Religion and American Politics
Is the United States a Christian Nation or a nation of Christians? What is the difference and how can we know? And what does the answer mean for citizens who are not adherents? To answer these questions, one needs to understand both the role of faith in the development of the United States and the way in which different faiths affect the way citizens act politically.
This course has been divided into 6 units in an effort to interrogate the role of religion in public life in the United States. We will begin the course with a review of the history of religion in the United States before turning to the political institutions that shape the interactions between the two – the constitution, the courts, and political elites. From here we turn to explore various faith traditions present in the United States – from Mainline Protestants to the fast-growing unaffiliated – identifying their structures, dispositions, core beliefs, and behaviors that influence their identities. After this section, units 4 and 5 will dive into political behavior (voting, protesting, civic involvement, to name a few) and policy beliefs (social, economic, and foreign), respectively. These units will begin to paint a picture of how religion motivates the way individuals act politically in society. Finally, the course will conclude with a unit on the way that religious groups act as collective units – both within and across traditions.
In addition to the substantive information learned, this course will help you to develop useful skills such as data analysis, oral presentation techniques, professional writing, and analytical thinking. These skills, as exemplified by the research project, translate directly into professional careers that many of you may pursue in the near future. At the end of the course, you should be able to distinguish between major faith groups in the United States on the basis of beliefs, scriptures, prominent leaders and groups, and geographical strength. Further, you should be able to use these distinctions to explain, analyze, and rationalize the actions of believers in American politics.
Assignments
Campaign Strategy Simulation
Supreme Court Case Analysis
Survey Research