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Asecular religion is a communalbelief system that often rejects or neglects themetaphysical aspects of the supernatural, commonly associated with traditional religion, instead placing typical religious qualities in earthly, ormaterial, entities. Among systems that have been characterized as secular religions areanarchism,communism,fascism,Nazism,Juche,Maoism,Religion of Humanity, thecults of personality, theCult of Reason andCult of the Supreme Being.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
The termsecular 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 modernpsychology 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 toOlympism.[13] ForPierre de Coubertin, founder of the modernOlympic Games, belief in them as a new secular religion was explicit and lifelong.[14]
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The theory of political religion concerns governmentalideologies whose cultural and political backing is so strong that they are said to attain power equivalent to those of astate religion, with which they often exhibit significant similarities in both theory and practice.[15] In addition to basic forms of politics, like parliament and elections, it also holds an aspect of "sacralization"[16] related to the institutions contained within the regime and also provides the inner measures traditionally considered to be religious territory, such asethics,values,symbols,myths,rituals,archetypes and for example a nationalliturgical calendar.
Political religious organizations, such as the National Socialist 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, National Socialism was countered by many political and religious organizations as being a political religion, based on the dominance which the National Socialist regime had (Gates and Steane).[17] 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.[18]
Totalitarian societies are perhaps more prone to political religion, but various scholars have described features of political religion even indemocracies, for instanceAmerican civil religion as described byRobert Bellah in 1967.
The term is sometimes treated as synonymous withcivil 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, evenapocalyptic.[19]
The termpolitical religion is based on the observation that sometimes political ideologies or political systems display features more commonly associated withreligion. Scholars who have studied these phenomena includeWilliam Connolly inpolitical science,Christoph Deutschmann insociology,Emilio Gentile inhistory,Oliver O'Donovan intheology and others inpsychology. A political religion often occupies the same ethical, psychological and sociological space as a traditional religion, and as a result it often displaces or co-opts existing religious organizations and beliefs. The most central marker of a political religion involves thesacralization of politics, for example an overwhelming religious feeling when serving one's country, or the devotion towards theFounding Fathers of the United States.[20][21] Although a political religion may co-opt existing religious structures or symbolism, it does not itself have any independentspiritual ortheocratic elements—it is essentially secular, using religious motifs and methods for political purposes, if it does not reject religious faith outright.[22] Typically, a political religion is considered to besecular, but more radical forms of it are alsotranscendental.[23][24]
The 18th-century philosopherJean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) argued that all societies need a religion to hold men together. Because Christianity tended to pull men away from earthly matters, Rousseau advocated a "civil religion" that would create the links necessary for political unity around the state. The Swiss Protestant theologianAdolf Keller (1872–1963) argued thatMarxism in theSoviet Union had been transformed into a secular religion.[25] Before emigrating to the United States, the German-born political philosopherEric Voegelin wrote a book entitledThe political religions.[26] Other contributions on "political religion" (or associated terms such as "secular religion", "lay religion" or "public religion") were made byLuigi Sturzo (1871–1959),Paul Tillich (1886–1965), Gerhard Leibholz (1901–1982),Waldemar Gurian (1902–1954),Raymond Aron (1905–1983) andWalter Benjamin (1892–1940).[27] Some saw such "religions" as a response to the existential void andnihilism caused bymodernity,mass society and the rise of a bureaucratic state, and in political religions "the rebellion against the religion of God" reached its climax.[27] They[who?] also described them as "pseudo-religions", "substitute religions", "surrogate religions", "religions manipulated by man" and "anti-religions".[28] Yale political scientistJuan Linz and others have noted that the secularization of the twentieth century had created a void which could be filled by an ideology claiming a hold on ethical and identical matters as well, making the political religions based on totalitarianism, universalism and messianic missions (such asManifest Destiny[29]) possible.[18][30][need quotation to verify][31]
Political religions sometimes compete with existing religions, and try, if possible, to replace or eradicate them.[18] 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 astate religion, but dogma and personnel may be modified to suit the needs of the party or state.
Juan Linz has posited thefriendly form of separation of church and state as the counterpole of political religion but describes the hostile form of separation of church and state as moving toward political religion as found in totalitarianism.[32]
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.
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.
Political religions often rely on amyth of origin that may have some historical basis but is usually idealized and sacralized. Current leaders may be venerated as descendants of the original fathers. There may also be holy places or shrines that relate to the myth of origin.[citation needed]
Revolutionary France was well noted for being the first state toreject religion altogether. Radicals intended to replace Christianity with a new state religion, or adeistic ideology.Maximilien Robespierre rejected atheistic ideologies and intended to create a new religion. Churches were closed, and Catholic Mass was forbidden.[33] The Cult of the Supreme Being was well known for its derided festival, which led to theThermidorian reaction and the fall of Robespierre.[34]
According toEmilio Gentile, "Fascism was the first and prime instance of a modern political religion."[35] "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."[36]
"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."[37]
"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."[38]Heinrich Himmler was fascinated by the occult, and sought to turn theSS into the basis of an official state cult.[39]
In 1936 a Protestant priest referred explicitly to communism as a new secular religion.[40] A couple of years later, on the eve of World War II,F. A. Voigt characterised both Marxism andNational Socialism as secular religions, akin at a fundamental level in their authoritarianism and messianic beliefs[41] as well as in theireschatological view of human History.[42] Both, he considered, were waging religious war against the liberal enquiring mind of the European heritage.[43]
After the war, the social philosopherRaymond Aron would expand on the exploration of communism in terms of a secular religion;[44] whileA. J. P. Taylor, for example, would characterise it as "a great secular religion....theCommunist Manifesto must be counted as a holy book in the same class as the Bible".[45]
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."[46]
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