Civil religion

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As a civil religion is religious content of a political culture understood that according to Robert N. Bellah is necessary for a democratic polity works. In principle, all elements that create identity or create acceptance for a culture can fulfill the function of religious elements. Civil-religious in this sense are all cultural elements that cannot be changed, abolished or introduced through political action alone.

The prerequisite for civil religion is the separation of church and state . State and religious objectives differ. Since religious aspects are also decisive in matters other than just religious, the term civil religion is used .

Older theorists

The concept of a civil religion is a product of the Enlightenment : It comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's (1712–1778) political treatise Contrat social (“Social Contract ”, 1762). According to Rousseau, religion cannot cope with political demands (war, abuse of power). He understands religion civile as a bourgeois, obligatory creed with simple dogmas : the existence of God , life after death , the retribution of justice and injustice, the sanctity of the social contract and the laws, tolerance. It ensures that people and citizens , private and public , are separated. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz operated with a concept of cultus civilis . Immanuel Kant developed a form of the secular religion of reason as The Religion within the Limits of Mere Reason .

From a philosophical point of view, both the basic idea of ​​a religion of wisdom and the idea of ​​a soul , with which man has his share in the highest good , go back to the theory of ideas and the theory of the soul of Plato : "But the divine is the beautiful, the true, the good and whatever else is of this kind. It is from these that the plumage of the soul is nourished and strengthened most, but from the ugly and evil and whatever is the opposite of that, it disappears and passes. "

Civil religion in the USA

Robert N. Bellah took up these references in 1967 to describe functions in the American community . His thesis is that besides the churches there is a clearly distinguishable, developed and firmly institutionalized religion, the so-called civil religion . Bellah describes phenomena of general religiosity in the political field. As examples, he cites presidential speeches with the recurring theme of American destiny under God (" In God we trust "). For him, further elements of such a religion are the American interpretation of history, which often has strong parallels to the Old Testament , with the USA as New Israel (God's own nation!), The Atlantic as the Red Sea and the declaration of independence and principles analogous to the Ten Commandments. For him, the associated holidays are part of a civil religious rite.

Robert N. Bellah re-used the concept of civil religion in his studies of American society . Civil religion as an analytical concept is useful for describing certain religious attitudes shared by most members of society. For the USA case examined by Bellah, the following can be established: Civil-religious attitudes are expressed with the help of various symbols, to which national symbols , e.g. For example, the American flag also includes symbols with strong biblical connotations. These civil religious symbols appear primarily in public spaces and less in the actual religious spaces of the various American religious communities. Particularly noteworthy is the use of civil religious symbols in political rhetoric: elements of the American civil religion are the frequent reference to God in political speeches. But the frequent reminder and admonition that the United States of America stands for certain values ​​that (should) be shared by all Americans can also be viewed as civil religious, as this expresses an ideal self-image of American society.

General religiosity is thus combined with constitutional patriotism and national pride to form a unit. This American way of political thinking reflects the catchphrase of the clash of civilizations , which in turn is matched with the "post-secular" idea of ​​the "return of religions". A vivid document of the connection between religion and patriotism in the USA is the song The Battle Hymn of the Republic from the time of the American Civil War with the refrain "Glory, glory, hallelujah ..." , which is still popular today .

Applicable to Germany and Europe

Compared to the USA, the concept of civil religion - there - cannot be applied to the same extent for Germany. There are no national symbols with a comparable position that provoke similar reactions in the general population, nor is the public space characterized by religious symbols that express an ideal self-image (see the crucifix judgment ). However, the discussion about the concept of a “ leading culture ” , as well as the German examination of the past, shows the first signs of the emergence of a treasure trove of civil and religious symbols.

The question of a civil religion or a common pool of rituals and religiously connoted self-images, on the other hand, can be determined at the European level: The discussion about a 'European' leading culture, about a reference to God in the European constitution and about a possible accession of the Turkey to the European Union are current areas of discussion here.

For the Evangelical Church of Germany, Bishop Wolfgang Huber explains that America and Germany had “two contrary civil religions”.

The idea and the concept of being discussed in Germany but " constitutional patriotism " . This contains essential elements of the concept of civil religion in a highly political sense. Hans Küng's idea of ​​a global ethic not only connects secular ethics with the idea of ​​religion, but also relies on a political movement.

