How Religious Rhetoric Plays out in Political Campaigns from the School Board to the White House
By Natalie Finn
David Domke
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Political rhetoric and religious sermons share the common goal of inspiring a crowd into action. The job of a free press is to devote the time and energy to report when the goal of one creeps into the other, religious experts say.
David Domke and Richard Mouw analyzed the religious political rhetoric that the president uses to fuse his agenda with faith. Domke, an associate professor and coordinator in communications at the University of Washington, explained how politicians use times of crisis to advance their plans, invoking religious images and faith-based arguments to comfort, inspire and unite the American people.
Mouw, president of the Fuller Theological Seminary and a professor of Christian philosophy, emphasized how President George W. Bush has not departed from previous standards by utilizing civil religion to legitimize the nation’s actions; but he also expressed the importance of appealing to public faith correctly and not pushing the boundaries of religious diversity.
The Bush administration stresses religious faith to strengthen national identity and rally public support for the president’s agenda, Domke said. By stressing how “good” the nation is and by introducing the word “evil” into everyday political discourse, Bush is promoting a sense of American moral superiority. It is more important than ever, Domke said, for the press to avoid being a mouthpiece for the political machine, as Bush becomes more reliant on religious political rhetoric to legitimize his policies.
Domke recalled the 2003 State of the Union Address, in which Bush closed the speech saying, “May God continue to bless the United States of America.” Bush invented this closing line.
“Nothing happens by chance to this administration,” Domke said. Bush took the position of speaking for God, engaging in political fundamentalism - the convergence of a religious fundamentalist worldview with a strategic political agenda.
The Republican Party has undergone a rightward religious shift, while “Democrats have gone off a cliff in terms of party identification,” Domke said. Approximately 74% of white evangelical Protestants and 22% of white Catholics were expected to vote for Bush this year. Kerry cannot afford to lose any more of the Catholic vote because Protestants who intend to vote for Bush represent 25% of the electorate, Domke said.
The administration has a “binary conception of reality,” in that they insist on seeing the world in terms of good vs. evil or security vs. peril. The Bush administration also has an Apocalyptic streak, revealed in its obsession with time. They press to take action immediately, as if the world could end at any moment. Bush preaches a universal gospel of freedom and liberty, implying that America’s conception of freedom and liberty is for everyone.
“That’s the art of rhetoric - to imply without saying,” Domke said.
Domke also pointed to the press’s responsibility to be more than a mouthpiece for the political machine. Striving to be objective or neutral can actually leave the press open to political manipulation, if the press merely reports political words without spending the time and energy to analyze or verify the claims.
Religion in politics cannot be viewed as solely strategic, however. It is not fair to leaders or the public to remove faith from community discourse, but the content should be critically examined for both explicit and mixed messages.
The religious left should also have a place in the news, but it apparently doesn’t have the structure to get its message across. “What the religious left needs is to lose, and then lose again in 2008,” Domke said. “Maybe then they’ll be organized enough.”
Richard Mouw expressed his satisfaction with the state of the nation’s religious reporting, but said he was concerned whether Bush uses faith and civil religion properly in his public dialogue. He explained the importance of respecting civic religion, the common denominator of faith that is built on Americans’ shared experiences and rituals.
Mouw pointed that that Bush has not departed from any tradition by invoking God in his speeches, but he criticized the president for not taking the proper tack of humility and self-examination. Bush has allowed the religious symbolism placed on his administration to go by unfettered. Instead of correcting some conservatives when they call him “God’s man,” Bush has not intervened.
Mouw was questioned about what effect the administration’s focus on God and religion might have on a possible next term, with regard to congressional and judicial appointees, particularly the Supreme Court. He responded that religion itself hasn’t historically played a role in the discourse on such topics. Rather, cultural and regional characteristics are examined when predicting policy decisions.
The two were also questioned about John Kerry’s religious policy, and both agreed that he is the least comfortable talking about his faith in public. “He’d rather go back and fight in Vietnam,” Domke joked. “There’s a reality that the Democratic Party doesn’t know what to do with religion right now. The fact they don’t get that just boggles my mind.”
Mouw said that he would “be embarrassed to have him talk more about his faith.” Kerry invokes clichés “that have no substance at all.”
“That’s consistent with his general policy,” Domke said.
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