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1965 Harlan Paul Douglass Lectures: Religion in a Modern Pluralistic Society Author(s): Talcott Parsons Source: Review of Religious Research, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Spring, 1966), pp. 125-146 Published by: Religious Research Association, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3509920 . Accessed: 29/04/2013 10:19
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1965 HARLAN PAUL DOUGLASS LECTURES RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY' Talcott Parsons Harvard University not onlyis thereincreased of theselectures is to pre- system The theme parof laymen sentsome of the sociological on faculties, aspectsof ticipation but it theplace of religion in our modern, ur- is becoming to appointnonlegitimate catholics in ban industrial The focus will be considerable society. numbers. After on theUnited but at theend the all what is Presbyterian States, or Catholic Such a conception will be raisedof the extent to physics? is basically question anachronistic. whichthisdoes or does not present This need not, however, a that modelof moregeneral relevance rather imply has declined. It has, "religion" to be thanas a wholly I sure,assumeda morerestricted uniquedevelopment. wantto stress whatI shall place in the cultural and social system, particularly as a characteristic call pluralism of this but this may in fact strengthen rather its strategic The term hereis meant to desig- thanweaken society. importance. as of ethnic nate, not simplediversity variations or regional of socialtypeand
differentiatedness culture,but systematic

at all levels.In particular theindividual's in social interaction sys- The contemporary situation can cerparticipations be moreclearly differentiated temsare highly at thelevel tainly understood if its of whatsociologists call his roles,and historical in thedevelopment background theserolesare to somedegree culture and society indepen- of American is made In whatfollows variable.Thus fromknowing a explicit. I shallcitefew dently factswhichare not verygenerally affiliation and community man'sreligious faof residence it is becoming less rather miliarto such an audience. It is, howthanmoreeasyto deducehis occupation ever,particularly to thetheses important or his politicalaffiliations. At the col- I wishto advanceaboutthecontemposituation levelit is decreasingly lective that to rary these possible facts background should be of solid "blocks" of interest, inmind. e.g. clearly speak kept the agricultural thebusiness or interest, at thecultural The seventeenth thelaborinterest. Finally colonies from century which thenation also enters. The differenlevelpluralism had an extradeveloped intellectual culture tiation ofsecular from ordinary to start withmaxopportunity imal freedom notable a The from strictis inherited example. religious institutions werenecessarily institution of higher which basicto European ly denominational The background has been steadily education in society. declining of established churches Even which in the for relative Catholic importance. had manycenturies
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Historical Background

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been deeply involvedwith political sysat tems is the freedommost important secular sothe religiouslevel. In strictly ciety the most importantwas freedom from the inheritedstratification system, betweenherediabove all the distinction and commonpeople. Intaryaristocracy sulationfromthe power system of Eurowas fundamental. states also pean

God on Earth. This orientation was cerin the Calvinaccentuated tainlygreatly istic movementgenerallyand could be salient among our colonial particularly ancestorsbecause of the freedomfrom which they enEuropean entanglements joyed. had tradition The Calvinistic certainly a potential of theocratic authoritarianism, whichwas conspicuous in itsearlyphases, To be sure the settlers broughta re- and crystallizedin such cases as the ligious traditionwith them which more Prussian monarchy (the Hohenzollerns than any other single factordetermined in were Calvinists,) and the Afrikaners and goals. It included, theirorientations South Africa.' The main line of develit had reached at thelevel of development the United States, however, in the early seventeenth the es- opment in century, has been quitedifferent.5 tablishment of religionas a self-evident but thiswas stillverydifferent The crucial religiousprocess was the necessity, even breaking through of the religio-social from churches, European established of Elect such as the Church of England, or of "two-class"system, theologically Scotland. There was a much closer ap- and Reprobates, sociallyof Churchmemexcludedfrom to coincidenceof the secu- bers and thosedeliberately proximation with the presumption that lar and religiousleadershipthan in any membership, the also former were the it was in the indeed, "governing case; early European class." phases,a kindof "theocracy." All came eventually to be considered eligiblefor salvationif theywould make Activism the basic commitment of faith. These Instrumental then could scarcely be excluded from in the church. The church The Protestantismbrought to this membership was mainlyderivative fromCal- became the association,not of those dicountry but in the formwherea "liberal- vinelyappointed vinism, by Election,but of those in the faith, who by theirown comization" fromthe earlier rigorswas al- truly had qualified forinclusion. Caldemocracy mitments readyunderway. The relative churchpolitywas in- vinismfurthermore, of Congregational destroyedany basic in the legitimation of the institution of aristocdicative,even thoughmembership The secular to the presumptive- racy by biological heredity. churchwas confined ly Elect. The religioustraditionshared social parallel to the suspicion that an with the more orthodox Calvinism the elect who overtlyproclaimedtheir own orientationI have called instrumental sainthoodmightin fact be, not Divinely was activism." With its long historygoing Elected, but merelyself-appointed, it conceived thatpositionsof leadershipand privilege back to the Old Testament, as a Holy Com- in the secular societycould not be legitithe religiouscommunity do God's Will on mated by hereditary established to status,but only by munity and achievement. Earth, to establishindeed a kingdomof individual quality

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Given the activismof the whole cul- of the specifictenetsof belief and relituralmovement, un- gious practice which divided Protestant theseconsiderations fromeach other,in favor derlaya powerful impetusto generalized denominations eligibilityfor church membership,to of the common foundationof commitdemocratization of internalchurch pol- mentin Christian Faith. ity, and to the voluntary principlewith Since therenever In secular society there was a conrespectto membership. was only one possible denominational comitant and related process of "indithis in turnstrongly collectivity, suggest- vidualization".Thus there was progresed the desirability of religioustoleration sive political democratization, with for in principle, not as only a matterof ex- example the abolitionof property qualiof public or- fications forthefranchise. Therewas conpediencyfor the protection der. Granted this conception,the legiti- solidationof the system of uniform legal in the first instanceembodied in macy of a pluralityof denominational rights, il- the Bill of Rights,but playingan imporgroups followed.It was, furthermore, and logical that any one such group should tant part in the state constitutions, the enjoy the special privilegesof establish- being further processes developedby ment, includingfinancial support from of judicial decision and sometimesnew public taxation;hence the doctrine, very legislation. Though a stratified society, radical for its day, of separation of the emerging American,with the WestChurch and State, was an almost inev- ward movementand the growthof initable conclusion,when a federal union dustries and citiesin the older parts,was was to be formedespeciallyamong pre- a societyof unusual openness of opporvious colonies which had had differingtunity.Hence its stratification was not constitutions. There no was one of stathe religious hereditary predominantly Church of England whichhad been pre- tus groupsbut rather one of a good deal viouslyestablishedin all the colonies to of mobilityin relation to achievement stand in the way. That thisprovision was values. not feltto be an abdicationof the serious interests of religionis strongly indicated Role of PublicEducation Miller's statement" that it was not by controversial in the Constituseriously important pointof crystional Convention.Surelythe Enlighten- A particularly between ment had not by that time so "under- tallizationof the differentiation mined religion" in America that there religious and secular spheres which fowere no defendersof its cause brave cused on the separationof church and about state,was thedevelopment, starting enoughto speak up. 1840 of a comprehensive systemof free had Sincetheseparation publiceducation. Individualization been generalizedto the state level, decontrolledpublic schools first in the Great Awaken- nominationally Revivalism, -as for of the and then eighteenth examplein Quebec-were intering century and first half the to the of nineteenth, preted be clearlyunconstitutional, throughout a the in in this school role became very prominent public system played prinprocess,in playingdown the significance ciple secular. Gradually,not only did an

