Religious Rhetoric and American Politics

B. Chapp Christopher

Description

From Reagan's regular invocation of America as "a city on a hill" to Obama's use of spiritual language in describing social policy, religious rhetoric is a regular part of how candidates communicate with voters. Although the Constitution explicitly forbids a religious test as a qualification to public office, many citizens base their decisions about candidates on their expressed religious beliefs and values. In Religious Rhetoric and American Politics, Christopher B. Chapp shows that Americans often make political choices because they identify with a "civil religion," not because they think of themselves as cultural warriors. Chapp examines the role of religious political rhetoric in American elections by analyzing both how political elites use religious language and how voters respond to different expressions of religion in the public sphere.Chapp analyzes the content and context of political speeches and draws on survey data, historical evidence, and controlled experiments to evaluate how citizens respond to religious stumping. Effective religious rhetoric, he finds, is characterized by two factors-emotive cues and invocations of collective identity-and these factors regularly shape the outcomes of American presidential elections and the dynamics of political representation. While we tend to think that certain issues (e.g., abortion) are invoked to appeal to specific religious constituencies who vote solely on such issues, Chapp shows that religious rhetoric is often more encompassing and less issue-specific. He concludes that voter identification with an American civic religion remains a driving force in American elections, despite its potentially divisive undercurrents.

Sujets

• USA
• United States of America
• Political science of religion
• History of the Americas
• Activism
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801465680
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

R E L I G I O U S R H E T O R I C A N D  A M E R I C A N P O L I T I C S

ReligiousRhetoric and American Politics

TheEnduranceofCivilReligioninElectoralCampaigns

ChristopherB.Chapp

C o r n e l l U n i v e rs i t y P r e s s Ithaca&London

Copyright©2012byCornellUniversity

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2012byCornellUniversityPress PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica

LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData

Chapp,ChristopherB.,1979–  Religious rhetoric and American politics : the endurance of civil religion in electoral campaigns / Christopher B. Chapp.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801451263 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Religion and politics—United States. 2. Rhetoric—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Rhetoric—Political aspects—United States. 4. Identity politics—United States. 5. Civil religion—United States. 6. Political campaigns—United States. I. Title.  BL2525.C443 2013  324.7—dc23 2012016338

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C O N T E N T S

List of Illustrations Preface

1.ATheoryofReligiousRhetoricinAmericanCampaigns 2.ReligiousRhetoricinAmericanPoliticalHistory 3.ReligiousRhetoricandthePoliticsofIdentity 4.ReligiousRhetoricandthePoliticsofEmotiveAppeals 5.TheConsequencesofReligiousLanguageonPresidential Candidate Evaluations 6.CivilReligionIdentityandtheTaskofPoliticalRepresentation 7.TheRhetoricalConstructionofReligiousConstituencies

Notes References Index

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viii ix

1 17 39 61

81 104 131

139 155 169

I L L U S T R AT I O N S

Figures 1.1.Causesandconsequencesofreligiouspoliticalrhetoric 3.1.Frequencyofreligiousrhetoricinpresidentialcampaigns 3.2.Frequencyofidentitycuesinreligiousrhetoric 3.3.Pluralisticandsharedreligiousrhetoric,byidentitycue 3.4.Culturewarsrhetoricasavehicletoconveyamoralcrisis 4.1.Emotiveappealsinreligiousrhetoricandsecularcampaign speech 4.2.Emotiveappealsbyidentitytype 4.3.Partisandifferencesinemotivereligiousrhetoric 5.1.Religiouscommitmentandchangeincandidateevaluationbylevel of civil religion rhetoric, 1980–2004 5.2.Religiousrhetoricandchangeincandidateevaluation 5.3.Angryandopponentdirectedreligiouscues 5.4.Anxiousandopponentdirectedreligiouscues 5.5.Enthusiasticreligiouscues 6.1.CivilreligionidentityintheAmericanpublic 6.2.Issueandimagesaliencebylevelofcivilreligionidentity 6.3.“Prideincountry”and“acandidatelikeme”bylevelofcivil religion identity 6.4.VotechoicebyrhetoricalcuesandChristianidentity 6.5.Votechoicebyrhetoricalcuesandcivilreligionidentity 6.6.Selfmonitoringandthenormativesocialpressureappliedbycivil religion rhetoric

Table 6.1.Religiouscuesandthereligiousbasisofcandidateevaluation

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P R E F A C E

Inspring2011,IattendedaspeechbyRepresentativeKeithEllison(D Minn.) at an interfaith dialogue at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Ellison’s talk occurred just a few weeks after he had taken part in controver sial congressional subcommittee hearings that had been called to investigate “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.” As the first Muslim American elected to Congress, Ellison expressed regret over the “premise of the hearings.” His comments at the interfaith event, however, carried a tenor far different from the sectarian pitch that had surrounded much of the hearings. Reflecting on the found ing of the nation, Ellison remarked, “We the people, create our nation to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty. People make a mistake when they say that when these words were written they were not true. I say they weren’t trueyethbeotcarimeAotdnarofdepoI.asyhtyewreeuoraspiration.An be worked for. An America that has to be built and is being built by all of us. I look at these words, and I reflect upon them, and I think about them as America’s prayer.” Ellison’sremarksgofurtherthansimplycallingforreligioustolerance and putting aside religious differences by suggesting that there is some thing sacred within American political institutions. The Constitution is to be interpreted not just as a blueprint for democracy but as a prayer for the American people. This prayer, as Ellison characterized it, does not favor any particular denomination or sect. Rather, Ellison’s speech pro moted a spiritualized understanding of American political institutions and culture—an understanding that could resonate across denominational divides. In short, Ellison’s reading conceived of the Constitution as a reli gious document by invoking prayer in a universalistic manner. AsIlistenedtoEllison’sremarks,itwasclearthatthischaracterization of American politics struck a chord with the vast majority of the audience at a Lutheranaffiliated liberal arts college. Ellison found, in this civil religion understanding of the U.S. Constitution, a point of commonality that appeared to be both deeply heartfelt by the audience and inclusive

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