Secular religion
This article possibly contains original research. (November 2023) |
A secular religion is a communal
Contemporary characterizations
The term secular religion is often applied today to communal belief systems—as for example with the view of love as the postmodern secular religion.[11] Paul Vitz applied the term to modern psychology in as much as it fosters a cult of the self, explicitly calling "the self-theory ethic ... this secular religion".[12] Sport has also been considered as a new secular religion, particularly with respect to Olympism.[13] For Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, belief in them as a new secular religion was explicit and lifelong.[14]
Political religion
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The theory of political religion concerns governmental
calendar.Political religious organizations, such as the Nazi and Communist Parties, adhered to the idealization of cultural and political power over the country at large. The church body of the state no longer held control over the practices of religious identity. Because of this, Nazism was countered by many political and religious organizations as being a political religion, based on the dominance which the Nazi regime had (Gates and Steane).[16] Political religions generally vie with existing traditional religions, and may try to replace or eradicate them. The term was given new attention by the political scientist Hans Maier.[17]
The term is sometimes treated as synonymous with civil religion,[citation needed] but although some scholars use the terms equivalently, others see a useful distinction, using "civil religion" as something weaker, which functions more as a socially unifying and essentially conservative force, whereas a political religion is radically transformational, even apocalyptic.[18]
Overview
The term political religion is based on the observation that sometimes political ideologies or political systems display features more commonly associated with
Origin of the theory
The 18th-century philosopher
Suppression of religious beliefs
Political religions sometimes compete with existing religions, and try, if possible, to replace or eradicate them.[17] Loyalty to other entities, such as a church or a deity, are often viewed as interfering with loyalty to the political religion. The authority of religious leaders also presents a threat to the authority of the political religion. As a result, some or all religious sects may be suppressed or banned. An existing sect may be converted into a state religion, but dogma and personnel may be modified to suit the needs of the party or state.
Absolute loyalty
Loyalty to the state or political party and acceptance of the government/party ideology are paramount. Dissenters may be expelled, ostracized, discriminated against, imprisoned, "re-educated", or killed. Loyalty oaths or membership in a dominant (or sole) political party may be required for employment, obtaining government services, or simply as routine. Criticism of the government may be a serious crime. Enforcement can range from ostracism by one's neighbours to execution. In a political religion, you are either with the system or against it.
Cult of personality
A political religion often elevates its leaders to near-godlike status. Displays of leaders in the form of posters or statues may be mandated in public areas and even private homes. Children may be required to learn the state's version of the leaders' biographies in school.
Myths of origin
Political religions often rely on a
Historical cases
Revolutionary France
Revolutionary France was well noted for being the first state to
Fascism
Italian fascism
According to Emilio Gentile, "Fascism was the first and prime instance of a modern political religion."[34] "This religion sacralized the state and assigned it the primary educational task of transforming the mentality, the character, and the customs of Italians. The aim was to create a 'new man', a believer in and an observing member of the cult of Fascism."[35]
"The argument [that fascism was a 'political religion'] tends to involve three main claims: I) that fascism was characterized by a religious form, particularly in terms of language and ritual; II) that fascism was a sacralized form of totalitarianism, which legitimized violence in defence of the nation and regeneration of a fascist 'new man'; and III) that fascism took on many of the functions of religion for a broad swathe of society."[36]
Nazi Germany
"Among committed [Nazi] believers, a mythic world of eternally strong heroes, demons, fire and sword—in a word, the fantasy world of the nursery—displaced reality."
Soviet Union
In 1936 a Protestant priest referred explicitly to communism as a new secular religion.
After the war, the social philosopher
Klaus-Georg Riegel argued that "Lenin's utopian design of a revolutionary community of virtuosi as a typical political religion of an intelligentsia longing for an inner-worldly salvation, a socialist paradise without exploitation and alienation, to be implanted in the Russian backward society at the outskirts of the industrialised and modernised Western Europe."[45]
See also
- American civil religion
- Civil religion
- Cult of Reason
- Divine right of kings
- Epicureanism
- Ethical naturalism
- History of political Islam in Iran
- Humanistic Judaism
- Ideocracy
- Irreligion
- Juche
- Kemalism
- Mandate of Heaven
- New atheism
- Nontheistic religions
- Political symbolism
- Postsecularism
- Progressive Christianity
- Religion for Atheists
- Religion of Humanity
- Religious humanism
- Scientism
- Secular ethics
- Secular humanism
- Separation of church and state
- Spiritual but not religious
- Statolatry
- State atheism
- Sunday Assembly
- Taoism
References
- ^ McFarland, S. (1998). Communism as religion. The international journal for the psychology of religion, 8(1), 33-48.
- ^ Niebuhr, R. (2022, May 28). The religion of communism. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1931/04/the-religion-of-communism/650866/
- ^ Belke, T. J. (1998). Juche: the state religion of North Korea. Regent University.
