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Marisa Ruiz

November 19, 2008

Religion 150 – Argumentative Paper

Why is Religion Politicized?

Religion and Politics are the most controversial of all topics discussed among men.

According to our government, there is a clear division betweenchurch and state. The

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that, "Congress shall make no law

respecting an establishment of religion”...The establishment clause has generally been

interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress, or 2) the

preference of one religion over another or the support of a religious idea with no identifiable

secular purpose” (Wikipedia). Although this is true doctrine, religion is politicized as it was

evident in this year’s (and previous) presidential elections.

According to his paper, Is American Religion Politicized?: Symbolic Affirmation vs.

Religious Hegemony, Gene Burns, a well-known liberal radio talk show host, wrote that,

“Religious participation involves more fundamentally a spiritual and symbolic experience than

adoption of theological orthodoxy…Once symbolic affirmation is attained, the passion for

religiously inspired politics typically dissipates. And so religiously inspired politics is typically

more focused and passionate when directed against opponents than it is in pursuit of any positive

program of public policy,” (Burns). By an indirect approach, a candidate’s personal religious

faith has been able togain or lose prospective voters. The following are prime examples that

depict the ways religion has been politicized in presidential elections.

For example, the public’s prejudice about Mormons and Mormonism hurt Republican

Presidential Nominee, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor in his candidacy for

United States Presidential race. Adam Nagourney, a journalist covering U.S. politics and Laurie
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Goodstein, a religion reporter for The New York Times explained how a candidate’s religion

could actually hurt their political position and aspirations. They describe Mormonism as, “(a)

religion viewed with suspicion by Christian conservatives, (who are) a vital part of the

Republicans’ primary base… Mormons consider themselves to be Christians, but some beliefs

central to Mormons are regarded by other churches as heretical…Several perceptions among

some people that account for at least some of the public unease: polygamy (which the church

renounced in 1890,) that it is more of a cult than a religion, and that it takes political direction

from its church’s leaders,” (Goodstein and Nagourey). Unlike John F. Kennedy, he chose not to

emphasize this impressionable point. It might have been critical to address these concerns in a

direct approach like advertising, propaganda, or a speech. Although Mitt Romney expressed

confidence that he could authenticate his loyalty for his country first, then his faith, he was

unsuccessful in alleviating the American public’s concerns about his faith, therefore losing the

Republican nomination.

As previously stated, we can consider presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy. Unlike

Mitt Romney, he was realistic about the clergy’s concerns for his ability to govern our nation by

political reasoning rather than religious should he become president. On the issue of his religion,

Catholicism, John F. Kennedy gave a speech on September 12, 1960. “At the time, many

Protestants questioned whether Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith would allow him to make

important national decisions as president independent of the church. Kennedy addressed those

concerns before a skeptical audience of Protestant clergy, (NPR). By addressing their concerns,

he obviously shed some influence and persuasion on the clergy, because in 1961, he became the

35th President of the United States. This suggests that by attending to inquiries about their faith

and dealing with the public’s apprehension, a candidate can avoid decimation by voters regarding

his religious influence in his presidency.

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Alternatively, avoiding any discussion of faith by a candidate altogether can have adverse

reactions not only towards the candidate, but also towardsthe entire political party. As in John

Kerry's case, Suzanne Sataline, a journalist who covers religious issue for the New York Times

and Wall Street Journal assessed the effects of not responding to the public’s inquiry regarding

his faith and religious views. She indicated that, “Mr. Kerry’s loss among religious voters was

on his unwillingness to talk about his faith and address their moral concerns. In a white paper

that circulated around Washington, (the women) said that if Democrats were going to shed an

anti-religion reputation, candidates had to talk about faith, go on Christian radio, grant interviews

to reporters for Catholic media and discuss issues that Republicans were not addressing: namely,

poverty, immigration and the environment,” (Sataline). John Kerry kept his focus on public

policy and disregarded his religious faith as an issue. His failure to address specifics on his faith

during his campaign led to the loss of a great number of religious voters. As a careless move on

his part, this objectivity cost him the vote as a presidential candidate.

Lastly and most recently, we can observe how President-elect Barack Obama used moral

concerns over life issues to appeal to voters from a spiritual standpoint rather than a scientific or

politicalpoint of view. Appealing to the masses, he emphasized how our society is in crisis.

“CHANGE” was his motto. Sataline identified that, “A concerted effort since 2004 helped

Barack Obama and the Democrats make significant inroads with religious voters….The

campaign-wooed clergy in ways small and huge, from personal notes and meetings with Mr.

Obama to large Christian "faith rallies" intended to winover young Protestants. They trained

thousands of volunteers to frame social concerns such as poverty as moral issues, while

benefiting from the work of several small, liberal Catholic nonprofits that separately contacted

churchgoers to present topics such as poverty, immigration, war and the environment as moral

issues, while downplaying abortion…At various rallies Obama discussed his faith and urged
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secularists and progressives to embrace moral issues…courting Christian professors, theologians

and ethicists, writing letters expressing enthusiasm for their work and inviting them to meet with

him,” (Sataline). He used faith-based reasoning that appealed to religious and non-religious

voters alike. This use of politicizing religion obviously worked because Barack Obama won the

2008 Presidential election and will become the 44thPresident of the United States.

I think a presidential candidate’s religion should not deeply affect how American’s vote,

but given careful consideration when researching the background of each candidate. We can tell

a lot about a candidate by looking into their background of his religious views. In my opinion,

religion is the foundation in which our moral, ethics, and ideology come from. It is important

that we as the public know about this ideology, because it shapes a government official’s choice

of public policy and importance thereof. Although religious voters are inclined to consider a

candidate’s faith in determining who they will vote for, by appealing to morality with a faith

based approach, voters religious and non-alike will eagerly listened to what a candidate has to

say. A candidate’s religious faith should not be the deciding factor on how we cast ourballots.

Public policy should take the front seat in a voter’s decision. According to the United States

Constitution, freedom of religion is one the rights that we as Americans are entitled to. With the

different beliefs among the public, there MUST be a clear division between church and state.

Candidates must be sensitive to this and be able to remain neutralnot pushing a religious agenda

or imposing their religious beliefs on the public.

Works Cited

Burns, Gene. "Is American Religion Politicized?: Symbolic Affirmation vs. Religious

Hegemony", Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological

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Association, Atlanta Hilton Hotel, Atlanta, GA, Aug 16, 2003. 23 Oct. 2008

<http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p106159_index.html>

“Establishment Clause of the First Amendment”, Wikipedia Foundation Online.

14 Nov. 2008,

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Establishment_Clause_of_the_First_Amendment>

Goodstein, Laurie,and Adam Nagourney. “Mormon Candidate Braces for Religion as Issue”,

New York Times Online. 08 Feb 2008,

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/us/politics/08romney.html>

Sataline, Suzanne. “Democrats Gain with Religious Voters”, Wall Street Journal Online. 06

Nov. 2008,

<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122593560219503829.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#pri

tMode>

Transcript Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, NPR.org.

14 Nov. 2008, <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600>