Pursuing the Enemies of Freedom: Religion in the Persuasive Rhetoric of the Bush Administration

Abstract

This paper will explore President George W. Bush's State of the Union and Inaugural Addresses using Stephen Toulmin's method of rhetorical analysis to identify the religious ideology inherent in it and render it as explicit as possible. Toulmin's work provides useful tools for analyzing the internal logic of a persuasive argument by exploring the various elements that constitute this type of rhetorical performance. Focusing carefully on each component in turn, this method is helpful in uncovering internal tensions within the text and elements of the argument that routinely remain implicit. Based on this analysis, the paper will then explore how this ideology reflects an inchoate religious discourse that has come to significantly monopolize public references to religion. Short on consistency and rigorous analysis of its implications, this discourse is far from innocuous. In a world where religion matters, scholars have a responsibility to analyze public religious claims and encourage a well populated and diverse public square for religion.