This deep and intimate connection between God and the nations creation is also pivotal in helping adherents orientate themselves within the tangible world. A model for reality within the American civil tradition is structured under the understanding that the nation was formed under the “obligation, both collective and individual, to carry out God’s will on earth” (Bellah 277). Bellah argues that ultimate sovereignty within America has often been attributed to God, this is made symbolically evident in the president’s oath of office being sworn to God, or “under God” in the pledge of allegiance and “In God We Trust” as a motto (Bellah 276). This demonstrates that, ultimately, both sovereignty and the criterion for right and wrong rests ultimately…show more content… It is part of God’s will and therefore America’s responsibility as “the last best hope of earth” to defend these governments up to the point of bloodshed (Bellah 284). The tone that “God has favoured our undertaking” has constantly shaped and restructured tangible elements of reality to better represent the American civil traditions conception of it (Bellah 284).
The American civil religion demonstrates a clear sense that God has a “special concern for America” which has spawned a more direct analogy that the United States is in fact the “American Israel” (Bellah 279). Thomas Jefferson refers to America as a Nation under the “favour of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all necessaries and comforts of life” (Bellah 279). This analogy plays a crucial role in shaping the moods and motivations felt by followers of the American civil tradition. Followers can be understood as motivated by serving as God’s chosen people and as such, are required both as a country and as an individual, to carry out God’s will…show more content… Geertz mentions, “We do not worship authority, but accept authority as defining the worshipful” (Geertz 31). It is possible, according to Geertz, that individuals may find the possibility of worship alongside the discovery of authority (Geertz 31). It could be argued that the presidential oath of office is an instance of worship where “acceptance of lordship of something not ourselves” (Geertz 31) is instilled into the president who swears his allegiance before God and the Constitution (Bellah 276). Therefore, the duties of the Nations leading figure are beholden to the authority of both God and the nations foundational documents and not the will of the people (Bellah 276). It could be argued that citizens discover a similar authority through practices such as the pledge of allegiance which extends “lordship” (Geertz 31) and ultimate governance to non-tangible conceptions such as God and the Flag (Bellah 276). Geertz maintains that religious experiences must instill some form of “really real” feeling that goes beyond the common-sense perspective (Geertz 34). The American civil war is itself an example of individuals setting aside their own interests in order to uphold what Lincoln termed “the providence of God” by ending slavery (Bellah 280). Union soldiers gave up their lives so that the “Nation might live” and so that the values left by