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of the population of thefirst World increasing proportion War,which it, stopped receive elementary educationthroughsomething like 15 millionscame in, thissystem, but first the secondary and which, the population as of considering thenthe higher sectorbegan 1890 (62,947,714)7 was a verysubeducation to expand In thelatter case there stantialincrement. unlike greatly. Furthermore, the of the of mostof theprevious nineteenth began system development century whichin immigration, stateuniversities and colleges, thebulkof thesewentnot nature of thecase had to theopenagricultural theconstitutional butto the lands, but at the same timeit growing to be secular, industrial initialcities, forming thattheleading was mostsignificant lower classofthese compri- ly theprincipal vateinstitutions ofhigher education, pre- munities. evolution in their from to colleges cisely Though pluralistic, becamebroadly, not American denominationally universities, though had, up to thattime, society secularized. Thismay,indeed, painlessly, a notablereligio-ethnic homogto havebeena majorcon- enjoyed be considered it was predominantly, in English eneity; dition of thedevelopment of theAmeri- terms "nonconformist" and Protestant, can university system. Since religious ethnically the Anglo-Saxon. Furthermore, has beenso jealousof education control of the former specialgroup slaves, Negro ly guardedin so much of the past, which Protestant werein a very though thiswas a particularly focus important wererelatively insulated specialposition, of the autonomy of secularsociety in from themainsocialcurrents in therural American development. an isolation reinforced South, by theJim Crow system whichhad been permitted New Immigrant Groups by the Northto growup in the PostReconstruction period. At leastforthefirst of itsincentury American existence, which difdependent society The newimmigrant groups, church and stateand fered from theWASP majority botheththough separating not nicallyand religiously, toleration, institutionalizing religious might verywell its Protestant denomhavebecome consolidated as solidary enonlyamong plural but beyond,was basicallya claves within inations, the host society, like the Protestant Jews and Catholics, Jewsin thelaterRomanworld, in such society. tolerated and not suppressed or cities as Alexandria andRomeitself. For though were negatively thisseemed to happen, tolerated; a time with persecuted, likely denseness oftheJewish theydid not fully Lowbelongin the religio- theEthnic social community. Even withthe con- er East Side of New York, the Polish siderable Irishand German concentrations in Chicago,the "little immigration in the mid-century the non-Protestants notto speakoftheIrish in South Italys", were relatively small minorities. But Boston. This has not,however, beenthe about 1890 therestarted the majorin- mainpattern. thesegroups have Rather, flux of the"newimmigration" of come to be "included" in the mainnamainly Jews from Eastern in such a way that Europeand of Cath- tional community olics fromEastern (especially and religious status have bePoland) bothethnic andSouthern not by any means ranItalian)Europe. come, though (especially In the period fromthento the beginning domly, stillverysubstantially cross-cut

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with most of the other important social theirassociationwiththe Reformmoveand economic bases of differentiation of ment,and in the Catholiccase, of course, the society. the Irish and to a lesser extent Germans. In any case, as Herberg8 argues,religion On the social side one important as the point has tended to replace ethnicity is thatthe metropolis came to the immi- main focus of identityof members of grantpopulationsratherthan theirhav- these groups in the second and third out into rural and small- generations. An index of this is the ining to diffuse town America. By this I mean that the creasingly high incidenceof ethnicinterinflux of new immigrants into the largest marriagewithinratherthan betweenthe urban communities coincidedwitha ma- religiousgroups. Religion in these catejor trendforthe societyas a wholeto be- gories is a more generalizedand hence come more highlyurbanized,so that by potentially basis of identiuniversalistic the latest census, of 1960, substantially fication than is ethnicity of origin.Moremore than half of the populationlive in over ethnicdiversity, and in the Jewish what the Bureau of Census calls "Stand- case denominational,could provide a ard Metropolitan Areas." In all societies, structural parallel to the denominational citieshave been farmore effective "melt- and otherdiversity withinthe Protestant ing pots" than rural communitiesand community. smalltowns.They have, giventhe closing the of the frontier, One should not underestimate obviouslybeen the prinwave of imthis immense strain loci of occupational opportunity. cipal put by of relatively "foreign"groups They have, above all, been the social lo- migration cations in which the higheroccupations on the olderAmerican Morecommunity. and hence the biggeropportunities have over the trendto inclusionon essentially been concentrated basis whichhas emerged was and in whichthe qual- a pluralistic different itatively types of such occupa- not the "easy" way, indeed in cases of tions, e.g. businessmen, politicians,civil anythinglike comparable scale, it has servantsand membersof the professions been rare in history.Two evidences of have most been throwntogether.This the strain may be brieflymentioned. is to say that,giventhe probability there One of these was the tendencyof the would be a major trendof upward mo- White,Anglo-Saxon, Protestant (WASP) in the immigrant it was community to consolidatedefensively bility by population, and fastestin the contrast in such withthe new immigrants likely to go farthest urbanenvironment. a way as in various respectsto seem to increasingly exclude them from full "citizenship." On the ethnic and religiousside it is There have been various evidences of thatboth this,not least of whichwas the fact that probablyparticularly important the Jewishand the Catholic groupswere the period fromroughly the turnof the the was one of twenties ethnicallydiverse. Moreover, both had century through which were established in the to arissubgroups strongest perhaps pretensions Americansocietyand in certainrespects tocracy since before Andrew Jackson. in it beforethe major numer- This centeredin the "Eastern Establishintegrated ical influx,namely in the Jewish case ment,"educationally in the "Ivy League." certain groups of German origin with A strongaura of "snobbish" anti-Semi-

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THE REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS RESEARCH ternalstrainsoccasioned by the assimilative problem many of the reactionsdo notseemto be comprehensible. Mass anti-Semitism of the type commonestin Europe, especiallyin the Nazi movement,did not appear here early and its most importantmanifestation, the movement led by FatherCoughlinin the 1930's was relatively evanescent. Nevertheless it seems legitimate to assert that the most important focus of early the inclusionprocess fromthis side was the upward mobilityof the immigrant Jewish group,and thatwhatI have called snobbishanti-Semitism was largelya reaction to that. This mobilitydeveloped independentbases, especially in certain sectorsof smallerbusinessrelatively close to the consumer,e.g. clothing,departmentstoresand certainfieldsof finance. Lack of Jewishparticipation in the dehas been so velopmentof big industry conspicuous as to open these industries to the same charge of anti-Semitic exclusion as has applied to ivy league fraternities. Hence plausiblytheirmove into the systemof highereducationhas been via the Ivy conspicuous,but not initially League, but above all the municipalcolleges such as those of the New York system.

tismwas involved.Apart fromadmission to colleges at all, Jewswere emphaticaland clubs, ly not welcomedin fraternities or in elite summerresortsand the like. Quite clearlythe masses of Irish, Poles and Italians, were simply the "lower classes" who counted only as a labor force. This was a period of the wide of derogatory ethniclabels such currency as "kike," "wop," "mick" and "polack." The virtualdisappearanceof such labels -and the strongcontesting of the right to speak of "niggers"-are symptoms of a major change. Sentiment Anti-Foreign