German discussion

overview

The idea of ​​civil religion is based on its two parts, on that of civil, which goes back to Roman civil rights ( civis ) and also helps determine the status civilis in the sense of natural law, and on the idea of religion . What is separate in itself is thus united in a way that is provocative for both sides, the secular as well as the religious side, in order to describe a socially real condition.

The term civil religion combines at least three different points of view.

The idea of ​​civil religion, for example, already combines two major orientations in Rousseau. On the one hand, Rousseau refers generally to the “divine”, but then he writes: “Accordingly, there is a purely bourgeois creed, and the establishment of its articles is only a matter for the head of state”. So in a democracy this is the business of the civil society of democrats. With its religious orientation, for example the reference to God, the idea of ​​civil religion today includes on the one hand the question of the role of religions "in civil society" . But at least equally, the idea of ​​civil religion has a largely secular side, in the sense of a "secular religion of civil society" , depending on its national understanding of the state and society .

A new third, the social-anthropological idea of ​​religiosity in the sense of a human constant, was shown by Thomas Luckmann , as early as 1967, in his famous work “The invisible religion”. On the one hand, it is primarily a matter of “maintaining symbolic worlds across the generations”. On the other hand, and with regard to the development of an individual self, a human “biological organism becomes a person by forming an objectively valid, but at the same time subjectively meaningful, internally binding cosmos with others”.

German approaches

In the discussion about the meaning and nature of civil religion, the specialist sciences bring their respective basic orientations:

  • Rousseau's idea of ​​bourgeois religion in its full breadth was initially taken up again by the political philosopher Hermann Lübbe . In his successor, Heinz Kleger understands the civil religion primarily as a civil religion. He checks whether we can speak of a “European civil religion” and denies this because there is a lack of common citizenship.
  • The political scientist Herfried Münkler asks about the “pre-political foundations of political order” under the general title of civic religion and political civic virtue and the concretization as “moral order”.
  • The sociologist Niklas Luhmann uses the term “religion of society” . The “function”, “achievement” and “reflection” of the religious system would change under the conditions of functional differentiation of the social system, but they would basically be retained.
  • The constitutional lawyer Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde refers to the “constitutional values”, which the Federal Constitutional Court also emphasizes . He also underlines their function of self-stabilization, but also worries that this idea amounts to a kind of state totalitarianism.
  • From a constitutional perspective that focuses on the neutrality of the “modern constitutional state”, Horst Dreier discusses the relationship between “ secularity and sacredness ”. His thesis is that the state must administer the return of the religious in a secular manner. There is no need for a sacred aura or myth. In this respect, he calls for the “religious and ideological neutrality” of the state. But he sees human dignity as a “derivative of Christianity”, and then he also discusses the “dignity of the bourgeois order”.
  • The religious philosopher Michel Kühnlein uses the term “ religion of reason ”, which represents the philosophical form of civil religion, and contrasts it with the idea of ​​existential theology .
  • From a philosophical-anthropological point of view, Klaus Hammacher explains: "The new civil religion has a purely ideological character ...". Hammacher is critical of the idea of ​​civil religion as such, but only because he only interprets it as a “publicly recognized opinion” which therefore lacks a “real taboo”, “as is the case with law with the idea of ​​justice as a transcendent principle underlying."

Details

Definitions

In Lübbe's successor, the political philosophers Heinz Kleger and Alois Müller spread the term civil religion broadly and in the following way:

  • bourgeois religion as private Christianity ,
  • Religion of the citizen as philosophy of the citizen,
  • political religion from the perspective of political sociology,
  • Civil religion in the American sense as a charge of politics and civil society through religious elements,
  • State religion in the German sense of the commitment to the constitution and its basic elements as a civil religion,
  • Cultural religion as non-denominational and post-denominational secularization in the constitutional state in the broad sense, as state, law and culture.

Kleger / Müller also offer a panorama for clarification, which is based on the division into four disciplines:

  • from the perspective of sociological systems theory : religion as "generalized values ​​in a functionally differentiated society",
  • from the point of view of state philosophy: religion as a cultural preservation condition of the liberal state,
  • from the point of view of constitutional theory: religion as a "structural relationship between state, society and church"
  • from the perspective of Christian theology : a "Christian philosophy of divided existence",
  • as well as: religion as a “political-theological relationship between state, society and church”.

