Americanism is often referred to as "America's secular religion." I have some notes and speculations on religion in general and Americanism in specific.
Religion is an interesting word, its origin reveals the true agenda of religious institutions and what its purpose continues to be. Americanism is, as I describe below, a real religious phenomenon and has practically all of the attributes and baggage of other religions. Join me below the fold if you are interested in observations and speculations about this topic and its relationship to American political evolution.
The word "religion" comes to us directly from the Latin "religio" which has two components. The first, "re" is simple -- to do again. It occurs so frequently that practically no one thinks about its contribution to the words it appears in. The second component, "ligere", is much more interesting and revealing -- to tie or bind. Other English words related to it are ligament and ligature. Ligaments, in anatomy, tie muscles and other structures to the skeleton or other organs. Ligatures, in surgery, are permanent sutures or stitches that tie sewn organs or form the basic binding repairs of the surgical incision. In Law Enforcement "soft ligatures" may be heard and refer to the plastic cable ties often used instead of handcuffs in mass arrest scenarios.
So what is "religion" re-binding? Historically and sociologically, it refers to the reconnecting of a believers faith to a new hierarchy of the Christian church. Converts were "freed" from their sinful pagan ways by the grace of Christ Jesus, and were then re-bound to Christian salvation by the rituals, rules and theology of the new church. To what end? So that the hierarchy of the church could control the shape of the believers faith and spirituality to serve its own purposes -- i.e. to collect funding and obtain labor for free in building the structures of the church. The advantages and disadvantages of remaining true to the church come in the theology of heavenly salvation versus eternal torment, damnation and permanent death.
After the Christians adopted the word religion, the word was applied in a weakened form to all organized spiritual disciplines, especially those that had a fairly thorough theology that could be seen as an orthodoxy. Within a religion specific lines of practice are technically referred to as "cults", without the negative connotations that the modern media has applied to it. Cults may be orthodox (rightly controlled) or heterodox (heretical or "other".) For example, within the Roman Catholic orthodoxy the cult of Marian Adoration or the cults of various saints are recognized and accepted. In the United States, the various non-catholic denominations may refer to other denominations as cults, deliberately provoking FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) by conflating the technical and colloquial meanings.
At the time of the organizing of the USA as a new nation, the founders, having observed the effects of state-established religions, disestablished all religions from holding control over the government. In the body of the Constitution, no "Religious test" can be used to qualify or disqualify a government official. In the First Amendment, Congress is forbidden to establish any religion for the government, and further, prohibited from prohibiting any religion's free practice. Several of the founders, not just Thomas Jefferson, referred to this as a "wall of separation" between Church and State. For 240 years or so, this has worked well for the most part.
However, recently some "cracks" have been inflicted on the wall. The executive branch decided to explicitly recognize some religious organizations and to grant them special status in handling some welfare works. Congress has explicitly cited religious principles while restricting or promoting social agenda laws. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has also taken up specific religious principles in some major Constitutional rulings. Various States of the union have short-sightedly attempted to "strengthen" separation by enacting "Restoration of Religious Freedom" laws. Note carefully that religious principles were present in the past -- it is just that the principles cited were those of the substitute "secular" religion of Americanism.
So, what is Americanism? In summary the advertising principles of "Mom, Flag and Apple Pie" can be used. [Lately though this has been deliberately conflated with the Dominionist version "God, Flag and Family".] The principles of Americanism are so pervasive in the USA that most people born and educated here do not even realize that they are participants in this religion's congregations. Have no doubt that Americanism has religious trappings. Washington, DC is replete with temples and shrines, there are Saints to be adored, and there are rituals galore to ensnare the minds of the people.
Temples: The Capitol Building is a huge temple wherein Congress enacts the primary rituals and sacraments of Americanism. The White House and grand Agency buildings enshrine the executive branch's powers. The Supreme Court building and various courthouses (throughout the nation) enshrine the myth of "equal protection under the law." Finally, the National Archives Rotunda explicitly has a shrine for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, along with some other historical underpinnings such as a copy of the Magna Carta.
Saints: Most of the prominent politicians of the founding period have temples and shrines in DC. [The Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial come to mind at once.] Throughout the Original 13 States, Founder's homes, graves and loci of action are carefully preserved for their mythical adoration. Other mythical personages of the founding era are also honored (think of Betsy Ross and Dolly Madison.)