The other most importantevidence was the strong wave of anti-foreign sentimentwhichculminated in the years after the first worldwar. Radicalismfigured in the indictment of the "foreign"as many manifestations such as the Sacco-Vanzetti case showed, but perhaps its main to everything nonmeaningwas hostility WASP. That this was by no means only a matterof sentiments is shown by the restrictive highly Immigration Act of 1924 which establishedthe nationalorigins quota system- significantly with 1890 as the base year which has only in the last session of Congress been repealed. This was the period of revival Partly parallel, was the rise of the of the Ku Klux Klan not only in the spearheadingCatholic group, the Irish, South but nationwide.It was at once above all throughthe channel of local anti-Semitic and anti-Catho- politicsand the more closelyrelatedsecanti-Negro, lic. This in turn was surely related to tors of business, notably the kinds of the isolationism which promptedthe re- contractingwhich were especially deof the pudiation Treatyof Versaillesand pendenton public expenditures. Catholic the League of Nations in the Senate; in- involvementin higher education has deed the whole tragedy of WoodrowWil- lagged far behind Jewish,especiallybeson. The pressureon the nationderiving cause of the relativeculturalisolationof froman involvement in the worldpower the Catholic systemuntil very recently, withour resources in qualitative commensurate terms.9 More slowlythese system was certainly the in- predominant Irish developments have severe,but without

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RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY been imitated in the othermainlyCatholic groups,thoughwithconsiderabledifferencesof emphasisin each. Perhaps a significant particularly symbiosislay in the fact thatthe less-than-elite sectorsof the legal profession, notablythe graduates of urban night schools, contained extremely important groupsof both Jewish and Irishorigin.

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level. population beyond the elementary This clearlyinvolvesthe participation of broadeningsections of the relevantage and precisely given groupsin the system, the situationjust sketched,not only including the non-WASPS in secondary, but increasingly in higher education.This latter is probably the most important As David Riesman has radevelopment. marked,if there is a definedAmerican line between"upper" and "lower" classUpwardMobility es, the most importantsingle criterion has come to be thatof college education Given the fact that the locus of both as defining theformer group. these major processes was in the larger Not only has a far higherfraction of cities, and that the cities were growing in relativeimportance both economically the age cohort in the United States and politicallyduringthis period, these been receivinghighereducation than in major processes of upward mobility our own past or in the principalEurobrought the groups involved squarely pean countrieswith which we are wont of Americansociety. to compare ourselves, into the mainstream but such extensive They could not be insulatedin ghetto- highereducation could not be confined like enclaves but were exposed to the to a narrowself-appointed of aristocracy fullforceof thedifferentiating and plural- WASP character. Its lines extendfarinto izing trendsof the main society.Here it the new immigrant groups. Probably a is particularly that upgrading considerablylarger proportionof Jews significant with respect to wealth and degree of than of WASPS are now college gradu"Americanization"coincided with two ates, and thoughfor the Catholic groups in the social struc- it is not yet as high, it has been very major developments ture, connected with, but distinctfrom rapidly rising. as such. These were metropolitanization There are various other important firstthe growthof large-scaleorganization and with it the individualization of changes,whichcannotbe gone intohere. the basis of statusand mobility prospects. One point is, however, clear beyond The old type of small familyfirmcould doubt. This is that the fear, especially use formalor often totallyunconscious clearly expressed by Andre Siegfried'0 introducedby the exclusionist policies on a basis whichthe that the stratification new would or canimmigration crystallizeinto large corporation public agency a class division even from restrictions on not, permanent along the line apart legal and religion, has proved not theirfreedom to do so, whichhave been of ethnicity to be well founded.The ethnicgroupsof multiplying. the new immigration have by and large, come to be The second is the fact thatthe period though still incompletely, "included" in main in questionwas one of the beginning the American of comthe massiveeducationalupgrading without of the munity reference to special class

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status.Our pluralistic bases of differenti-followedin thiscase also.12 The religious ation cut increasingly across these ethnic aspect of the case will be discussedbelines, ratherthan coincidingwith them. low. A richJewish like the Strausesor family or a rich Irish family the Guggenheims, II like the Kennedysis much more a rich is rich it than Protestants, familylike Intimatelyassociated with the social markedby its ethnic-religious origin.The changes just sketched,there has been same principle applies down the line, in the UnitedStates a new reliemerging accentuatedby the perhaps considerably which is even more constitution gious fact that both the professionaland the denominationthe Protestant than unique sectorsof the higheroccugovernmental of church with al separation pluralism, have greatlyincreased pational structure the first which characterized and state, relative to thebusinessworld. This is, national existence. our of century of course, the ecumenical Judeo-ChrisThe Negroes first tian system, clearlyoutlinedby Herthe new berg. Here the Jewishgroups,and even If by and large, as suggested, has come to be successfully more notablyperhaps,the Roman Cathimmigration in the Americannational com- olic group,have come to be includedin included These is there now acute strain over our pluralistic religious community. munity, an estolerated no are another migrant group, the Negroes. groups by longer have but Protestant to sentially community, Though, of course, not immigrants in recenttimes,as mass mi- come to be included as full members the country into grants into the large cities, especially in it. This bringsreligiousaffiliation with secular and freedom the North but also the South, fromthe line citizenship in the secular world.This ruralSouth,theyare in manyways in a of opportunity of position similar to the new immigrants means that the religiouscommunity of two and more generations ago, as the the American nation is no longer ProtThere estant except in its historicaloriginsuse of the term"ghetto"suggests. comis probablya criticalsense in whichthey it is an ecumenicalJudeo-Christian the "end of the line" so far as munity. constitute the process of inclusion of new groups in the main community goes. In any case System the fact that inclusionof the new immi- The EcumenicalJudeo-Christian in has before of is, gone spite gration been going The process has certainly of the the very importantdifferences reached but a on for considerable has There cases, exceedingly period, important. not as yet been as marked a process of a special symbolic culminationin the amongNe- candidacy,election and assassinationof spontaneousupwardmobility not entirelybe- JohnF. Kennedy.There has neverbeen groes-largely though candidateof a major party cause of barriersimposed in the white even a Jewish but thisfact is probfor white immithe the Presidency, community-as among more but is reason to believe there by the relatively ably explained good grants, thatthe path of inclusionwill in fact be apolitical tendencies of Jewish culture

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RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY thanby a stronger prejudiceagainstJews in this field. On Catholics than against I should arguethat more generalgrounds the inclusionin the broad sense of both the above social and the present religious of the Jews presentsfewer community, in the Americansituation than difficulties does the Catholic.