The psychological side of civil religion should be added: religion as a structure of emotional-spiritual expression and anchoring of the “identity of the individual and his communities”.

Post-secular society

Jürgen Habermas throws the word about the post-secular society into the discussion. The liberal constitutional state is required to deal with the pre-political and moral sources as carefully as possible, from which “the norm consciousness and solidarity of citizens are fed.” And he adds: “This consciousness that has become conservative is reflected in the talk of the post-secular society ". Elsewhere, however, Habermas also thinks that at least for the “constitutional state”, which he apparently sees as separate from the liberal state, there is no legitimizing added value.

The Habermassian aspect of the post-secular can still be closely related to the idea of ​​the “return of religions”. In this sense, the philosopher of religion Kühnlein takes it up and sees the place for religions in the pre-political space. But he then also explains that this should not mean, "that religion could claim exclusive possessions of the affirmation of political legitimacy for itself in relation to the articulation of a civil-religious basic ideology ..."

Preambles to Constitutions and Conventions

The largely secular preambles of the Western constitutions and those of the transnational human rights conventions reveal a confessional character . Sentences two to four of the preamble to the 2009 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union read :

“Conscious of its spiritual, religious and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible and universal values ​​of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity. It is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It puts the person at the center of its actions by establishing European citizenship and an area of ​​freedom, security and justice. "

Axel Montenbruck has been building on this (since 2010), among other things, a primarily secular series of individual writings that are open to religions and which bear the overall title “Civil religion. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture ” . Construction and main theses describe the four individual titles:

(I) Foundation: Democratic Preamble Humanism . Western civil religion and universal triad “nature, soul and reason”.

(II) Basic elements: Civil reconciliation . Atonement and mediation , punishment and confession , justice and humanity from a legal perspective.

(III) Normative superstructure: secular civil religion. Idea and discussion, ethics and law . As well as anthropology : holistic superstructure: middle world and three-thirds human. Socially real dehumanization and civilization as synthetic pragmatism .

“The preamble humanism can be interpreted as a“ substitute religion of the reasonable ”as soon as one expressly recognizes it. The use of the word religion represents - also - a rational self-criticism. "

Believe in human rights

“The sacredness of the person - a new genealogy of human rights” is the title of the work by the social philosopher Hans Joas . For us human rights are the “obviously good”. Methodologically, it is about a new kind, the "affirmative" genealogy. “Elective affinities” would combine Christianity and humanism, among other things. So they agreed in the nature of their narratives and in the idea of ​​the person. What they have in common is the idea of ​​holiness, which then also shows itself as "belief in human rights".

Connection of European Enlightenment with Judeo-Christian theism

The political philosopher Andreas Nix “deliberately established a close connection between Judeo-Christian theism and civil religion, because ultimately it is the differentiated and orthodox theology that should support future plans - not in the form of a dictation, but in the form of a to Self-restraint and self-reflexivity admonishing voice. Theology is able to appeal to personal responsibility as well as to grasp the limits of personal responsibility. The civil religion lives from this theology, it is at its heart. "

Image of man of the civil religion

The image of man in civil religion is determined by three elements, the “ soul ” and “ human dignity ” as well as the idea of ​​the “ person ”. As a legal person , the person is then responsible for rights and obligations.

Civil religion and Islam

In Southeast Asia in particular, there is a discussion about the concept of civil religion according to Robert N. Bellah from the perspective of the “Islamic world”. In 1999, Bellah's book Beyond Belief was translated into Indonesian by the Islamic publishing house Paramadina. The ideas of a civil religion are based on the social conditions in the city of Medina at the time of the Prophet as a social ideal (medina fadila) . This is followed by the debate about possible forms of civil society (masyarakat madani) , even if madani is not derived from Medina but from madaniyya (civilization).

