- Religion is likely to play a big role in voters’ choices in the 2024 presidential election – much as it did in previous years.
- Despite an overall shift away from participation in organized religion in the U.S. populace, religious rhetoric in the political arena has intensified.
- In the 2016 race, evangelical voters contributed, in part, to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s victory.
- Historical evidence can help identify trends that will likely influence the mix of religion and politics in the year ahead.
1. End-times rhetoric
- End-times rhetoric has long played a prominent role in American politics.
- Ever since Puritan John Winthrop first called America a “city on the hill” – meaning a shining example for the world to follow – the threat of losing that divinely appointed status has consistently been employed by presidential candidates.
- John F. Kennedy employed that exact image of the “city on the hill” in a 1961 speech on the cusp of his inauguration, claiming that – with “God’s help” – valor, integrity, dedication and wisdom would define his administration.
- By March 2023, at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, he predicted that “if they [Democrats] win, we no longer have a country.” Biden has likewise drawn on the image of final battles.
- In a speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on Sept. 1, 2022, he said that he and his supporters are in “a battle for the soul of this nation.”
2. Divine mandate
- Since the establishment of the republic, many U.S. political leaders have claimed a divine mandate.
- Scholars have long documented how those in power employ claims of divine authority to legitimize their role in a host of different countries.
- Recently, some U.S. politicians and public commentators have shifted to claiming divine authority for anti-democratic actions.
- Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 election, the switch from historical claims of divine authority for democracy to divine authority to challenge democracy is already obvious and apparent.
3. White supremacy and Christian nationalism
- Likewise, the unapologetically white supremacist “alt-right movement” that coalesced in 2010 around the philosophies of biological racism and the belief in the superiority of white peoples around the world have likewise mixed overt white supremacy with religious doctrines.
- This close connection between religious claims and white supremacy among overtly racist organizations has shown up in mainline political arenas as well.
- Evangelical leaders have consistently failed to condemn or disassociate themselves from leaders with overt white supremacy connections.
- In spring of 2023, 26 members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee refused to sign a letter denouncing white supremacy.
Tobin Miller Shearer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
