God and War: American Civil Religion since 1945

301 Pages·2012·0.636 MB·English

by  Raymond J. Haberski Jr.

God and War

God and War
American Civil
Religion since 1945
Raymond Haberski Jr.
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haberski, Raymond J., 1968–
God and war : American civil religion since 1945 / Raymond Haberski, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 000) and index.
ISBN 978–0–8135–5295–8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN
978–0–8135–5318–4 (e-book)
1. Civil religion—United States. 2. United States—Religion—1945–
3. United States—History, Military—Religious aspects. I. Title.
BL2525.H33 2012
201(cid:2).72730973—dc23
2011037601
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Copyright © 2012 by Raymond Haberski Jr.
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University
Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception
to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dedicated to my mentors:
Charles C. Alexander, Kevin M. Shanley, Vincent P. Fox,
and my dad

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Lincoln’s Bequest 1
2 Civil Religion Incorporated 11
3 Civil Religion Redeemed 55
4 Civil Religion Reborn 98
5 Civil Religion at Bay 143
6 Civil Religion Forsaken 193
7 Reckoning with American Civil Religion 243
Notes 255
Index 279
vii

Acknowledgments
I thank first and foremost George Cotkin for giving me an opportu-
nity to shift my intellectual focus and to delve into an area that is rich
and fulfilling beyond what I expected. I am indebted to George for his
stewardship, confidence, and, most of all, his kindness. He stands as an
exemplar to those of us who work with him in the vibrant field of
United States intellectual history.
Once again I have been fortunate to have comrades in ideas to call
on for a frank hearing of my work, usually over good beer. Among those
I am indebted to are Dave Steigerwald, Marc Selverstone, Jeff Woods,
Marc O’Reilly, Steve Remy, Jeff Coker, and especially Colin Nugent
for helping me make a significant investment in Café Bartof. I am for-
ever grateful to the American and Danish Fulbright committees for
bringing my family and me to Denmark for the 2008–2009 academic
year; that grant gave me the opportunity to research and teach this
project. In Copenhagen, I have a group of colleagues who have become
dear friends; my sincere thanks to Niels Bjerre-Poulsen, Eddie Ashbee,
Carl Pedersen, and Martyn Bone. Thanks also to Merete Borch and
Jan Gustafsson at the Copenhagen Business School and Marie Mønsted
of the Danish-American Foundation for their help and kindness.
My thanks also to Gina Gustavsson and Mike Wolf, both of whom I met
at the European Consortium for Political Research conference in Lisbon
and who have since become my good friends.
I also thank the faculty and students at the Catholic University of
Eichstätt-Ingolstad in Germany, the University of Graz in Austria,
Southern Denmark University in Odenese, and the University of
Copenhagen for being fine hosts and giving me opportunities to present
the ideas addressed in this work.
At Marian University, where I have worked for the past eleven
years, I thank my colleagues, who have helped me in numerous ways,
especially Mary Ellen Lennon and the members of BOB and WAG.
ix