Civil Religion - Origin of Term

Origin of Term

Jean-Jacques Rousseau coined the term in chapter 8, book 4 of The Social Contract (1762), to describe what he regarded as the moral and spiritual foundation essential for any modern society. For Rousseau, civil religion was intended simply as a form of social cement, helping to unify the state by providing it with sacred authority. In his book, Rousseau outlines the simple dogmas of the civil religion:

  1. Deity
  2. life to come,
  3. the reward of virtue and the punishment of vice, and
  4. the exclusion of religious intolerance.

Italian Historian Emilio Gentile has studied the roots and development of the concept and proposed a division of two types of religions of politics: a civil religion and a Political religion.

Read more about this topic:  Civil Religion

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