I have been interested in religion since I can remember. It has been part of my life for a long time. I look forward to deep conversations with my dad about the nature of the world and sharing interesting facts we find. I remember my mom trying to explain biblical stories in a less terrifying way after my very passionate gramma told me about hell. I love researching any religion and trying to understand the ways they interact with other parts of life.
As I grow older, I have become more aware of how religion interacts with politics. Religion is still a daily part of life, but not always willingly or in the name of understanding. Now, I see politicians using religion as a tool or weapon, a way of separating “us” and “them.” When I turn on the news or open Facebook I am flooded with arguments about religion’s place in America. It isn’t just about religion, but specifically Christianity.
I find myself in a difficult spot. As someone who loves learning about religion and appreciates what it is, I can’t imagine a fully secular government. I fear the situation in France where they ban any visual sign of religion in public schools in the name of secularism. On the other hand, I see what happens when religion and politics intermingle. I have experienced the fear of not being able to get married one day or not being able to choose the fate of my body.
In a national sense, people have very polar views about religion’s place in America’s government. For this blog post, I wanted to read one conservative article and one liberal article to get a broader understanding of what is going on.
The first article I read was from “The New Republic”, a group generally associated with the left. The article was called, “The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right. The first thing you see upon opening the article is a huge depiction of a suit-wearing man with a snake tongue holding a sword and a Bible. He is above a yelling crowd of people holding American flags with crosses fixed at the top. The picture reminds me of the classic style of Communist propaganda that is so often satirized. That being said, this is not something I expected in a left-leaning non-satirical article.
The article itself doesn’t really fit the tone that the opening picture sets. It explains how America has gone through phases of change in its relationship with religion and that we are currently going through one of those phases. Modern media seems to focus on the rise of those who don’t particularly identify with any religion but misses the change in those who do identify with religion. The article says that religious people are becoming “hotter and more reactionary” and are a threat to democracy. It cites examples of this from extremist groups like the New Apostolic Reformation to more famous politicians like Ron DeSantis. I think the most telling example of this is DeSantis quoting the Bible in a speech and switching the word “devil” to “the left.”
The article goes on to explain that the rise in “spiritual warfare” is due to a growing popularity of Pentecostalism. That is a subsection of Christianity that focuses more on the present battle of good and evil rather than the afterlife. Despite this, the article reinforces that these beliefs are deeper than any one event, person, or religion, and to truly protect democracy we need to understand that.
The supposedly more conservative article, “Russell D. Moore: A Podcast on Religion on Politics” from the “National Review,” really interested me. The article states, “Many people say that religion is a threat to politics. It’s also true that politics is a threat to religion.” Moore criticizes the hypocrisy of politicians and followers that try to use religion to gain support and recognizes that authoritarian governments use either the promoting or banning of religion to take control. I didn’t expect this article to imply that religion is indeed a threat to democracy, let alone critique “religious” politicians and their followers.
I think reading these two articles made me realize something. Extremism is the problem. I was stuck in a cycle of all-or-nothing, but that didn’t lead me anywhere. I don’t think anything should be banned in the name of religion, of course, but that doesn’t seem to be the only thing that the conversation is about. These articles are talking more about the people who use religion to get power, and not necessarily what they are doing with it.
https://newrepublic.com/article/170027/rise-spirit-warriors-christian-right-politics
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/religion-and-politics-a-bloody-crossroads/
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/france-facts/secularism-and-religious-freedom-in-france-63815/article/secularism-and-religious-freedom-in-france
I 1000% agree with you. I am Catholic myself, but I have seen far too many Christians take the word of the Bible literally and use it against others. I even took a Catholic Social Teaching class senior year and my class has studied Catholicism’s place in society, with a focus on human dignity. Once we have reached the topic of extremism, my teacher often commented on how CST was the “antidote to extremism”. I guess I would agree, but not many people know or even want to know about CST due to their ignorance.
The first article’s picture definitely shocked me, I did not think that it was a group associated with the left. The point about Pentecostalism being the cause of spiritual warfare is definitely new to me, I have never heard of that before. For the second article, Moore’s statement about the “use religion to gain support” is one I agree with. Far too many times have I seen politicians use the Bible to pin people against another and to persuade very religious people into supporting them. I feel that this is a great disrespect to the Bible since they are weaponizing it for hate and only look toward it whenever it would aid them with a particular crowd.
I like how you looked at both liberal and conservative articles to get a different perspective; many people are very stubborn and are not as open minded to learn from people whose point of views differ. Like you, I have always been very interested in religion, my cousins are Muslim, so I have seen what that was like growing up and I have always wanted to learn more about other people’s beliefs. I even took a World Religions course my senior year as well and I have found that there are cases of extremism in every religion, though it seems to be way more common in Christianity.
I do not use social media much, but every time I get online, I always see some discourse in the comments about religion, whether about a specific post, or someone said something in the comments like “Save yourself now before it’s too late, love and worship God”. I do not understand because it is not going to convert anybody, especially with a threatening message like that.
Overall, I feel that if everyone were to follow their religion, then the world would be a much better place. I really liked your post, it definitely gave me something to think about and thank you! In case you wanted to learn more about CST, I will leave a link here: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/seven-themes-of-catholic-social-teaching
Hi! I totally agree with your point about how the first article page picture had initially shocked me. Personally I would have never thought that was a more liberal left leaning propaganda poster. The details of the flags, the snake tongue, and bible in the hands. It almost contradicts its actual side of being for the religion in Politics in the United States. I enjoyed reading your point of view on both topics and had me questioning and agreeing to a lot the points you were making.