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church,but acted as religiousspokesman for the nation as a whole, the first time a non-Protestant could be said to have functioned in that role. Clearly the immediacy of these eventsfor the population at large through television immenseeculy increasedtheirimpact.A further menicaltouchwas added by the factthat the firstoccasion for Lyndon Johnson's In any case, after 32 years, for the as Presidentwas to leaving Washington second time a Roman Catholic of Irish attendthe funeralof a Jewin a Reform by the Democratic Temple--SenatorLehman of New York. originwas nominated That "prejudice" on the score of Party. It goes withoutsaying that these dewas by no means dead is indireligion cated by the fact,accordingto the most velopmentsin the United States were competentestimates,that his religion linkedwith and reinforced by those outtwo mil- side. Revulsion against the Nazi policy cost Mr. Kennedyapproximately lion votes-in otherwords had his other againstthe Jews,culminating in theiratbeen about the same as tempt at extermination, characteristics certainlyposed theywere but he had been a Protestant, verysharplythe problemof the position he would have had a considerablepopu- of the Jewsin Westernsocietygenerally the forces makingfor lar margininsteadof winning by a hair. and strengthened full this fact and broke in But he was elected inclusion, this countryas well as the spell of the fearsof whatwould hap- in Europe. In worldwide Catholicism currents flowpen were a Catholic ever to occupy the therehad been liberalizing White House. This symbolicsettlement ing for a considerable time, but they of the issue was, furthermore, vastlycon- came to a dramaticpublic salience with of the new tone set by Pope John XXIII solidated by the public significance and reactionto the assassination.There in his briefreign,and these were transof the intensity lated into more than "tone" by the acwas no questionwhatever and even more the almostuniversalpar- tions of the Vatican Council. Ecumenical ticipationin the "grief reaction" occa- extension beyond the Judeo-Christian sioned, which clearlymeant the full ac- range has been at least suggested by but John's marked softeningof the older ceptancethatnot only the President, the First Citizen of the nation had been Catholic campaign against "atheistic lost. The religiousaspect,of course,was Communism" and by his successor's overthe fact that tures to the non-Western highlighted by symbolically religiousworld, would have a Arab Muslims on the occasion of his a dead Catholic naturally Catholic funeral.The funeral,however, visitto Palestine,and Hindus as well as was not only a privateoccasion for the Muslims on that of his later visit to but a India. The visit to the United Nations Kennedyfamilyand theirfriends, solemnstateoccasion at the highest level. certainly constituted a stillfurther extenHence Cardinal Cushing, in conducting sion of thistrend.Given the factthatfor the servicein the Washington Cathedral, many centuriesno Pope had left Italy, was not only a priest of the Catholic these are surely symbolicevents of the

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have a positive to foltively; right they low thedictates oftheir ownconsciences, eventhough thedecision Catholiagainst cismbe deplored.

Americansystem in the activistic conception of the the question Holy Community, Privatized Religious Components obviouslyarises of what the implications American to the of both ecumenical diversification and situation, Returning of "secularization" the manifested three as both in aspects general development be it clear is the of church that and state and First, separation may emphasized. of even privatehightherangeof denom- in the secularization themoreextensive inational the American er educationmay mean. Many have ininclusion within it to mean that the historical the more the denominationally terpreted system of is dead; we belief, background specific components religious value-conception and must be become a secular have practice organization "pri- allegedly society vatized."As Millerhas shown," within in a sense more or less like that enviAmerican the long-stand-sioned by the more radical anti-religious Protestantism, Revivalist movement and carried ing playedan im- wing of the Enlightenment, in this trend. on in our own day by the Communist portant part encouraging the same can be said of the movement.Some would even say that Certainly of the Reformmovement betweenourselvesand influence in the onlydifference and now the new position of the Communistsin this respect is that Judaism, the Catholic Church on religious liberty we do not make the suppressionof orit muchfurther intothe general ganized religiona central public policy brings in thisrespect. to let it "die on thevine." At leastit can be but are content system saidnowthat "Rome"no longer tolerates To me this seems to be a fundamental non-Catholics but posi- misconception. onlynegatively, "Civic Religion" One major evidence of this is the

first similarecu- rather radical congregational forms are Certainly importance. menical on a represented. trends havebeenoccurring worldbasis in Protestantism, especially theWorldCouncilof Churches. Given the historical of the through background

centralized e.g. both rather episcopal and

At thesociological of what BellahW3 has called the levelthisprivatiza- mergence tionis, of course,expressed in the first American "Civic Religion." There is a in theconception instance ofthereligious subtleline betweenthe constitutional reof the as a of church association, quirements organization separation voluntary which is entitled to conduct its own af- and state, and the respectsin which a fairsso long as it stayswithin the gen- "belief in God" is held to be charactereral boundsestablishedfor voluntaryisticof and even in a sense constitutive of the national with We reference to use the order and motgroups community. public withothers. noninterference This leaves to "In God We Trust" on coins and in considerable roomforvariation, notonly various othersymboliccontexts.The exin detailed but in ritual and com- pression "One Nation under God" is a belief, munalpracticeand in church Presipolity- nationalslogan,also used officially.
dential inaugurations are, so far, always

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RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY attendedby prayersand invocationsby the clergy,thoughdeliberately not confinedto those of one "faith."The same is trueof openingof sessionsof the Congress. Moreover the speeches and pronouncements of politicalleaders,notably Presidents such as Kennedyand Johnson, abound with religiousreferences which often have an almostbiblicaltone.

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of the foundation part in the atmosphere of the religiousconstitution of the nation. It is only necessaryto mentionthe names of Franklinand Jefferson to make thisclear.

Further,it has oftenbeen noted that militant atheismof the varietyso common in Europe has been minimalin the United States over a very considerable of the One may perhaps say that the "the- period. This is partlya function absence of an established church-there is carefully ology" of this "civic religion" to form clergy kept at a verygenerallevel, so much so has been no singleofficial "anti-clerical" movethat it may sometimesbe interpreted to thefocusof a strong be more deistic than theistic.This, of ment.Perhaps it can be said thatin this, of otherrespects, Americourse, is in accord withthe trendof the as in a variety Revivalisttradition withinProtestantism. can societyhas foundit possible to!focus A particularly important problemat this near the "center"of the main tendencies withminimalatconcerns its implications of Western polarization, level, however, for the status of the "secular humanist" tractionby the extremes.We are not a componentof the population,who. cer- "religious" society in the sense of the about the single tainly are numericallysmall, but stra- older models centering in its Reformaeven church, establishe'd because tegically important theycomprise so many membersof the "intellectual" tion period Protestantversion, nor are groups. That these groups should be in- we a "secular" society in the sense of ideal. cluded, certainlyis the case-and in the Communist many cases theyhave been in the vandeinternal "Moral Community" guard of the most important velopmentsof the religioustraditionitThe "civic religion"certainly self. In a more negative sense, in the does not latterpart of the last century a single "church"in the usual theywere constitute the ones who above all insistedthat the modern sense. It is, however, I think, religious traditionmust come to terms evidence of the existenceof what Durkwiththe development of modernscience, heim'1 called a "moral community," in thatperiod notablyDarwinismand its whichat the level of institutionalized valrelatedmovements. In our own time the ues and theirculturallegitimation has a more radical movementswithinProtes- unifiedreligiousbase. This base, froma tanttheology would be incomprehensiblepluralisticone in Protestantterms,has withouttheir influence.It may well be become an ecumenical one in Judeothat the "deistic" tenor of so much of Christianterms and may well broaden the civic religion is significant in pro- still further. This is a phenomenonof inclusiveness on this This I have called valuefront. what, technically, moting is a major problemwhichhas existedfor generalization. This generalization is fully American religion certainlyever since compatiblewith the integrity of the inthe Enlightenment, and played a major strumentally activisticvalue-pattern for

