Is There is "Civic Religion" in the U. S.

How far we can take the concept of "civic religion" is a topic talked about by some publicly by some and thought about by others. Some of the "founding fathers" who did not seem especially religious themselves talked of religion as a good thing because it gave the public some kind of common cause or common aspiration. There is disagreement on what a "civic religion" is or could be in the U.S. Nevertheless, history has provided us with at least some direction.

History taught humans thousands of years Jews and Christians some level of cooperation among themselves is needed to survive.  Killing everyone else left no division of labor for food, housing and reproduction. This did not mean it was wrong to kill and rob competing groups of humans. It is widely understood the Ten Commandments did not advise against all killing and robbing but applied only to the tribes of Jews at the time. So, do not rob and kill everyone are part of a "civic religion."

Various acts of charity are part of a civic religion. The human experience has taught us that starving people next door may have no option but to break down our door for food. Acts of charity please us but there is an over arching understanding we all need to do some of it. President Reagan once said if all employment ended tomorrow no one would go hungry, even if government provided nothing. He was a strong believer a form of civic religion existed.

The long arc of U.S. history directs us toward something approaching equal opportunity. Perhaps it is more accurate to say "some opportunity." It took 400 years, but slavery was finally outlawed. A long time after that segregation was outlawed. Women were given access to abortion. Even after that discrimination against gays was done in. This part of a civic religion is still a work in progress. States are now adopting anti abortion laws that limit opportunity for women and the Supreme Court may do the same. It seems to me the civic religion several hundred years in development will not be abandoned and women's access to abortion ultimately will be broadly available.

Our civic religion once in a while experiences "sin", but moves toward a better life the majority of the time.