Independence Day and American Civil Religion

Independence Day is a federal holiday on July 4th commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which asserted freedom from the British monarchy in 1776. The document was drafted, debated and approved in what is now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The day is often celebrated with backyard barbecues, patriotic concerts, and fireworks displays throughout the country.   

Commemorating the Nation’s Birth

The signing of the declaration set in motion the American Revolution. The full text document can be read HERE.

However, it is clear that this declaration of independence primarily served the interests of white males. The document does not bring an end to the institution of slavery. African American leaders like Frederick Douglass wrote about this exclusion in his 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” (1852). A full-text of his speech can be read HERE.  Another problem in the nation’s founding document is the disparaging portrayal of North America’s first residents:

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

The nation’s founding document has inspired ongoing dialogue and debate about the meaning of the American project. Even those who have sought radical social change have had to reckon with the centrality of this document in the American consciousness. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. argued in the 1960s that the U.S. had still not lived up to the basic ideals of equality articulated in this document. 

What is American Civil Religion?

Thinkers as far back as Jean-Jacque Rousseau have theorized about a type of religion that transcends confessional faiths. The concept of American Civil Religion was first articulated in sociologist Robert Bellah.