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Religion's role in creating national unity.

Article Excerpt
This article explains the compatibility between civil religion and political liberalism. Civil religion contributes to shaping the shared values of a culture into a sense of national unity. Thus, civil religion benefits a secular pluralistic society because it becomes a means of expressing the Sacred Canons of democracy. In this respect, religion is regarded as civil because it is produced by and supports the democratic process.

The European Union as a whole is in the process of determining if it can establish shared values to help unify the union. Without this it becomes evident that the society is disjointed and hardly held together with any sense of overall civic identity. Eastern Europe (Estonia in particular) would benefit from civil religion. Civil religion would contribute to Eastern Europe's effort to build a more unified national identity, to offset their tendency to be bipolar.

INTRODUCTION

Creating a strong sense of common or shared values is important for holding a culture together in unity. These shared values can contribute to shaping national identity rather than having national identity shaped by ethnicity and nationality. This approach to national unity would help to offset divisive forces that prove to be damaging to Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe. In pluralistic societies civil religion is a strategy for shaping common values into an inclusive national character. Civil religion is an expression of the basic cultural values that are respected and cherished by the entire population.

Creating common or shared values is a typical challenge for pluralistic societies. Without shared values it becomes evident that the society is disjointed and hardly held together with any sense of overall identity. Civil religion contributes to rectifying this problem by promoting a national character based on cherished cultural values. Civil religion becomes the public expression of a unified identity, consistent with the basic cultural values that are respected and cherished by the entire population. Civil religion would contribute to a stronger sense of national unity, which is important for holding a culture together to offset divisive forces.

Civil religion would particularly benefit the Baltic region's effort to apply democratic principles toward creating equal benefit for all its citizens. The Baltic region has emerged from its recent past of Soviet occupation with the intention of demonstrating an effective model of what binds a democratic society together into unity. This has been evident, for example, with Eastern Europe's effort to build social structures based on a deep respect for liberty, democracy and pluralism. However, Eastern Europe, like EU, is in the position of needing to establish shared values given its diverse population. This makes civil religion in Eastern Europe of particular importance to offset a tendency for some of the cultures to be bipolar.

Estonia (for example) does enjoy cultural diversity which could add to its richness and vitality. However, as is true throughout Europe, there is need of healing old historical wounds if that diversity is to be developed for constructive and progressive purposes. Thus, a carefully constructed civil religion would aid Estonia's effort to build, out of its cultural diversity, a unified national identity. Civil religion would contribute to shaping Estonia's adverse population into a unified harmony based on shared cultural values.

Like the overall European Union, there must be aspects of the common heritage that can serve as a unifying factor contributing to shared values. These are found in the sacred canons that are cherished by Eastern European states as well as the union at large. These sacred canons are in line with the cultural values of the Eastern European states as well as their intention to establish liberal democracy. These sacred canons of Western Civilization become the basis of a more unified national character.

Most Eastern European countries do want to acknowledge the special role the church has played in history and the struggle for freedom. In addition to the role of the church in Eastern European cultures and history, consideration must be given to the importance of traditional aspects of each cultural identity. However what is most important today is the fact that each culture now is legally established as being religiously pluralistic, with a wide range of Western and Eastern religious beliefs and with the state making no special accommodations for any church or religious group.

What civil religion contributes to Eastern European society is a form of social expression that is based on a deep respect for liberty, democracy and pluralism. In pluralistic societies civil religion is a strategy for shaping common values into a more unified national character. Civil religion is a progressive way to deal with plurality because it creates more public tolerance. Thus, a carefully constructed civil religion would aid Eastern European efforts to shape out of their cultural values a more unified national character. The values that shape national identity motivate the entire public to act with a single motive power, and cause it to act in concert.

Civil religion does not become another religious tradition within Eastern European societies. A civil religion starts with recognizing the importance of showing sensitive respect for cultural integrity and unique character of each culture. With this starting point, a civil religion is able to shape out of the roots of cultural values a deeper cultural integrity. It is this cultural integrity that becomes the basis of national character and national pride, thus creating a sense of national unity.

This article is divided into four parts. The first segment is an overall look at the role religion plays in a democratic society. This segment emphasizes the Western precedent of using Higher Authority as a justification for constitutionally declared human rights. The second section explores the connection between theories of justice in a liberal democracy and civil religion. This segment is meant to define civil religion and to explain its value for political liberalism. This section describes the potential role civil religion could play in creating a sense of shared values. I also make the case that natural law and freedom of conscious are the basis of Western Civilization's "Sacred Canons."

The second section of the paper is also made up of two sections. First I stress why these overall Western democratic principles are particularly important for contributing to civil religion in Eastern Europe. I use Estonia as a particular example of where civil religion could be especially beneficial. Finally, I explain the potential of civil religion for enhancing faith in Estonia's liberal democracy.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN LIBERAL SOCIETY

The predominant historical trend for drafting constitutions in Western Civilization has been to formulate statements expressing a commitment to Locke's concept of natural law. Liberal democracies established this precedent by acknowledging that the justification for human rights is a Higher Authority. Law conforms to what this Higher Authority ordains by constitutionally complying with the dictates of the natural order. The sacred cannons of Western Civilization state that humans possess certain inalienable rights that the government upholds and protects. Thus, Western Civilization rests its constitutional assertions on the belief that freedom is inherent in the nature of human existence. The people of Europe instituted government in the hope that rule of law would assure these basic rights, as ordained by Higher Authority. These governments are based on a firm belief in protecting the right each individual has to pursue what he or she believes to be the highest good. In a...

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