The United States has had a civic religion since the country was founded, based on those persons, places and ideas that citizens feel are “sacred” to their sense of country. In our beginning it was the Declaration of Independence and the almost deification of George Washington. At a baseball game there is the National Anthem, Old Glory the size of, well, ball fields and God Bless America. We have troops, who must be Supported. Some regard presidents as sacred to our country; certainly Lincoln falls into this category.
The changes to our demographics are now causing a shift in HTC the objects of civic religion. Blacks are rightly asking how much some of these sacred objects are examples of white privilege. Southerners take a look at Dixie and Jefferson Davisi being replaced with highways and streets named for ML King and Barack Obama. Their sacred flag is now vilified and torn down.
Muslims hold Allah and the Quran to be sacred, and so are much quieter in their assimilation.
The angry folks in our county resent these changes, much like conservative Catholics after the Second Vatican Council. The order and placement of the Mass and the altar had changed, and the mysticism of Latin was now plain old English.
Being White, as a sacred status, no longer guarantees top ranking in society as social justice lifts more and more groups to equal position. A woman is running for president, and this after eight years of an Afro-American. Is nothing sacred anymore?
No wonder there is so much animosity. People are adrift and fearful.
So it’s time to talk about what sacred objects will bring a sense of country today and in the future. What is “America” for the 21st century? In religious parlance, people of a faith come together to prayerfully consider their future at a synod. There is often conflict, but the greater good of the bodyb of believers is uppermost. Since we have no effective government, it’s time for We the People to act.