civil religion

Quick post (lunchtime)...
Thanks to Mike and Lily for indulging in this continued topic. I look forward to gaining some helpful insights on our assumptions and aspirations in church/state legal issues.

Mike defined civil religion in his last post ("Civil Religion is only as I have stated it, a context connecting the nations conscience and laws with the sacred and divine"). This should prove a helpful starting point, but I (and I can't speak for Lily) need some more help understanding the concept. Mike makes clear that the "sacred and divine," in the civil religion context, is not a particular religious creed. What, then, is it? If the Pledge of Allegience recognizes the soveriegnty of God, what meaning does carry if it does not refer to God as understood through a particular religious creed. What is the nature, in other words, of the civil religion "God"?

I have more, but I'll wait for the response to this before adding more questions/confusion to the issue.

That said, I hope all readers that have weather nearly so nice as it is here in DC find some excuse to stop reading blogs and get outside. Interiors are a cruel punishment today.

Cheers.