Other great personages from the nation's history (mostly dead while males) have their temples and shrines: The Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore, Grant's Tomb, The Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, etcetera. The list can go on for pages if assembled. There are also temples and shrines for most of the major events in our history, including all the various War Memorials (why aren't there any real Peace Memorials?) Additionally, various social institutions serve as temples, The National Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution comes to mind, and the National Institutes of Health and Bethesda Naval Hospital also.
Rituals: As mentioned above, the major rituals are carried out in DC. Legislation, Execution and Justice all have specific ritual trappings associated with them. Two of the most noticeable are the musical introduction of the President (Hail To The Chief) and the Raising of the Flag (Star Spangled Banner). The national method of Elections and the entrance of a Judge in any court, and the Pledge of Allegiance are the primary rituals involving the people directly.
Oh, let us not forget the importance of professional sports like Baseball, Basketball and American Football. I point these out specifically for further elaboration below.
In all this patriotic jingoism there are, of course, significant omissions that reflect problems and failures in our history. There are no temples or major shrines that highlight the poor, nor the minorities, nor the genocide of the Native Americans. This is no accident; religions always try to control and suppress information about their nasty failures. Fortunately the principle of Free Speech has not been eroded so far that such information is unobtainable and there are some passing references to these things in the approved histories. There are attempts at revisionism (a la "1984") but a significant minority are aware of and speak up about the problems. [By the way, I don't think it was happenstance that Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer" tricked his friends into "whitewashing" the fence -- racist thinking has pervaded Americanism since its inception.]
This is not to say that there has been no improvement in the exclusion of African-Americans, LGBTQ folks, Latinos and other minorities in the evolution of Americanism and American politics. We have a Federal Holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, the purported reason for the War Between The States has been recast as anti-slavery, and we do have an African-American President; marriage equality is gaining support, but most other minority populations lag far behind in the Americanist consciousness.
I wish to finish with an examination of a significant component of Americanism: the role of sports (especially professional versions) in the practice of Americanism. The rise of professional sports began in the mid 19th century and has become so significant a phenomenon that it is practically the defining identity of the USA around the world. Various other nations have identifying sports, such as Cricket in England or Soccer (Futbol) in Iberian-derived nations. The USA pretty much stands out for having the largest number of professional sports franchises in the world. The sheer number of teams can be mind-numbing for non-fans, but for many Americans, Pro Sports is an obsession. Fanatical followers of each of the various teams spend most of their recreational time and much mental effort keeping track of trivial and mostly meaningless statistics, and pouring lots of money into obtaining memorabilia that advertises "their" team. This unhealthy obsession pushes the fan into a whole mindset of "us" versus "them" that promotes false dichotomies that affect how they perceive nearly every situation.
This fallacy of excluding the middle and seeing nearly everything as having only two choices is, to my mind, one of the most destructive aspects of the Americanism religion. There is a pervasive sense of everything being either good ("my side") or evil (the "other side") without having to bother about the fine distinctions that a mature understanding of reality requires. Too many Americanists apply this dichotomous (binary) mindset to their opinions and beliefs about a wide range of subjects, especially for subjects that they are not trained for by their education and employment. Someone employed in the financial services industries may deal excellently with decisions that require calculations and intuitions about small or graduated changes which will affect the bottom line, but they will simplify their out-of-work life by generally forming an opinion about a topic and ignoring facts and situations that require what are really similar graduated distinctions about the topic.
Perhaps the most destructive effects of this binary thinking comes in the realm of politics. The affected people will select one side of the artificially maintained two-party system, based on trivial, historical and irrelevant criteria (such as "my parents were republicans, so I'm a republican too") without realizing that their personal self-interest and well-being would be better served by supporting candidates and issues represented by the "other" party. One particular political dichotomy that really irritates me are the folks that choose to "opt-out" of paying attention to the political realm. When it comes time to vote, they will pick the candidates of "their" party no matter what sort of position "their" candidate supports that may be totally opposed to a position that is clearly and obviously more suited to protect and preserve their own self-interests and well-being. Closely related to this are the folks that can't be bothered to pay enough attention and cop-out with a plea that both parties are "just alike" and all "bad" (despite the obvious differences.)
Thanks for reading all of this, and enduring the final rant. If something doesn't quite make sense, just ask and I will try to expand an clarify the point.