads " mean they will still run ads, will still charge for those ads but will not pay anything to the creator of the video.
People celebrate this country religiously
Hellenism? Ancient and modern? Would be a very interesting video
The House Chamber is technically a sumerian temple since the portrait of Utu (supposed to be Hammurabi) hangs on the wall. Maybe with enough goat's blood we can fix what's broken...
You should make one on how wokeism is a secular religious movement
What about Washington sitting in the baphemet position in the "apotheosis"....
It's not a religious building but it is impressively built and decorated by hand I might add. As a relatively new country it is grandly built and should be honored as an American. There are 2 kinds of people in this world...builders or destroyers.
I agree strongly with your concluding sentence. It takes no talent to maim, kill, and destroy. It takes talent to create, repair, and build. That's why I found it more sublime to be a worker than a soldier. If you quote my second and third sentences, cite me as the source, since it's original as far as I know.
This is a really great episode. I mean, they’re always good, but this is exceptional.
Yes, Americans believe in USA as God.
Listen to the media and you will see most of us do not trust the FEDs.
@@hackman669
Dude! Can you read English?
He wasn’t talking about the federal government.
He was talking about American revering the USA as God.
@@whathell6t Most of US liken the US Gov to a can of worms. Only people worshiping the government are politically insane extremists. Like the tRump supporters who think he is the second coming!!! People who should be committed if you know what I mean.
@@hackman669 The mind of a right winger is influenced by his instinct for pyramidal society. Thus, a right-winger wants competition (like if natural selection was God's first and only commandment), and instinctively worships an alpha male.
Either in real life, worshiping Trump (or Putin in Russia), or a heavenly alpha male (either God the Father, or the Son - Jesus. nobody worships the holy spirit because its the least material, and right-wingers are material people - they want concrete physical things - which is why Jesus is perceived as the "main" God.
Personally when I was little and was reading the bible, Jesus seemed like a tool sent by God, a sort of prophet.
Anyways, notice there's no heavenly mother, since our instinct to bow/kneel/crawl on the ground/give offerings comes from our animal instinct to submit to a powerful alpha male. While the opposite - standing tall and as large as possible is the universal signal for challenging - fighting. An all loving heavenly mother would not make us crawl before her).
Anyways, just like the right-wingers cannot conceive of spirituality (a spirit is a virtual entity, like a software running on multiple hardware brains, thus it first needs the hardware support before it can exist), like-wise they don't understand that the Gov is a condensed form of the people so that it can rule. Thus democracy (the ruling done by the people). No. They just want competition and the people which raise to the top of the social pyramid to rule them.
Now, if you ask me, i have a problem with our type of representative democracy. I'm also against direct democracy. I'm in favor of a Rational Democracy - where its our rational side that does the "voting". Meaning that the Gov should be a national internet Forum for Policy Proposals, and we can transparently see what's the best policy with concrete arguments (how may people it advantages, by what degree - according to Maslow's pyramid of human needs, how many people it disadvantages, etc). Thus we can have a transparent score for each policy and thus rule in a rational way,
@@ubuntuposix not what Christianity teaches at all. Trinity one in substance and undivided. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Not three gods but one God. I as an Orthodox Christian, worship the Holy Trinity.
“A society of liked minded people” - Ogre Magi
Monuments to the tyranny of capital
I like the phrase "Civic Piety".
It gives a certain dispassionate perspective to the discussion, separates civic respect from "Religionism".
The US capitol is a Cultist building inspired by free-masonry. The goddess on top of the building is Persephone a goddess of underworld also a representation of Venus. The apotheosis of George Washington is the sacred marriage between him and Venus. The Babylonian believed that the king would merge with the goddess at his death (Sacred marriage between Innana (Venus) and Dumuzid (Mars) . The patron of the US is not the president but Persephone the goddess of the underworld same as the goddess of war (Athena).
You seem to have got your goddesses mixed up, if you equate Persephone to Venus, Athena and the goddess of war: unless of course you think that there's only one goddess?
And what about Lady Justice, who stands blindfolded with a sword and scales over law courts: she was admitted to the Roman pantheon by Augustus under the name of Justicia, but that was their name for Ma'at, the goddess who presided over Egyptian courts.
