Religion in Politics

Abstract

Abstract If few Americans were religious believers, the issue of the proper role of religion in politics would probably be marginal to American politics, because religion would be marginal to American politics. But most Americans are religious believers. Indeed, the citizenry of the United States is one of the most religious—perhaps even the most religious—citizenries of the world’s advanced industrial democracies. According to recent polling data, “{a]n overwhelming 95% of Americans profess belief in God”;1 moreover, “70% of American adults [are] members of a church or synagogue.”2 If there were, among the vast majority of Americans who are religious believers, a consensus about most religious matters, the issue of the proper role of religion in politics would probably engage far fewer Americans than it does, because few Americans would have to fear being subjected to alien religious tenets.