Emilio Gentile, an internationally renowned authority on fascism and totalitarianism, argues that politics over the past two centuries has often taken on the features of religion, claiming as its own the prerogative of defining the fundamental purpose and meaning of human life. Secular political entities such as the nation, the state, race, class, and the party became the focus of myths, rituals, and commandments and gradually became objects of faith, loyalty, and reverence.Gentile examines this "sacralization of politics," as he defines it, both historically and theoretically, seeking to identify the different ways in which political regimes as diverse as fascism, communism, and liberal democracy have ultimately depended, like religions, on faith, myths, rites, and symbols.Gentile maintains that the sacralization of politics as a modern phenomenon is distinct from the politicization of religion that has arisen from militant religious fundamentalism. Sacralized politics may be democratic, in the form of a civil religion, or it may be totalitarian, in the form of a political religion. Using this conceptual distinction, and moving from America to Europe, and from Africa to Asia, Gentile presents a unique comparative history of civil and political religions from the American and French Revolutions, through nationalism and socialism, democracy and totalitarianism, fascism and communism, up to the present day. It is also a fascinating book for understanding the sacralization of politics after 9/11.

Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION: The Sacralization of Politics xi Chapter 1: A Never-Never Religion, A Substitute for Religion, or a New Religion? 1 Chapter 2: Civil Religions and Political Religions: From Democratic Revolutions to Totalitarian States 16 Chapter 3: The Leviathan as a Church: Totalitarianism and Political Religion 45 Chapter 4: The Invasion of the Idols: Christians against Totalitarian Religions 68 Chapter 5: Toward the Third Millennium: The Sacralization of Politics in States both New and Old 110 Chapter 6: Religions of Politics: Definitions, Distinctions, and Qualifications 138 Notes 147