The Church That Stood - Relgion in Civil Society

This series of photos tells the story of Saint Paul's Chapel, a small church located in Manhattan. America has unfolded in front of it and perhaps within it as well. The first photograph is of a chair which is memorialized within the church. The plaque on the wall explains that this was the chair which George Washington sat on as he prayed following his inauguration which took place at the Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. There is so much symbolism in this photograph. It is important to think about why a president would make the gesture of going to a church following his inauguration. An inauguration which Bellah in his piece “Civil Religion in America'' noted was filled with religious imagery. In the inaugural address Washington states, “Every step by which we have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency,” thus asserting that the United States was only able to become a free and independent democracy due to the hand of God. Bellah claims that these words and the acts, such as following this speech by a church visit, have shaped the tone of civil religion since. 

The next image further reveals the way in which this form of civil religion has maintained through modern times, as has the physical church - Saint Paul's Chapel.  The twin towers were located only a block away from Saint Paul’s Chapel. The buildings which represented America's capital power and industrial force were taken down, yet what stood standing, despite the huge fall out from these buildings, was Saint Paul’s Chapel, as seen in the left hand side of the image. The swath of firefighters, representing a form of civil service in America, with whom Americans associate with bravery and view as the physical embodiment of patriotic sacrifice, are the main focus of the photograph. This relates to the themes of death, sacrifice, and rebirth which Bellah claims entered civil religion following the Civil War. Today, 9/11 is a day that is spoken about in school, it is a requirement to discuss it in 14 states, and every year there are ceremonies to honor those who passed as a result of this terrorist attack. Bellah claims that the public school system in America serves an extremely important role in the cultic celebration of civil rituals, as displayed by 9/11 being taught and this deep sense of patriotism which is meant to be taken from it. 

Finally, Bellah claims that civil religion is still very much alive in America. I think the best representation of this is demonstrated through the final image. In it you see Rudy Guilliani giving his farewell address in Saint Paul's Chapel after his time as New York City mayor came to a close. It is important to think about why a mayor would choose a church to provide a political statement. Guilliani himself claimed that it was because it was the location that George Washington prayed following his inauguration. This mirroring imagery makes clear that the civil religion that Washington established within the first inaugural address is still prominent in American politics today. Guilliani tried to recreate a similar feeling of a higher power having a guiding force over American success by emulating Washington. The church represents more than the worship and prayer of God and the Christian faith; it represents how Americans could come together during a time in which a norm was questioned and how as Bellah revealed, in America God has a higher power than government itself as instilled by Washington.