Faith in Politics

In: Journal of policy history: JPH, Band 13, Heft 1, S. 157-180

Abstract

Discusses the role of religion in US politics, especially in party makeup & ideology, preceding & during the 20th century & explores the likely effects of religious faith into the 21st century. Religious bloc voting inspired by policy issues regarding the Depression, the world wars, civil rights, feminism, & issues of religious practice & morality was common throughout the century. Religious political behavior in the 1990s switched from divisions among denominations to traditional & modernist divides within denominations. Nearly 75% of those holding more orthodox beliefs have voted for the Republican ticket, while modernists & secular interests have supported the Democrats. State-funded vouchers for education, abortion, welfare issues, & the restoration of religious liberties continue to divide religious groups along traditionalist or modernist lines. However, the general need for social morality in tackling family breakdown, failing education, poverty, international terrorism, & exploitation of women & children is recognized by a majority of the US public. L. A. Hoffman