The discussion follows the insight that religious communities like Christianity and Islam do not provide self-contained models of society. Rather, they are designed “to unfold from their sources in the context of the respective circumstances and to put them to the test. Religion becomes a communal process of a dialogue about social ideals; a dialogue in which one relates to the other (re-aliter) and thereby constructs reality (reality). Civil religion thus becomes the task of the members of a society to answer for themselves in the context of this reality. "

literature

  • Heike Bungert / Jana Weiß: The debate about “civil religion” from a transnational perspective. In: Zeithistorische Forschungen 7 (2010), pp. 454–459.
  • Heike Bungert / Jana Weiß (ed.): Civil religion in the USA in the 20th century . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-593-50701-9 .
  • Thomas Hase: civil religion. Religious studies reflections on a theoretical concept using the example of the USA (= religion in society, 9). Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-935556-98-5 .
  • Michael Ley: Danube Monarchy and European Civilization. About the necessity of a civil religion (= series of publications: Passages Politics). Passagen-Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85165-637-7 .
  • Hermann Lübbe: State and civil religion. One aspect of political legitimation. In: N. Achterberg, W. Krawietz (ed.): Archive for legal and social philosophy. Supplement 15, 1981.
  • Axel Montenbruck : Democratic preamble-humanism. Western civil religion and the universal triad “Nature, Soul and Reason” (= civil religion series. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume I: Foundation ). 5th again considerably enlarged edition. 2015 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  • Axel Montenbruck: Civil Reconciliation. Atonement and mediation, punishment and confession, justice and humanity from a legal perspective (= series civil religion. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume II: Basic elements ). 5th expanded edition. 2016 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  • Axel Montenbruck: Secular civil religion. Idea and discussion, ethics and law (= series civil religion. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume III: Normative superstructure ). 3rd, again considerably expanded edition, 2016 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  • Axel Montenbruck: Middle world and three-thirds human. Socially real dehumanization and civilization as synthetic pragmatism (= series civil religion. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume IV: Holistic superstructure ). 3rd again considerably expanded edition, 2014, ISBN 978-3-944675-20-6 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  • Andreas Nix: Civil Religion and Enlightenment: The civil religious strand of the Enlightenment and the question of a European civil religion. Lit Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11740-3 .
  • Janez Perčič: Religion and Community. On the concept of civil religion (= Forum Religionsphilosophie, 8). Lit, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7053-7 .
  • Florian Schaurer: Europe's Twilight of the Gods. About the re-sacralization of political culture. Tectum, Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8288-9362-7 .
  • Rolf Schieder: How much religion can Germany take? Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-518-12195-2 .
  • Matti Justus Schindehütte: Civil religion as a responsibility of society. Religion as a political factor in the development of the Pancasila of Indonesia. Abera Verlag, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-934376-80-0 .
  • Karl Richard Ziegert: civil religion. The Protestant betrayal of Luther. Olzog, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-7892-8351-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michaela Rehm: Civil creed. Morality and Religion in Rousseau's Political Philosophy. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 2006.
  2. ^ Plato: Phaedrus. 246 e, In: Plato. Complete Works. Volume 2: Lysis, Symposion, Phaidon, Kleitophon, Politeia, Phaidros. Translation by Friedrich Schleiermacher, edited by Ursula Wolf. 2004.
  3. ↑ See Werner Holly: Presidential speech. In: Gert Ueding (Hrsg.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric . Volume 10, WBG, Darmstadt 2011, Sp. 952-958.
  4. ↑ Jana Weiß: Fly the Flag and Give Thanks to God. Civil Religion on U.S. Patriotic Holidays, 1945-1992 . Scientific publishing house Trier, Trier 2015, ISBN 978-3-86821-606-6 .
