Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T23:22:06.050Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Jesus Q. Politician: Religious Rhetoric in the United States, Australia, and Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2012

Willie Gin
Willie Gin*
Affiliation:
Xavier University of Louisiana
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Willie Gin, Xavier University of Louisiana, 1 Drexel Drive, New Orleans, LA 70125. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sociologist Peter Berger once said that if India is the most religious country and Sweden the least, then the United States is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes. In terms of use of religious rhetoric by politicians, however, the United States actually comes closer to being a nation of Indians ruled by Indians, while Australia a nation of Swedes ruled by “Swindians,” and Canada a nation of “Swindians” ruled by Swedes. This article provides evidence for these claims and assesses theories as to what causes greater use of religious rhetoric by politicians. Size of the religious population and the rights revolution are not decisive in determining whether politicians heavily use religious rhetoric. The article argues that the politicization of religion is related to coalition-building incentives with Catholics.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , August 2012 , pp. 317 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Berger, Peter, Davie, Grace, and Fokas, Effie. 2008. Religious America, Secular Europe? A Theme and Variations. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Blais, Andre. 2005. “Accounting for the Electoral Success of the Liberal Party in Canada—Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association, London, Ontario, June 3, 2005.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 38:821–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bushnell, Ian. 1992. The Captive Court: A Study of the Supreme Court of Canada. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chretien, Jean. 1994. Straight from the Heart. Toronto, Canada: Key Porter Books.Google Scholar
Cica, Natasha. 1998. “Abortion Law in Australia, Research Paper 1 1998–99.” http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp01.htm (Accessed on May 11, 2010).Google Scholar
Coleman, Karen. 1988. “The Politics of Abortion in Australia: Freedom, Church, and State.” Feminist Review 29:75–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtney, John C. 1988. “Reinventing the Brokerage Wheel: The Tory Success in 1984.” In Canada at the Polls, 1984: A Study of the Federal General Elections, ed. Penniman, H.Durham, NC: American Enterprise Institute Book, pp. 190–208.Google Scholar
Domke, David, and Coe, Kevin. 2007. The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Epps, Charles R. 1998. The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frizzell, Alan, and Westell, Anthony, eds. 1985. The Canadian General Election of 1984: Politicians, Parties, Press and Polls. Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press.Google Scholar
Galligan, Brian, and Morton, F.L.. 2001. “Australian Exceptionalism: Rights Protection without a Bill of Rights.” In Protecting Rights Without a Bill of Rights: Institutional Performance and Reform in Australia, eds. Campbell, Tom, Goldsworthy, Jeffrey, and Stone, Adrienne. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 17–40.Google Scholar
Gibbins, Roger, Knopff, Rainer, and Morton, F.L.. 1985. “Canadian Federalism, the Charter of Rights, and the 1984 Election.” Publius 15:155–169.Google Scholar
Goldsworthy, Jeffrey. 2006. “Introduction.” In Protecting Rights Without a Bill of Rights: Institutional Performance and Reform in Australia, eds. Campbell, Tom, Goldsworthy, Jeffrey, and Stone, Adrienne. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 1–16.Google Scholar
Henshaw, Stanley K. 1999. “The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide.” International Family Planning Perspectives 25(Suppl):S30–S38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hewitt, Hugh. 2006. Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority. Washington, DC: Regnery.Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 2008. “Keeping Faith in Politics.” http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10446431446 (Accessed on May 11, 2010).Google Scholar
Kuo, David J. 2006. Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Maddox, Marion. 2005. God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics. Crows Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Manfredi, Christopher. 2001. Judicial Power and the Charter: Canada and the Paradox of Liberal Constitutionalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, William. 1996. With God On Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. New York, NY: Broadway Books.Google Scholar
Noll, Mark. 2006. “What Happened to Christian Canada?” Church History 75:245–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orren, Karen, and Skowronek, Stephen. 2004. The Search for American Political Development. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, K.A. 1984. “The Public Funding of Abortion Services: Comparative Developments in the United States and Australia.” The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 33:158–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudd, Kevin. 2006. “Faith in Politics.” http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/?q=node/300 (Accessed on May 11, 2010).Google Scholar
Sears, Val. 1985. “The Buttery-Smooth Conservatives.” In The Canadian General Election of 1984: Politicians, Parties, Press and Polls, eds. Frizzell, Alan, and Westell, Anthony. Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press, pp. 28–37.Google Scholar
Smith, Rogers. 2009. “An Almost Christian Nation? Constitutional Consequences of the Rise of Christian Conservatism.” In Evangelicals and Democracy in America, vol. 1: Religion and Society, eds. Brint, Steven, and Schroedel, Jean Reith. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 329–355.Google Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N. 2002. Agenda-Setting Dynamics in Canada. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Sussel, Terri A. 1995. Canada's Legal Revolution: Public Education, the Charter, and Human Rights. Toronto, Canada: Emond Montgomery Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Frederick. 2001. “Judicial Politics in Canada: Patterns and Trends.” In Judicial Power and Canadian Democracy, eds. Howe, Paul, and Russell, Peter H.. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wicker, Christine. 2008. The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church. New York, NY: HarperOne.Google Scholar
Wills, Garry. 2007. Head and Heart: American Christianities. New York, NY: Penguin.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 1988. Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War II. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 2007. After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar