CIVIL RELIGION. The word religion is derived from two Latin terms, religio and religare. The first term designates a quality of prudence, regard, and seriousness as an attitude toward ancestral founders. The second term means to bind, to tie—as a mode that gives a specificity, concreteness, and cohesion—an identity to a human community. The binding is always related to a myth that reveals the nature and meaning of ancestors who were involved in the founding of the city.

This meaning of religion can be seen in ancient foundings of cities and towns. In his book The Ancient City (1873) Fustel de Coulanges described religions associated with founding Greek and Roman city-states. This sense of founding took into account the ancestors and gods that existed prior to the organization of the city. Joseph Rykwert's The Idea of a Town (1976) provides a similar discussion of sacred symbols...