FBOs in Civil Society

Bellah said civil religions integrates society in ways that individual can’t as it’s able to unite a nation. For example in USA American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation state and belief in God. It is expressed in many ways such as the national anthem and allegiance to the flag.

Civil societies are voluntary social institutions and organizations that are separate from the government and the market where a community of citizens are able to come together and pursue their shared common interest. They are beneficial to the community as well as the broader society as civil societies ultimately promote progressive policies, nurture positive social norms that encourage stability, and advocates accountability and checks against state authority (Edwards 2010). Moreover, civil societies represent a third sphere of association where citizens are able to address the deficiencies that the state and market fail to handle and then have the opportunity to develop their own

The economy is the strength of a nation it is the provision to finance an obstacle, however, that money also travels to churches to benefit the people and the building. Tax money is given to the churches to expand, yet money is utilized for personal gain. The "Massachusetts Constitution" implies “such moneys shall never be appropriated to any religious sect,” (Massachusetts, Article 29) churches have requested for money and deceived the people and implicated false information, nonetheless, a church is where God’s home associates and people will be giving money.

Major religions dating back 4,000 years have served as institutions that bring individuals together in the form of communities that share similar morals, ideals, and customs. Religion greatly affects individual behavior both positively and negatively because of how important of a role it plays in many lives. Smidt (1999) notes that religious institutions act as a societal framework that provides a variety of services such as guidance, physical care, and social networks. It is at these institutions where individuals are first introduced to ideas about ethics, values, and customs. Thus, officials within each religion have an important role in shaping how their congregates view the world. Many religious institutions serve as the center of a particular

Robert Audi argues that citizens in a free democracy should make a difference between religion and between secular aspects or state and give them two separate domains. The one has nothing to do with the other and for each to be functioning well and for the state to be functioning effectively; religious convictions should be separated from political debate.

To some extent it could be argued that the U.S is a less secularized country than Australia. However, with research as evidence it can be argued that the U.S is to the same extent as secularized as Australia. Both countries prohibit the religions from having any influence on the state by having a true separation. With the number of people believing in a religion constantly changing, it is evident that it has become stronger in the public sphere and that there is a strong connection between education and welfare levels of a country and it’s religious outlook.

The textbook rightly points out the secularism and pluralism dominates many aspects of this worldly culture. This has been reflected in many different ways. Much of America has lost belief in a divine creator, which has moved us down a path of no foundation for order. Second, modern thought has instilled a sense of individual achievement and a loss of a moral conscience where our moral norms are absent of religion. Finally, as we have progressed in modern society, these effects have lead to a fragile secular

The main idea in Eitzen and Zinn’s article is that religion is shaped by society. The social groups that shares the same norms are connected as they are taught what society portrays as the acceptable way to behave. However, religion is also the leading cause of separation in communities due to believes being imposed upon non-believers whose preferences differ from the mainstream.

Many people tend to not fathom how religion plays such a powerful role within our world today. It even played a powerful role in the beginning of the United State hundreds of years ago when it was founded. Religion intertwined in the social development in America since the very beginning. We see religion animatedly in World War II, when many religious leaders risked their own lives to fight in a war that hurt so many people. In the book “The Religious History of America” by Edwin Gaustad and Leigh Schmidt, it is publicized that even two decades after the war, religion helped with sparking one of the most influential parts of America’s history. The Civil Rights Movement.

In reference to the reading from Frank Lambert’s Religion and American Politics, the author states that “religious coalitions seek by political means what the Constitution prohibits, namely a national religious establishment, or, more specifically, a Christian civil religion.” Before deconstructing this idea, it is important to understand that “religion informs the values, priorities, and decisions of citizens and officeholders.” As a result, religion indirectly influences public affairs and politics. “Religious groups become politically active

To sum up, American civil religion was never secular, on the contrary, it borrowed particularly from the religious traditions in such a way that the average American saw no conflict between church and state. In this way, civil religion was able to build up without any anger conflict with the church’s powerful signs of national solidarity, and to mobilize deep levels of personal stimulation for the achievement of national goals. Civil religion describes ‘America’ as standing like a medium, or middle term, between ‘God’ and the American citizens. American civil religion, hence, is clearly involves in the most political issues of the day, and it appears via Presidential rhetoric speeches in many national events. We can further say that,

The increase in pluralism and materialism within the world, alongside the societies pursuit of individualism and dissatisfaction with traditional religions gave rise to the formation of secularism. (Woodhead, 2016) Secularism involves two theorems. The first being the strict separation of the church and state and the second is the equality before the law provided to all different religions and beliefs (National Secular Society, 2016). This trend is most evident through the significant increase in numbers of the Australian population in the no religion category from 0.3% in 1947 to 0.8% in 1966 and to 16.6% by 1996.

The minority realized they had found their means by which to remove anything they viewed as religious from society. In agreement with Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory, an intolerant few have used a false aggrieved status as a basis from which to remove by force (through the courts) that which they never could have removed otherwise. Next we will look at the complete removal of religion from not only the public schools but society as a

We are not speaking here of the secularist idea that the state should marginalize religion and discourage people from voting their consciences as Christians. We are talking about the idea that church and state are not the same thing and that they have different spheres of activity.

We need to pay close attention to the effects of secularism: confining the role of religion to the private domain of the individual and creating a dichotomy between "religious" and "worldly," between "private" and "public." It denies religion and its mediating institutions any public function and influence in shaping matters of public policy.