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ix PREFACE In spring 2011, I attended a speech by Representative Keith Ellison (DMinn .) at an interfaith dialogue at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Ellison’s talk occurred just a few weeks after he had taken part in controversial congressional subcommittee hearings that had been called to investigate “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.” As the first Muslim American elected to Congress, Ellison expressed regret over the “premise of the hearings.” His comments at the interfaith event, however, carried a tenor far different from the sectarian pitch that had surrounded much of the hearings. Reflecting on the founding of the nation, Ellison remarked, “We the people, create our nation to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty. People make a mistake when they say that when these words were written they were not true. I say they weren’t true yet. I say they were our aspiration. An America to be hoped for and to be worked for. An America that has to be built and is being built by all of us. I look at these words, and I reflect upon them, and I think about them as America’s prayer.” Ellison’s remarks go further than simply calling for religious tolerance and putting aside religious differences by suggesting that there is something sacred within American political institutions. The Constitution is to be interpreted not just as a blueprint for democracy but as a prayer for the American people. This prayer, as Ellison characterized it, does not favor any particular denomination or sect. Rather, Ellison’s speech promoted a spiritualized understanding of American political institutions and culture—an understanding that could resonate across denominational divides. In short, Ellison’s reading conceived of the Constitution as a religious document by invoking prayer in a universalistic manner. As I listened to Ellison’s remarks, it was clear that this characterization of American politics struck a chord with the vast majority of the audience at a Lutheran-affiliated liberal arts college. Ellison found, in this civil religion understanding of the U.S. Constitution, a point of commonality that appeared to be both deeply heartfelt by the audience and inclusive x Preface enough to be met with near-universal approval from a religiously diverse crowd. But, even though most of the audience was moved, the response was not entirely uniform. Illustrating the complex array of emotions engendered by religious language, several comments by audience members during the question-and-answer period revealed a degree of discomfort with the melding of American national identity and faith, no matter how inclusive that faith might be. The phrase “America’s prayer” provides a good introduction to the topic of religious rhetoric. Displays of faith have long been intertwined with political commitments, and they are almost always met with a complex and varied reaction from the American public. Ellison’s remarks, which downplay denominational divides to assert a shared American faith, represent an important trajectory in American political culture— one that is comfortable with religious pluralism and seeks to find points of shared spirituality between faiths. Indeed, seeking religious common ground is not just undertaken in the name of cooperation but is ultimately part of what it means to be an American. Of course, not all religious rhetoric casts aside differences. Like much of the commentary surrounding the Muslim community hearings, religious rhetoric is often used to call attention to differences, not find points of agreement. Each of these modes of public religious discourse has important precedents in American politics, and each carries the potential to shape American democracy in important ways. My goal in writing this book is to better understand the dynamics of religious political rhetoric. The regular melding of religious displays and political speech led me to seek a framework to better understand how religious language is invoked in the public square and how it influences American public opinion and culture. Even though religious rhetoric has long been a source of scholarly interest, we actually know very little about the effects this rhetoric has on the mass public. Do religious appeals work? Do they help candidates garner favor with the American public? Moreover, how do these appeals influence the political culture at large? Is religious rhetoric consistent with a political culture that welcomes religious difference and encourages pluralism, or is religion more often used to divide and marginalize? Adequately addressing these...

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