Hi Kendra! I have never been truly interested in religion in politics but your article had opened my eyes with the difference in the quotes from each articles, which took me by surprise just based on the different political feelings on the same topic. This first blog has already opened my eyes to religion in politics. When reading about the one conservative article, “The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right.”. I took my time actually going in and reading and came across this one segment that said, there are many warnings about demons and spiritual battle on the campaign trail.But continued to use an example that, In the runoff for the Georgia Senate, Herschel Walker, “he of the vampires and werewolves—alerted us that the nation is entangled in “spiritual battle” and offered himself as a “warrior for God.”(TNR 2023) I didn’t quite understand what he was saying until he offered himself as a warrior of God. Implying that Herschel Walker willStanding strong in truth and righteousness, walking in the peace of the gospel, shielded by faith, and defended by the Word of God through his speeches and politics as long as he is in any campaign position. In continuation, in the article, “Russell D. Moore: A Podcast on Religion on Politics” from the National Review, it explains the scarcity towards religion in political democracy. This article reminds me of the different approaches towards religion and politics. In the article, “Religion and Politics: Integration, Separation and Conflict” written by Ali Mubarak. She expresses, “Religion determines its authority on divine laws which could not be changed with human intervention; While in a pragmatic political approach society should move ahead, change and adjust itself with the new arising challenges of time.”(Irenees 2009). What I interpreted from this piece was the way religion is a problem in some political ways. Politicians who don’t want religion part of it have expressed that in their ways of campaigning speeches. I find it quite interesting how opposite the conservative and the liberal politics in religion are so against one another. One doesn’t want religion to have a place in these decisions. While the other uses it to open the eyes and experience the political point of view. The political religious power in politics today is extremely different than it has been in the last two to three decades. Thank you Kendra for opening my eyes.
Articles:
https://www.irenees.net/bdf_fiche-analyse-884_en.html
https://newrepublic.com/article/170027/rise-spirit-warriors-christian-right-politics
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/religion-and-politics-a-bloody-crossroads/
Hey there, didn’t know if you knew this because it seemed like you were confused but when it was referring to Hershel Walker as “he of vampires and werewolves” that is a reference to his anti-trans campaign speech where he said that a vampire can’t be a werewolf and vice versa. Vampires and werewolves are commonly associated with him because of this and it’s used as an anti-trans dog whistle.
Hi! I really enjoyed reading your piece. I found it was really interesting how you looked into the differences in views of religion in politics. I found this article from the Pew Research Center that cites that “[a] majority of U.S. adults who identify with or lean toward the GOP (63%) say that religion is losing influence in American life and that this is a ‘bad thing,’ while just 7% say it is a ‘good thing,’ which is interesting to consider when looking into the push for religion and politics intermingling in America. This seems to agree with your point but demographics could also be something to look into for future discussions. I think the demographics of a majority of democrat voters being unaffiliated with religion while a majority of republican voters are affiliated presents an interesting question of whether political policies driving a religious person away or to that party or religious institutions presenting messages that could push people to political parties is to blame for this trend. It hardly seems like a coincidence.
The main question that remains, at least for me, is what this “bad thing” the Pew Research Center claims means. It’s difficult because, like you described, religion should have some affect on our daily lives as to not become obsessed with secularity. However, we cannot become so entrenched in religion that we lose freedoms that we hold that religion may disagree with. I believe, as a country, we are in the middle of a very difficult tight rope walk; attempting to keep balance between theocracy and a rather fascist secularism. At what point do we protect our freedoms so vigorously that we give our freedom up. Its a question that needs and begs to be answered but yet doesn’t really have a good one.
Overall, I think you did a fantastic job with developing ideas on this issue. Religion in politics is difficult to take a stance on but I believe you found a good middle ground to hold. Furthermore, you developed your ideas in a very well balanced way and your post did not come off as terribly biased which I appreciated. You were able to get a point across in an effective, intelligent, and tactful way, which is really important in political discourse. I think it is of the utmost importance when handling issues like this to remain unbiased as it is a very layered issue. Great work!
Oh and here’s the link to the site I got that info from: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/15/republicans-and-democrats-agree-religions-influence-is-waning-but-differ-in-their-reactions/
I think the problem is that in American politics specifically, “religious” is used to mean “Christian.” While extremism is present in every religion (and pretty much any group of people, religious or otherwise), the debate of religion in school and government in America is centered almost exclusively on Christianity and its different branches.
The one thing that I am going to have to disagree with you on is the idea that we shouldn’t have a secular government, though I may be misunderstanding your point there. I am not saying we should ban everything religious, especially imagery, such as the cross or hijabs or anything like that, because those are crucial to a person’s identity, it does not belong in the government. Wearing a hijab or other religious imagery in government is not a problem, but there is a growing issue of having bible verses quoted in government discussions, which should not be happening in government.
Oh yeah, I think the that the farthest step into religion that the government should have is simply protecting it (aka freedom of religion.) I think that religious is used interchangeably with Christian in this sense is because that it reflects what happens. Christianity is what has the most power in America. For example, people are against homosexuality and want it to be banned because of the Bible. If it was “Religion” in general that wouldn’t be a problem, I think. I’m a Hellenistic Polytheist for example, and homosexuality isn’t considered bad. The difference is that there isn’t many of us in America and we don’t have the power to really affect the laws.
Interesting post Kendra!
As a religious person myself, I too sometimes debate the role of religion in politics. And oddly enough, this brings me back to India. In India religious laws/traditions actually do blend into the legal system. In a majority of Indian states, slaughtering cattle is a criminal offense, with jail time. For example, int he state I was born in, Karnataka, you cannot slaughter cattle, or transport them out of state to do so. The only exception is if a “competent authority” such as a health official gives you a certificate permitting it. Though this does raise question in my head. Even if there was no law banning cattle slaughter, how many people would slaughter cattle?