Religious Rhetoric and American Politics: The Endurance of Civil Religion in Electoral Campaigns

191 Pages·2012·1.731 MB·English

by  Christopher B. Chapp

RELIGIOUS RHETORIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS

Religious Rhetoric
American Politics
and
The Endurance of Civil Religion in Electoral Campaigns
Christopher B. Chapp
Cornell University Press
Ithaca & London
Copyright © 2012 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this
book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without
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Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca,
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First published 2012 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chapp, Christopher B., 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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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Jolene and Cecilia

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations viii
Preface ix
1. A Theory of Religious Rhetoric in American Campaigns 1
2. Religious Rhetoric in American Political History 17
3. Religious Rhetoric and the Politics of Identity 39
4. Religious Rhetoric and the Politics of Emotive Appeals 61
5. The Consequences of Religious Language on Presidential
Candidate Evaluations 81
6. Civil Religion Identity and the Task of Political Representation 104
7. The Rhetorical Construction of Religious Constituencies 131
Notes 139
References 155
Index 169
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1. Causes and consequences of religious political rhetoric
3.1. Frequency of religious rhetoric in presidential campaigns
3.2. Frequency of identity cues in religious rhetoric
3.3. Pluralistic and shared religious rhetoric, by identity cue
3.4. Culture wars rhetoric as a vehicle to convey a moral crisis
4.1. Emotive appeals in religious rhetoric and secular campaign
speech
4.2. Emotive appeals by identity type
4.3. Partisan differences in emotive religious rhetoric
5.1. Religious commitment and change in candidate evaluation by level
of civil religion rhetoric, 1980–2004
5.2. Religious rhetoric and change in candidate evaluation
5.3. Angry and opponent-directed religious cues
5.4. Anxious and opponent-directed religious cues
5.5. Enthusiastic religious cues
6.1. Civil religion identity in the American public
6.2. Issue and image salience by level of civil religion identity
6.3. “Pride in country” and “a candidate like me” by level of civil
religion identity
6.4. Vote choice by rhetorical cues and Christian identity
6.5. Vote choice by rhetorical cues and civil religion identity
6.6. Self-monitoring and the normative social pressure applied by civil
religion rhetoric
Table
6.1. Religious cues and the religious basis of candidate evaluation
viii
PREFACE
In spring 2011, I attended a speech by Representative Keith Ellison (D-
Minn.) at an interfaith dialogue at St. Olaf College in Northfi eld, 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 fi rst 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. Refl ecting 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
true y et. I say they were our aspiration. An America to be hoped for and to
be worked for. An Amer ica that has to be built and is being built by all of
us. I look at these words, and I refl ect upon them, and I think about them as
America’s prayer. ”
Ellison’s remarks go further than simply calling for religious tolerance
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 d enominational
divides. In short, Ellison’s reading conceived of the Constitution as a reli-
gious document by invoking prayer in a universalistic manner.
As I listened to Ellison’s remarks, it was clear that this characterization
of American politics struck a chord with the vast majority of the audience
at a Lutheran-affi liated 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
ix