  5. ↑ See from the sociological point of view: Martin Riesebrodt: The return of religions: Fundamentalism and the "clash of cultures". C. H. Beck, 2000, cf. about p. 48 ff.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Huber: Two contrary civil religions - State and Church in America and Germany . Evangelical Church in Germany. March 24, 2005. Archived from the original on January 2, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  7. ^ Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The social contract or the principles of constitutional law. translated by Hermann Denhard, 1880. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-50905-X , 4th book, chap. 8: The civil religion.
  8. ↑ Ernst – Wolfgang Böckenförde: The secularized state. Its character, its justification and its problems in the 21st century. 2007, p. 11ff.
  9. ↑ Thomas Luckmann: The invisible religion. 2nd Edition. suhrkamp, ​​1991, ISBN 3-518-28547-5 (suhrkamp pocket book science 947).
  10. ↑ Heinz Kleger: Is there a European civil religion? Paris lecture on the values ​​of Europe. Resistance and political obligation in a learning democracy. 2008, p. 9 f.
  11. ↑ Herfried Münkler: Introduction: What are the pre-political foundations of political order. In: Herfried Münkler (Ed.): Citizen religion and political citizen virtue. Debates on the pre-political foundations of moral order. 1996, ISBN 3-7890-4254-4 , p. 7 ff.
  12. ↑ Niklas Luhmann: Function of Religion. suhrkamp, ​​1977, p. 56 ff., 261 ff .; posthumously: André Kieserling (ed.): Niklas Luhmann: The religion of society. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-518-29181-5 .
  13. ↑ Ernst – Wolfgang Böckenförde: The secularized state. Its character, its justification and its problems in the 21st century. 2007, p. 11 ff, 29.
  14. ↑ Horst Dreier: Secularization and sacredness. The self-image of the modern constitutional state. 2013, ISBN 978-3-16-152962-7 , pp. 25 ff.
  15. ↑ Horst Dreier: Secularization and sacredness. The self-image of the modern constitutional state. 2013, ISBN 978-3-16-152962-7 , pp. 112, 43 ff.
  16. ↑ Horst Dreier: Secularization and sacredness. The self-image of the modern constitutional state. 2013, ISBN 978-3-16-152962-7 , p. 112 ff.
  17. ↑ Michael Kühnlein: Between Reason Religion and Existential Theology: On post-secular thinking by Jürgen Habermas. In: Theology and Philosophy. 4/2009, pp. 524 ff, 529.
  18. ↑ Klaus Hammacher: Legal behavior and the idea of ​​justice. An anthropological design. 2011, p. 31, 362 f.
  19. ↑ Klaus Hammacher: Legal behavior and the idea of ​​justice. An anthropological design. 2011, p. 362 f.
  20. ^ Heinz Kleger, Alois Müller: Majority Consensus as a Civil Religion? On the political philosophy of religion within liberal-conservative state theory. In: Heinz Kleger, Alois Müller (ed.): Religion of the citizen. Civil religion in America and Europe. 2nd Edition. Lit Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-8156-3 , pp. 221 ff, in particular pp. 240, 284 f.
  21. ↑ Axel Montenbruck: Democratic preamble-humanism. Western civil religion and the universal triad “Nature, Soul and Reason” (= civil religion series. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume I: Foundation ). 5th again considerably enlarged edition. 2015, p. 477 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  22. ↑ Jürgen Habermas: An awareness of what is missing. In: Michael Reder, Jochen Schmidt (ed.): An awareness of what is missing. 2008, pp. 26 ff, 30. Cf. also Jürgen Habermas: Pre-political foundations of the democratic constitutional state? In: Jürgen Habermas (Ed.): Between. Naturalism and religion. 2005, p. 20 ff.
  23. ↑ Michael Kühnlein: Exodus of Freedom. In: Michael Kühnlein (Ed.): Communitarianism and Religion. 2010, pp. 361 ff, 367 as well as: Michael Kühnlein: Between Reason Religion and Existential Theology. On the post-secular thinking of Jürgen Habermas. In: Theology and Philosophy. 4/2009, p. 524 ff.
  24. ↑ Axel Montenbruck: Democratic preamble-humanism. Western civil religion and the universal triad “Nature, Soul and Reason” (= civil religion series. A philosophy of law as a philosophy of culture, Volume I: Foundation ). 5th again considerably enlarged edition. 2015, p. 515 ( online on the website of the University Library of the Free University of Berlin).
  25. ↑ Hans Joas : The sacredness of the person - A new genealogy of human rights. Suhrkamp, ​​2011, ISBN 978-3-518-58566-5 , pp. 14 f, 18.
  26. ^ Andreas Nix: Civil religion and enlightenment: The civil-religious strand of the enlightenment and the question of a European civil religion. 2012, p. 362 f.
  27. ^ MJ Schindehütte: Civil religion as a responsibility of society. Hamburg 2006, p. 61.

See also