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whichafterall had its first American a society, is only religious pluralism embodiment in classicalJudaism,possible as an aspectof a genuine moral major andhascharacterized of the highlevel Christianity throughcommunity by virtue a long seriesof phases,particularly in of generality at which thenormative sysand at a moread- temto which Western itsmembers are boundby Catholicism, vancedphasein themovement of ascetic conscience is institutionalized. It is the Protestantism.'5 extreme antithesis of the "legalism" of of religious manysystems law, such as those of Islamand of Talmudic Judaism. The mostimportant linkofthismove- The content is that only specific expressed ment to theemerging secular has in the greatmoral abstractions society of our lain in the fundamental of tradition conception such as freedom, withits imconscience. Of thedoubleorientation ref- plicationof toleration, justice,certain whichhave charac- basic erencecomponents of status, equalities highachieveall Judeo-Christian terized and ment, tradition, not onlyforothers, responsibility thisis the reference to butin collective others, certainly affairs. man's concern for his fellowreligious of which bothare man,and the society Just as in matters ofreligion individual in thislife.Puritanism parts, simply gen- freedom andthevoluntary have principle eralized theconception of conscience be- become so in secular life very prominent, is a strong yondthelevelsattained by its predeces- there on individual premium sors in the developmental series,and freedom, butthisis onlypossible if coldifferentiated it more thereby is takenfor mainsharply lectiveresponsibility from other in thecomplex, elements such taining and improving the conditions of as the"cureof souls"so essential to the such freedomand of the goals and Catholicposition.'6Conscience, in this achievements forwhich it is to be used. is the individual's based Hence our typeof "moralism" sense, religiously is deli-in Tillich'ssense of expressing "ulti- cately balancedin a rangeof emphases, mate concern"-definition of his moral fromthe conscientious performance by in his life.For good each individual of his own tasksin his obligations temporal in his job, his sociologicalreasons these obligationspurely private capacity, come to focusin the conception of the family relations andthelike,and a whole desirable of society and theposition range of collective contexts type fromthe of theindividual within it, as thisworks multifarious associations voluntary proout in his various ofgovpluralroles.The valu- moting goodcausesto theaffairs ationof typeof society refers to what ernment. The value system pressestowe as sociologists call societalvalues. wardindividualistic but these emphases, But thislevelcannot be linked withthe are of a particular sortbecauseof the consciences of individualswithout a importance of collective for provision level of normative conditions of freedom and achievement, requisite integration or "consensus" in the societalcommu- and becauseso many desirable goalscan It is this consensus, only, or farmore nityof reference. be effectively,achieved as itis in ouror anyother collective imperfect case, through from the organization, which constitutes the"moral manufacture of automobiles to the "war community"
of whichI speak. on poverty."

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Consciencemaybe conceivedas a kind This is not, however,the whole story. of "moral currency," in certainrespects Focus on very specificmoral issues has analogous to money. To maintain the often been a major step and factor in high levels of freedomand responsibility the generalprocess of extensionand inaccorded to individuals and subgroups clusion of the moral community which themeof the earlirequiresa veryhighlevel of mutualtrust, has been the primary of whichtoleration is one major expres- est part of theselectures.Thus the abolision. In the nature of such a society tion movementin the mid nineteenth formidable strainsare put on this trust, century was such a movement, whichhad by virtueof such factorsas the still un- much to do with "moral mobilization" resolved differences and conflictsfrom toward saving the Union. The Social the inherited of the late nineteenth past, e.g. religious,ethnic, Gospel movement was on the whole "fundamentalsectional,etc., by virtueof the continual century of new lines of cleavage and ist" in its economicpositions-Rauschengeneration and above all of the mere fact busch for example could see littlemoral conflict, of rapid and fundamental social change justification of the free enterprise business on. it was continually going system-but very important in paving the way for the inclusion of the immigrant masses, and for the type of public policy orientedto "social justice" which was embodied in the New Similarto a monetary impair- Deal. system, ment of this trust,which is similar to business "confidence," may lead to "deflationary" processes.These taketheform of the imposition of new restrictions or On the backgroundwhich has been the revival of old ones in the name of sketchedabove, I have chosen this issue moral values, so that old abuses can al- of the ambivalencesand fluctuations of legedly be checked and new ones fore- the Americanconscienceas my principal stalled. This may be called the reaction example,forthe last part of the lectures, of moral "fundamentalism" whichis par- of the complex intertwining, in our kind allel to and very closely related to re- of pluralistic of society, religionand the A fundamentalism. secular social order. This choice clearly ligious good example was the Prohibition movement whichwas reflects a sociologicalinterest and therea reaction rural and small of town fore is relative selective to thetotal largely highly America to the growth of big citieswith religious situation of the present. For theirheavy involvement, at the time, of example I shall entirely neglectthe fasforeign-born populations-thus in their cinatingrelationsbetween theologyand different movementsas maniways Irish, Jews, Italians pro- certain intellectual foundly objected to being deprived of festedfor example in the "God is dead" alcoholic beverages entirely.The near theology. These movementsalso have coincidencein time of the 18th amend- sociological relevance,but afterall one ment, the anti-foreign agitation of the cannot treat the whole universein two and the Immigration Act lectures,and perhaps a certainarbitrariearly 1920's, of 1924 was not purely coincidental. ness of selection is justified.

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even attempting to reverse it,whichsometimes can be partiallyand temporarily of these successful. One of the principalkeynotes lectureshas been the natureand importance of a process of change which in has involved complex interdependence both the religiousand the social systems The main outlineof the process in the of American society. This has been a fieldof religionitselfhas been sketched of above. Here thereis a sense in whichthe process of increasing differentiation the various components, and of upgrad- Americanreligious is a majorpresystem discriminated ing previously against ele- cipitate of the processes of differentiaments-e.g. the presumptive Reprobates tion which have occurred in the whole of early Congregationalism-and inclu- of Judeo-Christian What is new, history. sion of the previously excluded,as in the however,is the inclusionof so many of case of Jews and Catholics in a previ- these differentiated components in a national religiouscom- single national systemon the level of ously Protestant This has, finally, meantthat the mutual toleration they have attained, munity. main common normativestructure has whereas many of them took shape in come to be placed on a level of higher situations of religious monopoly of a and highergeneralization if it was to in- whole society, excludingall comsharply clude widerrangesof pluralistic In the central tradition of ascetic diversity. petition. Protestantism the old two-class system These processes of change, moreover, has been eliminated for most of the do not occur evenlyin all partsof either descendants of the colonial churches. The fact,however, thatthe main system. Where it is still present,as in the relaprocess of change itselfhas a broadly tion of the Catholic religiousorders to unitarycharactermeans that there is a the it is not in a positionto domlaity, in the modes and efcertainuniformity inate the religioussituationas a whole fectsof its unevenincidence.The system as it once did, particularly in the Middle is sufficiently complex so that therewill As we have just pointed out, the Ages. be diversification of these effects in difof bodies ferent sectorsof the cultureand the so- pluralistic diversity religious has broughtthe common orientation tocial structure, but thesewill stillbe variward secular society to the level of a ations on a theme.This final section of moral consensus, the religious the lectureswill be devotedto analyzing basically of whichis mediatedthrough thismain themeand a fewof the diversi- legitimation conscience. To operate successfullyin ties and their interrelations. such a complex society this consensus moral imperatives The main commonthemeis the tend- mustconfine to a very to thus to on the that axis the the Italian of generallevel; ency polarization say Catholic to whom of is of between the wine one the eleprocess change itself, mentswhich tend to be in the forefront fundamental life of is such good things of the changes and those which,in part an immoralman that his drinking canbeen not be tolerated in our when it is behaving bypassed by it, society clearly withwhat I have called the themmobilizeresistance to incompatible gins to affect of inclusion. its continuation and spread, on occasion conditions

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RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY Fundamentalist Orientation Especially in the Protestantcontext the pole of resistance to the main process of changeis broadlyrepresented by what It is usuallyaswe call Fundamentalism. sociated with biblical literalism, but beyond thatwithwhat I have called a "dewhich flationary" typeof moral rigorism, would impose a specificity of standards which cannot possiblybe accepted generally in our type of pluralisticsociety. Literal compliance with such standards becomes, however, a test of religious is treatedas bastatus;the noncomplier It is that such a evident sically disloyal. narrows the tendency range open greatly to conscience. A memberis not trusted to act conscientiously, in the lightof the moral principles, but also of the particular circumstances, whichmay vary enorto case. Rather, it is from case mously to him prescribed just what he mustand must not do. Thus a certainfundamenwhichmay not be entirely talistrigorism dead now would considerindulging in a simple game of cards-not for moneyon a Sunday sufficient groundfor expulsion from the church.

