The Church of Baseball and the U.S. Presidency

The Church of Baseball and the U.S. Presidency

American sociologists and historians muse whether an atheist could be elected president of the United States of America. Until John F. Kennedy, there had not even been a Roman Catholic president. Political pundits identified John Kerry's failure to present a religious identity during the 2004 campaign as the cause of his defeat. As religious pluralism grows and Christian denominational identities fade, the "religious question" for presidential elections may demand radical reconsideration. The question now for American sociologists and historians may well be whether someone who does not embrace baseball could be president.

The Church Of Baseball And The National Religion

How is it that a U.S. president must be religious to enter the office? After all, America is guided by the separation of church and state. The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of religion, and Thomas Jefferson's concept of a "wall of separation" provides the theoretical buffer to preserve that freedom. As such, America has no officially recognized state church. Nevertheless, that has not stopped Americans from instituting a national faith. Sociologist Robert N. Bellah's 1967 article called the attention of the scholarly world to the phenomenon of a national religion as the uniting force undergirding the nation. Bellah brought to the forefront the religious dimension through which America interprets its existence in the light of a reality beyond itself. As Bellah wrote, "By civil religion, I refer to that religious dimension, found I think in the life of every people, through which it interprets its historical experience in the light of transcendent reality."¹

America's civil religion is general enough that it does not serve as a substitute for private religious belief but specific enough when it comes to America's cherished values. The words, "In God we trust," on currency; "Under God," in the Pledge of Allegiance; and "I swear to tell the truth—the whole truth and nothing but the truth—so help me God," in the national courts as well as George Washington's—and every subsequent president's—promise, "so help me God," when sworn into office are all firmly grounded in deep national meaning. America's civil religion threads throughout its history. All the references are to a general god—not to Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, or Buddha—who is engaged in the nation's specific activity. America's god gives transcendent credence to America's public beliefs, values, symbols, and ceremonies as America pursues God's will by ushering in, as the national currency testifies, "the new order of the ages." Such mottos point to the American conviction that the nation has a divinely appointed mission.

In addition baseball is intimately intertwined with both the nation and the nation's god. Past presidents have recognized the bond. "Next to religion," President Herbert Hoover observed, "baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution." That is why it is appropriate to sing "God Bless America" at baseball games and why "I trust in God" and "I love my country" are the first two lines in the Little League pledge.²

America's civil religion is powerfully represented in the game of baseball. There are few places where the entire body politic is welcome. But the ballpark brings together people from all walks of life. In American culture, ballparks function as gathering places for "we the people," where cherished public values—the nation's moral glue—are celebrated.

During the first game of the 1918 World Series, as the nation prepared for the First World War, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was performed.³ The lyrics, especially the second stanza, reveal American civil religion.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power...