Blending the Mythical and Religious into Political

Abstract

We have discussed the religiosity built into being an American, and how religion and political or civil religion interact in the society and sacralize what it means to be a part of the imagined community of America. Religious factors ground any story about what America is, and now we will burrow deeper into the connection of religion and narrative and point out that the relationship is complex. Jonathan Z. Smith has argued that there are two ways to study religion: to either view it as an exotic category of human experience or as an ordinary one.₂ Since it is an integral part of the American way of life according to Reagan, one must view religious materials, such as myths, as “common stories” to take them as objects of the study.³ Grottanelli agrees when he argues that the books of the Old Testament should be studied just as any other text, and to apply to them “every new methodological approach that would clarify its entire semantic sense, its ideological intent, and its social and political value.”⁴ For him the biblical narratives should be compared to myths “for they share with mythical narratives the function of providing sacred warrants and perennial charters for behaviors, beliefs and institutions.”⁵ He argues that the Greek culture, just like the Hebrew, produced desacralized

There is one other part of our national character I wish to speak of. Religion and faith are very important to us. We’re a nation of many religions. But most Americans derive their religious belief from the Bible—the Bible of Moses, who delivered a people from slavery; the Bible of Jesus Christ, who told us to love thy neighbour as thyself, to do unto your neighbour as you would have him do unto you. And this too has formed us. It’s why we wish well for the others. It’s why it grieves us when we hear of people who cannot live up to their full potential and who cannot live in peace.

Ronald Wilson Reagan¹