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cipal faiths.I thinkit is correctto call the most Orthodox Jews-perhaps parthe Hassidic groups-fundamenticularly talists in this sense. Similarlythere is clearlya fundamentalist wingin theCatholic Church, both in the United States and more generally. Because of its relasuch however, organization, tively unitary can be kept underbettercontendencies trolin the Catholic case than the others, thoughoccasionallytheyget out of hand and disciplinary actionhas to be taken."7

I have, then,suggested thatthe fundamentalist orientation narrowsthe greatly of conscience of as a range operation mechanismof ordering the relationsbetween religiousgroups and secular society. Conscience cannot operate where thereis no freedom of conscience, where the individualis given no range of discretion within which he is responsible for making the morally right decision, but what is rightis prescribed to him in advance. On the otherhand it has been made clear that the pluralisticstructure of our religio-socialsystemdemands a and it is in wide range of such freedom, establishingreligious bases of it that, perhaps more than in any otherrespect, It is, of course,by thiskindofpaththat "liberal Protestantism" has been essenof religiouslaw have tial to the "legalistic"systems of American development led to a special typeof "moral isolation" society. of their members. The case closest to our own is that of the very Orthodox Jews,to whom for example the slightest Isolationof Fundamentalists deviationfromthe elaborate rules about Kosher food are taken most seriously even though to an outsider they seem On the religiouslevel there are two wholly"trivial"and have nothingto do principaltypesof consequenceof fundawith moral principle.It is, of course, a mentalism-whichit will be remembered fact of cardinal importancethat in the I have definedrelatively to the trendof Americansystemnow, thereis a funda- progressive is the tendchange. The first mentalistcomponent,not just in Prot- ency to isolation of the fundamentalist but in each of the threeprin- group. Protestantism has provided the estantism,

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not only for denominational not whollywithoutfoundation, especialopportunity but splits withindenom- ly for Europe in the time when Marx differentiation, inations.Thus the "hard shell" Baptists wrote. have split off from the main Baptist a fundamentalist movement as essentially The American situation is different, In the of the Jewsthe isolacase group. are by no meansirrelebut the principles tion of the Orthodoxis surelynot wholly vant. In the firstplace we developed a function of discriminatory prejudiceon within Protestantism a religious movebut the part of the Gentilecommunities, mentwhichhas been a factorin favorof In the also a tendencyto self-isolation. than the social change rather case of Catholicism where it is in a progressive however itselfin part exreverse; this, minority position,as it always has been of the fundamenthe prominence in the United States as a whole, this plains talistreactionwhich,for example is not takes the form of minimizing contacts so prominentin Great Britain. Cath- nearly withnon-Catholics and multiplying virtue of their "minority olic institutions, above all in education, Secondly by both Jews and Cathobut also in all kinds of community serv- group" positions, lics have, in American society, been ices and the like. In some European in a positionwhich ranged them countries,and in Quebec, this takes the placed in politicsand in social change generally form of separatistpolitical positionson the liberalside.'s This has had much usually in such cases, however,religion to do with the rapiditywith which the is mixedup withethnic factors. OrthodoxJudaismof the predominantly East European immigrants has been libResistanceto Social Change eralized through the adherence of so descendantsto the Reform and many the is The second tendency, however, branches.The Catholicpopus most. This is the Conservative one which interests of course, was overwhelmingly ulation, for fundamentalist tendency religious mobilized politicallyin the Democratic groups to resist the kinds of processes especialof social changewe have been concerned partywithits liberaltendencies in New Deal era. the There howhave, ly with either, themselves with,to identify been occaever, strains, many partly the status quo accordingto perspective, of important betterprior state of the sioned by upward mobility or: an He!!gedly of sectors but also by a these groups, :oyciy in some respect.In a verybroad certain inherent Catholic "conservatism" way this is certainlythe combination relativeto liberalProtestantism. which in Europe in the 18th and 19th certainly This kind of factor has certainlybeen centuries tended to involve what was relevant to the prominent Catholic parusually called the clerical-anti-clerical in isolationist in movements, in the more generalprogres- ticipation polarization anti-Semitism of the Father in Coughlin sive--conservative polarizationin social the 1930's, and in the McCarthymoveso that and organpolitics, development ized religiontendedto be rangedon the mentin theearly1950's. side of politicaland social conservatism, This means thattherehas been a kind and not uncommonly reaction. The Marxian view of religionin this sense is of "deflationary" collapsingnot only of

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the mechanismof conscience,but of in- by such factors,and in both cases has fluenceas it operates between the gen- producedthe beliefthatthe line between eral societal community and its govern- the races coincidedwiththatbetweenthe mental organization. Such movements Elect and the Reprobates. It hence behave sought to curtail the pluralistic came the religiousdutyof the whitesas in the name of the presumptive range of the community elect, to keep the unrenational security and loyalty and the generateNegroes "in order" in theirapelimination or stringent controlof sym- pointedplace in society. "undesirable" and bolically presumptively disloyal elements.'" For the brief Coughlin episode the Jew served as a Hence Fundamentalism has on the one prominentsymbol in this context,but far hand more been generally prominent by far the most powerfulone has been the South than in in the nation as a thatof Communism, which,of course,is On the other hand it has whole. been very much with us still. Communismis with the to linked disposition try the summary symbolat the nationaland closely a social to which,forthe preserve system political level which correspondsto the in second American time historywas various versionsof anti-Christian at the into severe conflict coming increasingly morestrictly level. religious withthat of the rest of the society.This time, however,therehas been a variety Fundamentalists and Race of criticaldifference from1860. The balWe have been living througha dra- ance of politicalpower was such that a matic set of developments in this whole second attemptat secession was never in field of Race Relations even considered the Southcomplex by anyresponsible and Civil Rightswhichprovidesboth an ern politicians. The "Negro problem" excellent illustrationof what has just was no longer predominantly or even been outlined, and opens the door to mainly Southern by virtue of the imanotherverymajor set of considerations. mensemigrations, above all to theNorthone of the most asern Certainly important cities-parallelingthe "new immigraof the situation to the tion." Furthermore, Southern pects leading up societyhad Civil War was, fromthe presentpoint of been massively"infected"by the introview, the relative "backwardness" of duction,throughsocial change, of patSouthern as predominantly of the North; a consociety, agrar- ternscharacteristic and the like. These fac- venientformulais industrialization and ian, aristocratic tors were immenselyreinforced This meant,in our context, by the urbanization. in the status that the leading classes of Southernsopresenceof the Negro, first of slaverythen,after the war of a forcib- ciety were no longer unequivocallytied ly segregatedlower class. The necessity to the old system.This was manifested for legitimation of this systemthen put at the religiouslevel in the fact that the an immensepremium on Protestant fun- upper level Protestant churcheswere all damentalism in religion.Not only in the deeply conflictedover the racial issue. American South but in South Africa20 Only real fundamentalists could have a the evolutionfromCalvinismin the lib- completelyclear conscience in unqualieral Protestant direction has been checked fiedsupport of segregation.21

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142 and Political Fundamentalists Conservatism

THE REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS RESEARCH In any case, not only did the right wing capture the Republican Party in puttingthroughthe Goldwaternomination in 1964, but forthe presentanalysis fact was that they the most significant the "Southern strategy"of an adopted at almostdirectappeal to segregationism was cause the a timewhen segregationist severelybeleaguered, as by passage of the Civil RightsAct of 1964. And indeed they did carry the Deep South, but at defeat in the expense of a catastrophic as a whole. thecountry The reader will recall Goldwater'sinthe campaign that sistence throughout the issues were basically moral. This is clearlythe fundamentalist typeof restrictive "deflationary" moralism.It was, I think,basically consensus at this level, of politicaltacticians, not the shrewdness which accountedfor the Southernstrategy. It was very much a case of birds of a feather flocking together.

