Article Review by Kenny Bellew
Rhetorical Theory with Anne Aronson
Article: The God Strategy -
The Rise of Religious Politics in America
by David Domke and Kevin Coe
March 2008
Summary
In
the journal article, "The God Strategy - The Rise of Religious Politics in
Domke and Coe
quantified the religious rhetoric into two categories: God-talk and Faith-talk. God-talk included names
referencing God like Christ, Creator, the Almighty, and
The authors did not try
to measure the sincerity of the Presidents, and they allowed for the
possibility that the Presidents used the language because they believed in it.
However, Domke and Coe point out that modern political strategists encourage
the use of religious rhetoric to create identification. Doug Wead, who headed
George H.W. Bush's campaign, was quoted as advising political leaders to "'signal
early, signal often' religious viewpoints" (Domke, and
Coe). They also found that, among religious Americans, it was more
important to religious conservatives (evangelicals) that the President connect
with them through the use of common symbols. G.W. Bush was rewarded for
connecting with this group in the 2000 election, and he secured nearly eighty
percent of the white evangelical vote that year (Domke, and Coe). In the
following election, James Dobson publicly encouraged Christians to vote for G.W.
Bush, and Jerry Falwell said, "’For conservative people of faith, voting
for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush. The
alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable.’"(Domke, and Coe).
Domke and Coe studied
over 350 speeches, nearly all of which are available for review at http://www.americanpresidency.org.
They claim to have read each speech manually
(versus scanning them electronically). However, because their data shows that
they scanned for partial words, I believe they also scanned documents electronically. The study started with
Fig. 1: Percent of
Presidential Addresses to the Nation Containing God-Talk
Figure 1 illustrates
the percentage of presidential White House speeches that included God-talk
(referencing the name of God or synonym). The figure shows that once the level
rose in 1981, the percentage remained high.
In Figure 2, God-talk
is examined for all presidential speeches (versus only State-of-the-Union
addresses). Again, the trend shows a marked increase from 1981 that is
sustained until current.
Fig. 2: God-Talk per
Presidential Address to the Nation
Faith-talk also
substantially increased in 1981 (see Fig.3). This increase caused Domke and Coe
to refer to the four Presidents from 1981 through 2007 as "the Founding
Fathers of today's religious politics" (Domke, and Coe).
Fig. 3: Faith-Talk per
Presidential Address to the Nation
The authors discovered
that particular religious symbols were used to shape views of pressing issues
facing the nation. Specifically, they noticed that the handling of critical
matters was often referenced with the religious words “mission” or “crusade.”
Domke and Coe tracked the frequency of the use of these terms over the twelve-President
timeframe. The results are shown in figure 4.
Fig. 4: Faith words
The authors also found
that Presidents were more likely to use both Faith-talk and God-talk during a
time of crisis. However, it was
hypothesized that the increase could also be due to other factors such as more
Republican Presidents or election rhetoric. Figure 5 shows the percentage
increased in God-talk and Faith-talk for four different events: war or crisis,
elections, GOP in office and post-1981 timeframe.
Fig. 5: Percentage
increase at turning points
Assessment
The clear statistics
are the strength of the article. They show a dramatic increase in religious
rhetoric by US Presidents since 1981. The explanation for the increase is brief
and could be expanded further- along with political implications and the effect
on foreign affairs and domestic policy.
Domke and Coe wrote
this journal article early in 2007 in preparation for a book with a similar
title, "The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in
The God-talk and Faith-talk not only create
rhetorical symbolic identification, but, increasingly, doctrinal
identification. I felt the authors failed to identify words that carry a much
greater doctrinal denotation than others. Some doctrinally-loaded words were
mentioned, but the implications were not pursued to the length they could have
been. For example, they recorded
I am more concerned that we watch for
presidential religious rhetoric that identifies with evangelical doctrines of
prophecy and science, as it could affect foreign relations and educational policies.
For example, Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind novels, has been very
influential in Republican politics since 1981. His novels, which have made him
millions in evangelical circles, all deal with prophecy, the rapture and
military battles of the end times. He has a well articulated plan for
Sam Harris wrote:
Contemporary
examples of governmental piety are everywhere to be seen. Many prominent
Republicans belong to the Council for National Policy, a secretive Christian
pressure group founded by the fundamentalist Tim LaHaye (coauthor of the
apocalyptic "Left Behind" series of novels). This organization meets
quarterly to discuss who knows what. George W. Bush gave a closed-door speech
to the council in 1999, after which the Christian Right endorsed his candidacy.
(Harris 155).
G.W. Bush continues to refuse the release of
the contents of the speech to the public.
Reagan is said to have been heavily
influenced by doctrines of evangelical prophecy. Sam Harries wrote:
It has been
widely reported, for instance, that Ronald Reagan perceived the paroxysms in
the
Harris
attributes this knowledge to the following:
"At a
1971 dinner, Reagan told
The encroachment of evangelical, doctrinal
religious rhetoric was perfectly illustrated by Mike Huckabee during his
presidential campaign speech before a large Republican audience on January 14,
2008. Huckabee wanted his audience to know his intentions regarding gay
marriage and abortion. He said:
I have
opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, but I
believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change
the Word of the Living God, and that’s what we need to do- is to amend the
Constitution so its in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s
standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other
and how we treat the family. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=D08Dq_iNMRk).
The use of God-talk and Faith-talk is an
obvious way to connect with a target audience. All of the great teachers of
rhetoric from Aristotle and Quintillian to Burke have acknowledged this need. However,
when the rhetor uses strong words that connect with the most radical of his or
her target audience, others are immediately disenfranchised.
If Domke and Coe’s
study is repeated, they should have three categories: God-talk, Faith-talk and
Doctrinal-talk. As the interpretation of Mike Huckabee’s speech points out, the
inclusion of doctrine often means the removal of established rights. For
example, On August 27, 1987, a reporter, Robert Sherman, asked George H.W.
Bush, "What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are
atheists?" Bush replied, "I don't know that atheists should be
regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." (
Primary Sources
Domke, David and Kevin
Coe. "The God Strategy: The Rise of Religious Politics in
Harris, Sam. The
End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason, (
Sherman, Rob. “Vice
President Bush Quote Regarding Atheists.” Updated February 4, 2004. <http://www.robsherman.com/information/liberalnews/2002/0303.htm>.