Synopses & Reviews
Assessing America’s moral compass from the final days of the Second World War to the War on Terrorism
Americans have long imagined that their nation is good and has a profound role to play in the world. Such expressions as “God Bless America,” and “One Nation under God” reflect this popular view. In God and War, Raymond Haberski Jr. argues that unlike any previous period, the era since 1945 has seen the common moral assumptions guiding our nation—its civil religion—become increasingly defined by the nation’s power and might.
Haberski traces the way three great postwar “trials”—the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror—created a popular understanding of American moral authority that grew dangerously beholden to calls for martial sacrifice. During the early Cold War, faith in God and faith in nation combined to rally Americans against communism. The Vietnam War, rather ironically, both tested this faith as many Americans questioned the great sacrifices made in a war that nearly broke the nation’s moral compass and inspired many religious groups to push for a civil religious awakening to save the soul of the nation. With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 behind us and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, America now assesses whether there still exists a viable civil religion to unify its people and attract admirers abroad in the absence of military conflict.
Americans cannot assume that the nation stands for a foolproof transcendental concept. Haberski argues that politicians and preachers and theorists and theologians must revisit the idea of civil religion as a way to critique rather than affirm the nation’s will to power and frequent resort to war.
Review
"The idea that America has a civil religion has a notoriously slippery history. Raymond Haberski, Jr. gives us a wonderfully lucid and keenly perceptive account of how this idea has been variously appropriated and refashioned since World War II."
Review
"A self-proclaimed 'nation under God,' the United States has a pronounced affinity for war. In this illuminating and important book, Raymond Haberski explores the intimate and largely pernicious relationship between these two abiding aspects of American identity."
Review
“God and War perceptively reveals the component parts of America’s civil religion since 1945. It is a troubling story steeped in a mythical idea that the nation’s violence was blessed by God.”
Review
"The best book on American civil religion since The Broken Covenant. Haberski takes us up to the present day, illuminating how times of war can both summon and distort civil religion."
Review
"Haberski's analysis of civil religion in the US is timely given the recent Afghan and Iraqi wars. Haberski portrays the US as a country at a civil crossroads in search of a national identity and purpose. Whether it is the old one or a new one remains to be seen. Highly recommended."
Review
"Raymond Haberski Jr.'s book is a valuable contribution to the rich body of work addressing American civil religion. [It is] a highly recommended, absorbing study that will be of interest to scholars and students in a wide range of disciplines, as well as to general readers."
Synopsis
Since 1945 the common moral assumptions guiding our nation, often referred to as America’s civil religion, have grown increasingly narrow-minded as Americans merged their faith in the nation’s promise with America’s power and might. In God and War, Raymond J. Haberski, Jr. traces the rise in “moral maximalism” or superiority by examining three great postwar “tests” for America as an imperial force: the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror.
Synopsis
Americans have long considered their country to be good--a nation "under God" with a profound role to play in the world. Yet nothing tests that proposition like war. Raymond Haberski argues that since 1945 the common moral assumptions expressed in an American civil religion have become increasingly defined by the nation's experience with war.
God and War traces how three great postwar "trials"--the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror--have revealed the promise and perils of an American civil religion. Throughout the Cold War, Americans combined faith in God and faith in the nation to struggle against not only communism but their own internal demons. The Vietnam War tested whether America remained a nation "under God," inspiring, somewhat ironically, an awakening among a group of religious, intellectual and political leaders to save the nation's soul. With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 behind us and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, Americans might now explore whether civil religion can exist apart from the power of war to affirm the value of the nation to its people and the world.
Synopsis
Americans have long considered their country to be good—a nation "under God" with a profound role to play in the world. Yet nothing tests that proposition like war. Raymond Haberski argues that since 1945 the common moral assumptions expressed in an American civil religion have become increasingly defined by the nation's experience with war.
God and War traces how three great postwar “trials”—the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror—have revealed the promise and perils of an American civil religion. Throughout the Cold War, Americans combined faith in God and faith in the nation to struggle against not only communism but their own internal demons. The Vietnam War tested whether America remained a nation "under God," inspiring, somewhat ironically, an awakening among a group of religious, intellectual and political leaders to save the nation's soul. With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 behind us and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, Americans might now explore whether civil religion can exist apart from the power of war to affirm the value of the nation to its people and the world.
About the Author
RAYMOND HABERSKI JR. is an associate professor of history at Marian University. He is the author of several books, including It’s Only a Movie: Films and Critics in American Culture, The Miracle Case: Film Censorship and the Supreme Court, and Freedom to Offend: How New York Remade Movie Culture.