AA chapter 7

This chapter is called The Sacralization of Modernity, whatever that means, but really it's about something called civil religion. I never understood what civil religion was during the trimester. Now I do understand it, and it's fascinating. If I had read this chapter before writing my second SOSC 205 essay, then my essay would have been on civil religion. It would have been fun to write, and it would have got a good mark. Then my course mark would have been a lot closer to what I'd been hoping for. This is another case, kids, for actually doing your readings!

To sacralize is to make sacred, and civil religion does just that to the trappings of the nation-state. It's any system of symbol and ritual which seeks to, or effectively does, make some aspect of the nation-state an object of reverence. The strongest example of this is civil religion in the United States, which is the first case study of the chapter. Aldridge points out that the USA has sacred holidays (Thanksgiving, Fourth of July), sacred heroes (Lincoln, Washington), sacred ceremonies (Presidential inauguration), sacred symbols (the flag), sacred texts (the Constitution) - in short, a rich lexicon of effectively-religious symbolism. This symbolism serves to hold society together as people look to their shared values under civil religion. It promotes an ideal image for society to live up to, and it satisfies what seems to be the human need for ritual and the supernatural.

After the USA, Aldridge looks at other case studies, including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, revolutionary France, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany. In some of these civil religion unifies society, in others it divides. Sometimes it is used to oppress its people, and sometimes to set them free. It has great power if properly wielded and reproduced, and it's the source of much of the phenomenon we think of as 'nationalism'.

It doesn't take a lot of thought to see that New Zealand has its own civil religion, most strongly expressed at ANZAC day commemorations. Rugby probably comes into it too. If I'd done my essay on civil religion in New Zealand, I'd have looked at these symbols in more detail. But I didn't read this chapter, I didn't do this essay... maybe it's better in some ways to have the freedom to contemplate these ideas outside of an assessment framework. Maybe.