- ^ Widjaja, F. I., Boiliu, N. I., Simanjuntak, I. F., Gultom, J. M., & Simanjuntak, F. (2021). The religious phenomenon of Juche ideology as a political tool. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77(4).
- ^ Kim, P. (2002). An Analysis Of Religious Forms Of Juche Ideology In Comparison With Christianity. International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, 11(1), 127-144.
- ^ Grothendieck, A. (1971). The New Universal Church. Survivre et Vivre, (9), 3-8.
- ^ Kitagawa, J. M. (1974). One of the many faces of China: Maoism as a quasi-religion. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 125-141.
- ^ Haglund, Å. (1975). Maoism-a New Religious formation in the People's Republic of China. Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, 7, 43-54.
- ^ Apter, D. E. (2005). Bearing witness: Maoism as religion. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 22, 5-37.
- ^ Young, L. C., & Ford, S. R. (1977). God is Society: The Religious Dimension of Maoism. Sociological Inquiry, 47(2), 89-97.
- ^ U. Beck/E. Beck-Gernsheim, The Normal Chaos of Love (1995) Chap. 6
- ^ Paul C. Vitz, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-worship (1994) p. 145
- ^ H. Preuss/ K. Liese, Internationalism in the Olympic Movement (2011) p. 44
- ^ B. W. Ritchie/D. Adair, Sport Tourism (2004) p. 1988
- ^ Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press
- ^ "Political Religion -the influence of Ideological and Identity Orientation" (2009)
- ^ ISBN 9780714685298.
- ^ Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press, s.xxii
- ^ Morris, Benjamin Franklin: The Christian Life & Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States; Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic (1864) Philadelphia: George W. Childs
- ^ Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press, p.22
- ^ For a compelling opinion on this important distinction, see Angela Astoria Kurtz, "God, not Caesar: Revisiting National Socialism as 'Political Religion'" in History of European Ideas, Vol. 35; No. 2 (June 2009)
- ^ Angela Astoria Kurtz, "God, not Caesar: Revisiting National Socialism as 'Political Religion'" in History of European Ideas, Vol. 35; No. 2 (June 2009)
- ^ Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press, p.20
- ^ Keller, Adolf (1936). Church and State on the European Continent. London. p. 68.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Voegelin, Eric (1999) [1938]. Die politischen Religionen [The political religions]. The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, volume 5. University of Missouri Press.
- ^ a b Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press, chapters 3-4
- ^
Gentile, Emilio (2005). "Political Religion: A Concept and its Critics - A Critical Survey". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 6 (1): 25. S2CID 145325546.
- ^ Gamble, Richard: Savior Nation: Woodrow Wilson and a gospel of service (2001) Humanitas vol.XIV, nro.1
- ^ Griffin, Roger Fascism, Totalitarianism and Political Religion, p. 7 2005Routledge
- ^ Gentile, Emilio: Politics as Religion (2006) Princeton University Press, chapters 2-4
- ISBN 9780714685298.
- ^ "Cult of Reason and Robespierre".
- ^ Kennedy, p. 345. (A Cultural History of the French Revolution)
- ^ "The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy". Harvard University Press.
- ^ Gentile, The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy, p.ix.
- S2CID 143810776. Archived from the originalon September 18, 2008.
- ^ Burleigh, The Third Reich, (London: Macmillan, 2000) pp.8-9.
- ^ N. Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism (Wellingborough: the Aquarian Press, 1985), and P. Levenda, Unholy Alliance (New York: Continuum, 2002).
- ^ Gentile, p. 2
- ^ F. A. Voigt, Unto Caesar (1938) p. 37
- ^ Voigt, pp. 17–20, p. 71 and pp. 98–9
- ^ Voigt, p. 203
- ^ Aron, Raymond. The Opium of the Intellectuals. London: Secker & Warburg, 1957, pp. 265–294
- ^ Quoted in Chris Wrigley, A. J. P. Taylor (2006) pp. 229 and 202
- S2CID 143277254.
Further reading
- A. Bergesen, The Sacred and the Subversive (1984)
- E. B. Koenker, Secular Salvations (1965)
- H. Kelsen, Secular Religion (1964)
- Gentile, "Political Religion: A Concept and its Critics - A Critical Survey," Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, Vol. 6, No. 1, p. 25
- Gates, Donald K.; Steane, Peter (2009). "Political Religion - The Influence Of Ideological And Identity Orientation". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 10 (3/4): 303–325. S2CID 143563288.
- S2CID 145274046.[permanent dead link]
- Wolfgang Hardtwig (2001) "Political Religion in Modern Germany: Reflections on Nationalism, Socialism, and National Socialism", Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, Volume 28
- Jacques Ellul, The New Demons. Trans. C. Edward Hopkin. New York: Seabury, 1975. London: Mowbrays, 1975.
External links
- Political Religions section of Religion Compass
- Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative Council on Foreign Relations.
- Conference on Political religions in the modern era, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 7–9 May 2004
- Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, "Special Issue: Political Religions as a characteristic of the 20th century", Volume 6 Number 1/June 2005, Taylor & Francis (requires subscription)