Religion has been a great force that has shaped human societies for thousands of years. It has been a remedy to the burning questions we as humans ponder. On a bigger scale, religion has been able to treat societal issues like morality, existential crises, and overall brings a sense of stability and unity in a group of people. It has been the moral compass for many people, guiding them to make the right choices. We as humans crave to give life a deeper meaning and need a reason to exist. Knowing there is a greater power and having rules to live by can give humans a sense of purpose. Religion has also been used to encourage social justice and activism. Many religious traditions stress the importance of empathy, compassion, and social justice. These things inspire people in our society to create movements for social causes.
The purpose of religion was not intended to be used as a firearm in political warfare, yet people in power are weaponizing religion- specifically Christianity- for political gain in a way that goes against the principles of democracy. It has serious consequences for the freedom and rights of individuals in our democracy. The slow but sure merging of the state and church can cause our democracy to backslide.
White Biblical America is a vision of American society that is mostly catered to the Biblical values of Christians. This idea is closely related to the White conservative political agenda. This vision strictly follows the more traditional values of the bible and also integrates the teachings into laws. This could be a possible result of the Christian majority in America. America's two-party system is made up of Democrats and Republicans. Even though the Democratic party is known for being more progressive, which could also be interpreted as being the “non-Christian” party, according to a Pew Research Center study, 63% of Democrats identify as Christians, which is not far from the 82% of Republicans who are Christians. They both have been notoriously linked to Christianity, with Republicans being more eager to use this label.
The Republican party is more widely known as the “Christian right” because of its more conservative and bible based beliefs. More than half of Republicans support Christian Nationalism, which is the belief that America should strictly be a Christian nation. Many politicians in the Republican party lean into this Christian Nationalism and use this to their advantage. “There is also increasing evidence, both anecdotal and systematic, that politics shapes religious views. Instead of religion preceding politics, politics takes priority over religion, thus flipping the typical assumption of how religion and politics come together.” (Campbell, D. E. (2020) Politicians have the ability to change people’s faith by manipulating the church. Political leaders use faith to influence people’s political views by catering to specific values in the church. Republicans use this technique to propagate and implement new biases in the church. If the political leaders can convince the people of the church that their political views are an extension of their faith, they are bound to vote for them. The roles and hierarchy of the church consist of the congregation following pastors and priests. Religious superiors feed pastors their biases because they have the power to get people to believe them without any question.
Politicians Weaponizing Christianity & Christian Nationalism
Doug Mastriano is one of many politicians that use Christianity as a way to gain followers. Mastriano is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate in the Republican party. He claims that the separation of the state and church is a myth and calls for the end of this disconnection. Three weeks before he won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor in 2022, he claimed that “In November we are going to take our state back, my God will make it so.” He uses Christian nationalism to reinforce the belief that America was originally a Christian country, invalidating all the experiences of marginalized groups of people.
Donald Trump is one of the biggest symbols of White supremacy in our society. His presidency spanned from January 2017 to to January 2021. Throughout his whole career, he exploited Christianity and in turn, shaped how society sees Christian voters ever since. “Donald Trump as the ‘Christian choice’ for president could seem shocking, given his history of sexual boasting and extra-martial exploits. [...] And yet, Donald Trump reached the White House only because 81% of white, self-described Evangelical Christians in America gave him their vote.” (Ericksen, Robert P., 2019) Trump is the least Christian president, yet he is the face that all White Christians in America vote for.
What these two politicians have in common is their quest for power and control over democracy. They both make it clear that their campaign is to bring back the old teachings of the country, which they believe to be biblical. Trump’s slogan is “Make America Great Again”, which signifies that America was great before. Same with Mastriano, he uses language like “take back” or “once again”, as a way of saying our society and democracy have progressed and changed for the worse. Following this idea can cause our democracy to take many steps backward.
The Consequences of the Merging of the Church and State
If there is no separation between the church and state, we are at risk to harm the structure of democracy, the faith of the church, the treatment of certain groups of people, and the freedom of individuals. Our society is starting to merge these two, and the separation line is starting to disappear more and more every day. The original expression “separation of church and state” is found in a letter from Thomas Jefferson written to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State,” (Thomas Jefferson, 1802) If a Founding Father claims that religion should not be intertwined with law-making, then it’s best for our democracy to listen to him.
The basic principles of democracy are equality under the law, protection of human rights, and civil liberties. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Religious equality and the freedom to practice your religion also fall under this amendment. Having a superior religion in democracy goes against this amendment and creates instability in democracy.
Exploiting religion and using it as a tool to justify persecution against certain groups of people is another thing picking away at the stability of our democracy. It can divide and create unnecessary tension between different religious communities. Having a higher-ranking religion can be dangerous because then that religion gets privileged over others. This can lead to prejudice, discrimination, and even violence towards other religions that don’t agree with the government’s religious views.
Favoring Christianity can also negatively affect the treatment of Christians. If a religion is portrayed as a threat to the dominant culture of society, then it can create danger and suspicion towards its followers. The government has painted a picture of all Christians being extremists who want to rule America. It’s crucial to know that the bible can be interpreted in many different ways. Christians who practice their religion in respect of the rights of all American citizens can play an important role in democratic societies, bringing positive teachings and contributions to their community. They can face undeserving backlash for what politicians have transformed their religion to be.
Who is to Blame?
Religion is not the problem, it’s how our leaders exploit it that creates an issue. The state and the church should be separated, for the sake of our democracy. We should all be able to express and practice our religion freely, it’s what we were promised. There shouldn’t be baggage or fear attached to our faith.
“We all inject our perspective, our point of view, our lived experiences, and the voices of our constituents. That’s what democracy is about.” (Ilan Omar, 2023) A democracy is diverse and this is something that the government is trying to suppress by limiting our freedom to express many different religions. Democracy is about using our different points of view and experiences to make our society a better place.
Work Cited
Lopez, Ashley. “Christian nationalism on the rise as it enjoys more Republican support.” NPR, 14 February 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/02/14/1156642544/more-than-half-of-republicans-support-christian-nationalism-according-to-a-new-s. Accessed 16 May 2023.
Pew Research Center. Christians by political party, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/christians/by/party-affiliation/.
“See Omar's fiery speech as GOP votes to remove her from committee.” YouTube, 2 February 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd-vYxHByAA&ab_channel=CNN. Accessed 16 May 2023.
Campbell, D. E. (2020). The Perils of Politicized Religion .
Retrieved 2023, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/48590942?searchText=&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dreligion%2Bdemocracy%2Bamerica&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&searchKey=&refreqid=fastly-default%3A1a665f047156b82458d41d11590eb8cd
Ericksen, Robert P. “Stereotypes, Politics, and Religion in the American Bible Belt, 1960–2019.”
Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, vol. 32, no. 2, 2019, pp. 242–63. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26939926. Accessed 17 May 2023.