ABSTRACT
Robert N. Bellah's initial work on American civil religion goes back to a 1966 lecture published in Daedalus. At the outset he states that "this religion—or perhaps better, this religious dimension—has its own seriousness and integrity and requires the same care in understanding that any other religion does". Bellah remarks quite appropriately that civil religion is neither Christian nor anti-Christian, nor Christian in a sectarian way. He claims that civil religion has been able to save itself from an empty formalism, emerging as a genuine vehicle of a national and religious self-awareness. Bellah considers the following dimensions: the symbolic religious system, religious action, religious organization, and their social implications. He analyzes modern religion, which overcomes many dualisms of the past and rejects traditional symbolism. As far as religious action is concerned, Bellah writes that "how specifically religious bodies are to adjust their time-honored practices of worship and devotion to modern conditions is of growing concern in religious circles".