@@faithlesshound5621 It's exactly that, all those goddesses stem from the early archetype of the goddess associated to the queen of Heaven i.e. Inanna and the planet Venus. And Ma'at is the guardian of the field of reeds (the place of afterlife) which later became Elysium field in Greek mythology which is also associated to Venus in Babylonian lore and in Jewish stories to the garden of Eden. Inanna had double association of garden of fertility and goddess of war.
It is interesting to see that American Civil Piety (I use piety to avoid confusion in the following texts) is heavily influenced by Christian bias among government officials and lawmakers and Christian nationalism. As an increasing number of immigrants do not practice Abrahamic religions and Americans are losing interest in religion in general, what will this populational shift do to American Civil Piety? Will it shift away from Christianity as well?
It's less "immigrants", and more "people who are already citizens" that are increasingly not practicing Abrihamic faiths.
You should do a video on the growing movement of Christians questioning Paul’s apostleship.
At 9:00 to 9:06 is the reason why this video was demonetized.
Omg I love your videos. This is such a good way to look at the American State and culture. It blows my mind
Lest we forget, Bioshock Infinite's take on philosophy was to represent a theoretical scenario where American Civil Religion is warped into literal religion - the city-state of Columbia features a heavily mythologised version of America and later Columbia's founding as the dominant religion, with the founding fathers warped into a holy trinity of pseudo-gods representing industry, law and justice, and Comstock's actions turned from revolutionary entrepeneur to literal divine right. Obviously, this is fiction, but it's a clear satire of American Civil Religion - I've heard it said that America's favourite religion is America.
It's kind of like the South Park episode where in the future religions don't exist. Yet the science communities still fight.
It seems no matter what, humans need something. Something to deify and worship.
suggestion: i would love a video about the theological reasons why muslims aren’t allowed to create images of their prophets (if you haven’t already)
When I lived in the US I was obligated and peer-pressured frequently to submit to the American Civil Religion. Only realized this as I got older. Looking back all of my friends were immigrants. This being Washington D.C's suburbs.
We literally had to praise the flag every morning, every single day. It's very interesting, and exhausting, that such an enriched country with so many opportunities ignores educating its people, labeling humanities as worthless lol.
Another fun fact is that Washington D.C., like Rome is built on seven hills.
Another interesting fact that D.C., Rome, & the City of London, not London itself, is that they each have a Obelisk in their city.
Rome, the City State of Religion.
The City of London, the City State of Currency.
Washington D.C., the City State of Warfare.
I thought Washington was built in a swamp right about at sea level.
If it’s not the world’s largest mosque outside of the Middle East being built in Kingman Arizona, then I don’t want it.
@Sanctus Paulus
th-cam.com/video/8vfTTE3a518/w-d-xo.html
Thoroughly covered for this episode, clear and concise. Thank you!!
Very interesting video!
It takes bravery to make a video so closely related to such a controversial topic as the events of Jan 6, 2021 and you handled it perfectly.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the tearing down and replacement of the American Flag with the Trump Flag, considering how the former is viewed as a "sacred" symbol by many Americans.
Image search "president halo", the photographic angles with the seal says it all.
It would be interesting to compare this event to the Extinction Rebellion protest that was held in the swedish riksdag last year.
Makes sense that Americans tend to sacralize everything, considering how a considerable part of them descend from very religious people like the Puritans. From the worldview of these people comes also their view of America being the City in the Hill, Manifest Destiny and all that jab.
yes that religion is called Nationalism and it is not exclusively Americans, there are many denominations across the worlds and their sacred book is called "Constitution"
A USO ad came up at the end of your video when I watched it if it's any consolation.
The fresco of Washington, actually shows Washington posed as baphomet, not “saintly.”
My mother did not vote for Kennedy. You see, he was Catholic and the Pope would be able to tell Kennedy how to run the country. Religion does play a huge part in the country.
That's a huge part of why the country is so the way it is.
Dr. Peter Manseau looks like real life mild mannered Clark Kent
And let's not forget that it is named The Capitol, after Capitoline Hill and Jupiter Capitolinus
As I was reading Prof Christine Hayas book a coworker & I talked about wht denotes a " cult " & we thought how government fits the characteristics of a " cult "
So annoying they relly could have torched that place if they wanted to but like there messehia of a clown all they did was smash some mirrors and run around the lobbies
Fascinating subject. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I feel like I learned a lot, thanks :)
I don't know, those attackers saying a prayer seems to me more like the French Revolutionists celebrating the Cult of Reason in Notre Dame - it's not devout in and of itself, its actually quite sinister.