Early American Literature research posts

LITR 4231 Early American Literature 2012
research post 1

Adam Glasgow

Religion and the 2012 Presidential Election

Since the early beginnings of the United States, religion has always played an interesting role in government. For some constituents, the religiosity of their leaders is of great importance. Others consider the separation of church and state to be a vital aspect of the country, and are not much interested in where their leaders spend (or don’t) time on Sunday mornings. Finding early examples supporting each of these mindsets is effortless. In a letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams in 1775 Abigail says, in reference to Benjamin Franklin, “A true patriot must be a religious man.” The religion of the men Abigail would like to have been in charge was clearly important to her. By contrast, the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, which was submitted to the U.S. Senate by Abigail’s husband John Adams, very clearly states that “the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.” One could spend days picking through early texts finding examples like these supporting or refuting the importance early Americans placed on religion in their politics. Today, politicians continue to walk a thin line in attempting to appeal to voters of whom religion is important and voters who firmly believe in the separation of church and state. The 2012 presidential election has already proven to be an interesting case study when it comes to religion and politics. How important is religion to voters today? How will the beliefs of the presidential candidates affect the outcome of the election? Reading about religion and politics in early America made me wonder about the answers to these questions. After the votes are counted in November we will have more firm answers to some my wonderings, but hopefully the data I have found can help shed some light on them today.

At this point there are two probable Republican contenders to take on incumben President Obama in the General Election this year: Mitt Romney (the most likely candidate) and Rick Santorum (much less likely, but still possible). At the time of writing Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are still technically in the race but generally have been accepted as having far too few delegates to be any kind of a real threat to Romney or Santorum. One of the interesting things about the two main contenders for the GOP nomination is their distinctive religious views. Both candidates espouse spiritual beliefs that excite some but worry others.

Mitt Romney belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormons), a U.S. based religion founded in early America. By the most generous measurements there are about six million Mormons in America—about one in every fifty two Americans. Members of the church have a history of making traditional Christians and other citizens uncomfortable, a fact that is easily seen in poll numbers. Since 1967—the first time Gallup asked this question—the willingness to vote for a Mormon for President has stayed somewhere between 75 and 80% (it’s hovering at 76% now). That means that approximately one out of every four people would not vote for a Mormon today, regardless of the candidate’s qualifications. The only two groups that ranked lower than this were homosexuals and atheists. In contrast, the latest polls show that only five percent of people would not vote for a black candidate—and yet it is easy to remember how big of an issue was made of President Obama’s ethnicity when he ran for president four years ago. Romney appears to be incredibly sensitive to the fact that his religion is unpopular with voters, which is likely why he almost never talks about it and has attempted to make it very clear that he is not interested in using political influence to spread his personal faith. This is where he stands in sharp contrast to his Republican opponent, Rick Santorum.

Rick Santorum is a vocal Roman Catholic. According to the same polls that suggest that a Mormon might have trouble getting elected in the U.S., Catholics appear highly electable—a little more so, even, than a black candidate. Getting elected as a Catholic in John F. Kennedy’s day may have been controversial, but the zeitgeist has shifted and today and Santorum’s religion would seem to be a non-issue. What makes it worth discussing is how unabashed Santorum is in making his religious views an issue. Since his early days in the House of Representatives he has appeared determined to turn biblical ideas into American laws. His views on contraceptive rights and homosexuality are particularly explosive subjects. In 2003, for example, he stated that the Supreme Court should uphold state laws that ban homosexual sex because overturning such laws would justify bigamy, polygamy, incest, and even bestiality. A former aide of his has gone as far as to say that “Rick Santorum is a Catholic missionary who happens to be in the Senate.” Santorum’s passionate views on religion have turned him into something of a hero for evangelical voters—a group that commands a lot of power when it comes to choosing Republican nominees. In something of a paradox, the same religious views that have made Rick Santorum a serious contender in this election may very well be the same views that cause him to lose. A Pennsylvania (the state Santorum served as senator) based poll found that the vast majority of voters think the man’s views are “too extreme” for him to stand a chance in the general election. Furthermore, it appears as though more and more people, about four and ten (an all-time high), want less religion in politics. If reports like these prove to be true, Santorum could have real trouble winning against Obama in November.

It seems clear that no matter the outcome of the Republican primaries that religion will be a hotly discussed topic this fall. Let us not forget that for the incumbent President the issue of religion persists. Even after Obama’s first two years in office about twenty percent of the population seemed to insist that he is not a Christian, but instead a Muslim. For Republican voters in conservative states, that number is closer to fifty percent. This rumor is so persistent that even long shot nominee Newt Gingrich decided to chime in recently and suggest that people believe this is the case because Obama “acts” like a Muslim (whatever that means). Furthermore, while it feels like a distant memory now, Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright became the subject of so much controversy last election cycle that the Wikipedia page for “Jeremiah Wright controversy” is over 6,000 words long with over 120 footnotes. Even the fact that the Obamas hadn’t chosen a DC church after entering office in 2009 was apparently news worthy enough to warrant wide spread reports. All of this, and who knows what else, could be brought to the forefront once again if it proves to be politically advantageous for his opponent to do so.

Religion and politics in America have always made for strange bedfellows, but the two seem so interlocked that we may not ever get away from talking about them together. From the founding fathers in early America to Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy to George Bush Jr. to our candidates now, the religiosity—or lack thereof—of our leaders seems to be destined to always be a topic of much interest and discussion.

References:

Paragraph 1:

Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams dated 5 November, 1775 http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/founders/Franklin/adamsfranklin.htm

Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed at Tripoli November, 4, 1796. Full text available via Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bar1796t.asp

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Likely Republican candidates determined by the number of delegates they had won at the time of this writing. The data can be found here

http://www.politico.com/2012-election/delegate-tracker/

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Mormon numbers in America and the number of people in the US:

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&idim=country:US&dl=en&hl=en&q=how+many+people+live+in+the+us