RELIGION & POLITICS IN AMERICA, SPRING 2011

RELIGION & THE PRESIDENCY, DAY 1

BKH 7, all except 7.5 (which we read again for Friday)

Wednesday, March 2

1. In the opening selection (7.1) Rozell and Bass note the low number of non-Protestants to be nominated as major party candidates for president or vice-president, and reference a 2004 poll that “almost 60% of likely voters surveyed believed that it is important that the president believes in God and be deeply religious” (234). Has the public established in its own mind a ‘religious test’ for would-be presidents?

2. Scott (7.2) brings us back to the notions of priestly and prophetic uses of civil religion, this time focusing on presidents. Thus we can re-ask versions of two questions we skipped previously, in this new context of discussing presidents: In American history when do you see priestly and when do you see prophetic uses of civil religion by presidents? With respect to priestly and prophetic uses of civil religion, what do you find especially noteworthy – good or bad – about the speeches in this chapter (excluding JFK’s speech for now)?

2A. Compare/contrast uses of God, and the sense of God’s relationship with the United States, in today’s readings from Lincoln, Reagan, G. W. Bush, and Obama.

3. Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush are discussed as the most publicly religious presidents. Wilson left office having failed to convince the U.S. Senate to adopt the Versailles Treaty after World War I, Carter lost after one term and religious voters had something to do with that, and Bush left office with an extremely low approval rating after winning a close re-election bid and a disputed first term, too.

Should we conclude from this record that it is politically dangerous for a president to be so public about his/her religious beliefs and the degree to which those beliefs relate to his/her policies? Or should we conclude something else?

4. Review Dunn’s lovely charts in 7.3, then discuss how in general presidential theology is connected to presidential policy.

5. Your questions go here….