State Dept.’s ‘Faith-Based’ Advisor: ‘I Am Glad American Civil Religion is Dying’

Secretary of State John Kerry announced Wednesday the formation of the Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, which will be headed by Shaun Casey, a former religion advisor to President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and a liberal professor who last year touted the end of ‘civil religion’ in the United States.

“I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” Casey said at a discussion last year at the Center for American Progress focused on “God and Politics” in the last presidential election.

Kerry introduced Casey as a person who cares about faith in American society….

“I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” said Casey, who is also a professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

“There is also a negative underside to that history with respect to slavery, manifest destiny, to war, you know, to empires, so I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” Casey said of the mix of politics and religion at the discussion.

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