Civil Religion, or "Christianity Light" ?

Robert Bellah’s Civil Religion in America and Skip Stout’s Religion, War, and the Meaning of America make an interesting juxtaposition. Stout asserts that:

The norm of American national life is war…. This is not something Americans—or American historians—are trained to think about. In American memory and mythology, the United States is, at heart, a nation of peace; it unleashes the quiver of war as a last resort and only when pushed. In like manner religion, especially what we now call evangelical Protestantism, has been a conspicuous presence in American wars from the seventeenth century to the present. American wars are sacred wars and American religion, with some notable exceptions, is martial at the very core of its being. The ties between war and religion are symbiotic and the two grew up inextricably intertwined. [1]. 

Stout (who does speak of civil religion near the end of the article), identifies evangelical Protestant Christianity as having a major influence on America at war. Furthermore, he sees this evangelical Christianity as being very warlike in its orientation generally.

Bellah, of course, sees a Civil Religion which is related to Christianity, but is not “in any specific case Christian.” According to Bellah, "There was an implicit but quite clear division of function between the civil religion and Christianity.” [2] Bellah spends several pages describing the connection between Civil Religion and War, and also the disconnect between Civil Religion and Christianity. 

While Bellah shows us his reasoning with regards to the existence of civil religion and its relationship to Christianity and war, Stout does not.  Stout does later expand his definition of Christianity to include Catholics and, puzzlingly, even Jews, which seems to move towards an idea of Civil Religion [3], but he never describes his ideas of the interrelationship between the two “faiths.”

Considering what we learned about Confederate Nationalism and Confederate Civil Religion during the course, what we saw of George W. Bush’s evangelical faith, but also considering the influx of non-Chrisitan immigrants into this country since the 1960’s, how should we view “American Religion” today with regards to the state?  Was Bellah correct?  Or is “civil religion” just “Christianity light,” drained of most of its theology to be more palatable to a diverse society, but still Christian?

 

[1] Stout, 275.
[2] Bellah, 8.
[3] Stout, 277.