| Southern Civil Religions: Imagining the Good Society in the Post-Reconstruction Era Subjects: Civil religion -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century; Southern States -- Religion -- History -- 19th century; Religion and sociology -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century; Religion and politics -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century; In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Lost Cause gave white southerners a new collective identity anchored in the stories, symbols, and rituals of the defeated Confederacy. Historians have used the idea of civil religion to explain how this powerful memory gave the white South a unique sense of national meaning, purpose, and destiny. The civil religious perspectives of everyone else, meanwhile, have gone unnoticed. ARTHUR REMILLARD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Saint Francis University. He has served as the managing editor and book review editor for the Journal of Southern Religion . |