Americansocietyas a Most generally, whole had, in the intervening century, undergone very major changes in the pluralistic direction. These changes, which are too complex to analyze here, above all can be illustrated by the genof the legal system. More and eralization is beingpaid to the broad more attention standardsof the law, of which the currently most importantone is "Equal of the Laws." But at the same Protection of these standards the time, applicability has been continuallyextended to new levels in the society.The most conspicuhas been that ous formof this extension of the Bill of Rights to matterswithin the previous jurisdictionof the states. As a result of this type of movement of legal segregathe "JimCrow" system tion and subordination of the Negro in become not the South has increasingly to all but Funmerelymorallyoffensive butlegallyintolerable. damentalists,

and The coalescing of segregationism has, however,a general"new Rightism" In thissetting a dramaticgeneralcon- counterpart in the realm of moral issues has occurredwhichmay prove on the oppositeside. Indeed, so much is frontation to have a considerableimpact on reli- this the case that no groundof rational in this country.On calculationof the factors of politicalsucgious developments the negativeside the essentialphenome- cess could account for running head-on non was the coalescingof religiousFun- into the wall of moral sentiment backing damentalismwith general political con- basic equalities of rightsfor all citizens servatismwhich involves a great many which has been so prominent, though but centersperhapsin rural and sometimes factors, latent,since the Abrelatively small town America and in the sectors olition movementof more than a cenof the country and of the turyago. At any rate, the Civil Rights geographically with a economy which are most dedicated to issue has generateda movement almost a frontier-type individualistic en- very wide spread of involvement. This terprise.There has been much discus- includes,far more than at any previous sion recentlyof the new radical Right, time, major involvement of the Negro and studyhas shown a close association community itself,and increasedmilitanof membership in theseorganizations and cy on the part of a veryimportant sega Fundamentalist religiousbackground."2 mentof it. At the same time it involves

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RELIGION IN A MODERN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY very importantsegments of the white thosewho have been community, notably in favorof "liberal"causes all along,but in this case on a wider frontthan most such movements.

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edly it has been the Civil Rights movement more than any other single thing whichhas triggered this mobilization, alfor sectors of the libthough important eral elementsthe Peace issue has also In religious been highly terms, important. Not only this, but Civil Rights has of course, the new note is the strikingly coalesced to a highdegreewiththewhole ecumenical aspect of it. The liberalwing as dis- of Protestantism problemof substantive inequality, has a long history of intinct from legal and political."' The volvementin various sorts of socioof course,is thatto which largercontext, political activism.The Jews have also, the conceptionof the "poverty problem" in part because of theirhigh sensitivity has come to be attached.Now that the to of discrimination, tended possibilities end of discrimination against the Negro to be stronglyon that side, although as suchwithreference to basic legal rights they are as a group the highestin genand to the franchiseis in sight,it be- eral socio-economicstatus- a conneccomes increasingly salient that this will tion which Marxists find it difficult to not suffice to end his "second-classcitiis to explain, since racial discrimination zenship,"but thatthis rootsin the prob- themsimplya case of the exploitation of lem of his capacities for full participa- the "workers" by the capitalists. The tion in the societalcommunity and there- new note,however, is the increasing parrealistic access to its most by important ticipation of Catholics in these moverewards. As the center of Civil Rights ments, includingprominently members concern moves from the South to the of the clergy,both regularand secular. moves to thefore. Thus the North,thiscomponent of Catholic nuns participation But the most importantpoint here is in the marches in Selma may be protest the coalescenceof concernforthe Negro, said to be a major symboliclandmark. withthatof concernforthe whole sector of the population which is defined as Moralism Simplified "poor." It is because he is poor, as much as because of his color, that the Negro is a second-class citizen. Full inclusion I have suggestedthat a major aspect of the poor, Negro and whitealike, pre- of this process of mobilization has been not only in the moral character of the issue presupposes massive upgrading, money income, but in educationallevel, sented, and that it is on the basis of a ecufamilyorganizationand many other re- moral consensus that the striking menicalintegration withrespectto a maspects.24 jor issue of social policyhas been taking shape. In some aspects of the movement on theLeft Mobilization therehas been what,to a "complex libto the mobilizationof eral," is a disconcerting resemblanceto Corresponding Fundamentalistelements on the Right the moralismof a Goldwateror of the over these issues, therehas been a mo- Southern Fundamentalists. This lies in bilization of religious elements on the the fact that it is treated as a simple "Left" or the Progressive side. Undoubt- moral issue. Equality for the Negro is

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therefore themost direct right, the "settlement" pathmust cause is successful, is be takento secureit forthwith and in morelikely to be on his terms-e.g., the of racial segregation. respect. every preservation The progressive simple moralist, however, The simplification of themoralissues mustalways in one sense"lose,"namely a fundamentalis, in an important sense, in thatprogressive innovations in a soist trait. But where the issueis commit-cial system can decreasingly, with thedifment to a newmajorstepin theprogres-ferentiation of societies, be fully implesive developmental of "direct process,thereis a mented action" by the forms Thisin thefirst difference. instance con- congenial to him because this ignores cernsthe content of the issue. If it is the rightful of procedures and plurality for the implementation of the interests which pushing anysuchcomplex system values,thereis a presump-mustinstitutionalize. progressive The direct-action tionof integration intothewider of revolutionary system spearheads movements of whichits implemented versionwill havehencevery often runintothemost have to be a part.This will necessarilyseriousconflicts once the initialstages involve"adjustments" to the otherele- wereover, in theFrench e.g.theJacobins of thiscomplex, ments whichneed not, Revolution and the Old Bolsheviks in be understoodas "compro- theRussian. however, mises" in the morally invidious sense. shouldbe subThus,thatNegroRights is funcmoralism, however, and not always Simplified ject to legal adjudication of the first for tionally importance proenforced forthwith is Protest, bypopulist social In the American gressive change. not compromise in thissensebut an init can be a majorfactor in proof themoregeneral feature Amer- system tegral the out of kind the of pelling system ican system whichinstitutionalizes those stalemate with to a critirespect morally ofcourse, theadjudiWhere, rights. very has beenso conspicuous cationprocess is seriously as it cal issuewhich blocked, with to the of theNegro respect position has beenin theSouth-and elsewheresince the "settlepost-Reconstruction there action. In maybe a case fordirect which was ment," a surely compromise the case of regressive on simplification in thattheNorthern liberals acbroadly the other the content of the hand, posiin the of the South quiesced policy letting tionon theissuepresses toward freezing The final pursueits segregation policies. in a status or reversion to an earlier quo resolution of such canissues, however, state. not be on theterms of thesimple morsince the structural innovations in thissense, moralism, Simplified may alists, which must be fitted into theyproduce be viewedin a larger framework as of a framework where complexpluralistic tactical in theprocess of sosignificance thisparticular issuecannot unpreserve cial change. It is,in both itsfundamentalmoral overall others. primacy ist and its progressive a mani- questioned versions, festation of strainwhichcomes to be exacerbated in timesof crisis.In one sensethe fundamentalist moralist has a I havechosen to devote so much space better chanceof "winning" in thatifhis to the problem of Fundamentalism and

