The Future of American Civil Religion

The discussion around civil religion lately has become very interesting. A slew of good books have come out recently (including Walter A. McDougall's The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America's Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest and Philip Gorski's American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present) that take up this question from different angles and advance both our understanding and appreciation for this American institution and its function in our polity. Too often we caricaturize civil religion by either beating it up or making it a golden calf. The new books and debates are taking a more measured assessment of this American phenomenon.