The 18th century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that religion is necessary for a stable state.  His writings greatly inspired the makings of the French Revolution which, ironically, was largely anti-religion. But Rousseau mostly spoke about a ‘civil religion’, and not a traditional, revealed faith. Civil religion functions like a belief system by ‘sacralising’ ideas that are secular. 

Rousseau was writing during a period when pre-modern Christianity was receding. It had begun to be viewed by most European thinkers as exploitative, myopic and a hindrance to the advancement of ‘new knowledge’ derived from empiricism and rationalism. 

This critique was not only coming from staunch secularists alone, but also from Christian reformists. Yet, even the most secular thinkers agreed that faith was important to keep societies from spiralling into spiritual anxiety and chaos. Rousseau’s idea of civil religion, therefore, became increasingly influential across the 19th and 20th centuries. Concepts like the nation and the state began being given a sacred status and rituals. 

These rituals borrowed symbolic elements from traditional religions but reframed and reinterpreted them. For example, sacralisation in this regard often constitutes national holidays, flag-raising ceremonies, pledges of allegiance, remembrance days and memorial services for historical events or figures etc. These are ritualised in a way to evoke emotions as rituals of traditional faiths do. 

Secular ideas, when imbued with sacred meaning, turn politics into a ‘moral mission’ and reshape democracy’s character in the process

Civic religion eventually gave birth to the ‘sacralisation of politics.’ Politics is inherently amoral. It is largely invested in the interest of the self or the nation, and is often unconstrained........

© Dawn (Magazines)