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social involvements of the its relationto the Civil Rightsissue, be- more directly for discussion,I have cause it seems to me to be an almost religioustradition paradigmaticcase of the kinds of rela- meantto emphasizethatthe broad trends fromthe "Ertions which exist between the activistic of historicaldevelopment rand into Wilderness" to the Civil of the American the religious component of is in sense the system-activistic pro- Rights movement, unlikelyto lose its a the of commoting religiously relevance.By the deepesthistorical development sanctioned "Holy Community"- and mitments, Americanreligion, includnow secular society. It is a case where un- ing its Catholic and Jewishcomponents, to the morallyacceptable questionably the religiously grounded is committed consciencehas been operating as a major secular society,one which indeed is not social change. In its merely passively to be "accepted" but agentof progressive it involves positively formed by the religiously "effervescent" phase, however, of the range of operation groundedconscience.It is highly a constriction unlikewhichmust ly that religiousmovements whichbreak of the consciencemechanism will be likely be correctedif the religious grounding radicallywiththistradition of the larger normativeorder is to be to exert major influenceon our future. not least the proceduralsafemaintained, guards of the rightsof many plural inSecondly,it seems most unlikelythat thereseems to be a terests.Fortunately the deformidable built-in of the Amerstoryof Americansocio-religious strength whichhas been sketched here, ican systemin these respectswhich has velopment The to give reign is of purely parochial significance. enabled it duringits history to a considerablenumberof such simple divisionof Europe into nation stateshas and yet eventually impeded religiouspluralism,but by no moralistic movements to absorb theminto the largerpluralistic means stoppedit-Europe is now a long of themor- way fromthe formulacuius regio,cuius generalization through system al principlesinvolved,not throughfun- religio.The Vatican Council is only the fixation damentalist on a simplernorma- most tangibleevidencethat a newlypluralistic orderis developing in the tiveorder. religious whole of Westernsociety.Americancircumstances are such thatsome aspectsof our situation will remaindistinctive, and different will I with in close two distinct, patterns develop Europe. Perhaps may but still related points. First, we hear But the basic type of religiousconstitucrisesof religion tion is likely to be held in commonmuch about the internal in America-as elsewhere-today. Some the days of a "one truechurch"on anyof the crisis thinglike the Medieval basis are surely of the most vocal exponents insist that has religion nothing over. Finally, there is considerableeviposition to do withthe social order-except, fre- dence that the ecumenicalprocess is bethe Judeo-Christian quently,to assert its state of corruption ginningto transcend but only withthe state of the individual world and to bringabout a new orderof to the othergreatreligions soul. This "Lutheran"strainin the con- relation of the and the societiesin which thereby religioussituationis undoubt- world, temporary the theylive. However,in selecting edly important.

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THE REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS RESEARCH

EXPLANATORY NOTES 10. Andre Siegfried, America Comes of Age (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929) 12. Talcott Parsons, "Full Citizenship for the Negro American?" Daedalus, Fall, 1965. 13. Robert N. Bellah, "Heritage and Choice in American Religion" (Working paper for Daedalus Conference in religion in the United States, Oct., 1965). 14. Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1954). 15. Talcott Parsons, "Christianity." Article written for the new International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Not yet published. 16, Benjamin Nelson, "Casuistry," Encyclopedia Britannica, 1963. 17. A particularly dramatic in the late Center in Camexample, 194's was the case of St. Benedict's bridge, Mass., directed by the Jesuit, Father Feeney. This group became so much "more Catholic than the Pope" that it was very firmly disciplined by the Archdiocese, the Director being initially "deprived of his faculties" and eventually, after prolonged recalcitrance, excommunicated. Thomas F. O'Dea, in a notable senior distinction thesis at Harvard, documented this episode with exemplary thoroughness. 18. Cf. Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man, for a discerning analysis of the complex interplay betsween the culturally inherited conservatism of many American groups in politics, and their involvement in the liberal movements by virtue of their structural position in the society. 19. Edward Shils, The Torment of Secrecy. (Glencoe: Free Press, 1956). Also Talcott Parsons, "Social Strains in America" and Postscript, 1962, in Daniel Bell. Ed., The Radical Right (Garden City: Doubleday, 1963). 20. On South Africa, Cf. J. J. Loubser, op. cit. 21. Ernest Q. Campbell and Thomas F. Pettigrew, Christians in Racial Crisis: A Study of the Little Rock MAinistry. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press, 1959). 22. Talcott American" Parsons, "Negro Daedalus op. cit. 23. T. M. Marshall, Class, Citizenship, and Social Development (Garden City, 1964), Chap. IV. 24. Talcott Parsons, Daedalus, op. cit.

1. These lectures were delivered orally at the meeting of the Religious Research Association, at Loyola University, Chicago, Ill., on June 17th and 18th, 1965. In reorganizing the materials for publication it has seemed better to divide them into three rather than two parts. The first deals with the historical background of the present relation between religion and secular society in the United States. The second attempts to outline the main cursrent organization and mode of relationship, the new Judeo-Christian pluralist system. The third presents a highly selective case study of dynamic trends, with special reference to the relation between religious Fundamentalism, political Conservatism and their obverses, religious "libera!ism" and progressive social change with special reference to the Civil Rights Movement. 2. The concept instrumental activism has s not yet been fully explicated in print. The fullest discussion to date is in Parsons and White, "The Link Between Character and Society" in Social Character and Culture, Seymour Lipset and Leo Lowenthal (eds.), (New York: The Free Press, 1961). 3. On the importance of Calvinism for the development of Prussia, cf. Christine Kayser: "Calvinism and German Political Life" (Doctoral thesis, Radcliffe College, 1961). 4. Cf. Johannes J. Loubser, "Calvinism, Equality, and Inclusion: The Case of Afrikaner Calvinism," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, New York, Octobher, 1965. (For South Africa, cf. reference to Loubser, p. 26). 5. Among the works of Perry G. E. Miller, the most succinct from this point of view is tlhe collection of essays under the title Errand into the Wilderness. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956). The New England Mind is more systematic and comprehensive. 6. Miller, especially his Edwards and the treatment of revivalism in the first main section of the posthumous, The Life of the Mind in America, from the Revolution to the Civil War (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1965). 7. World Almanac, 1966. 8. Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew (Garden City: Anchor Books, 1955, rev. ed. 1960). 9. Thomas F. O'Dea, The American Catholic Dilemma (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1958).

LAW AND RELIGION: PATTERNS OF INTERSYSTEM RELATIONSHIPS JamesE. Wallace PrincetonTheological Seminary In a prior article1a model was outlined settingforthsome possible points of exchangebetweenlaw and religionin American society. In order to develop this model, law and religionwere conceptualized as systemsof behavior orof ganized toward the accomplishment societal goals. As systems distinguishable in this sense, law and religionare both characterizedby the centrality of their "high priests." Behavior within these systemsis oriented about professionals who are specially trained in the skills and knowledge of particulartraditions,

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