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The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America
The Holy Vote examines the way Americans worship, how organized religion and politics intersect in America, and how this powerful collision is transforming the current and future American mind-set Not since the Civil War has the United States been sopolarized—politically and ideologically. But at the very heart of this fracture is a fascinating rig and paradoxical marriage between our country’s politics and religions. Over the past several election cycles, the differences between so-called "Red America"—conservative, church-affiliated, suburban, and rural—and "Blue America"—urban, secular, and socially liberal—have hardened. Although on most days, these two big American mainstreams move on parallel tracks, they increasingly find themselves head to head, ready to fight at the slightest offense. They react to new stories in different ways. They react to government power in different ways. They certainly vote in different ways. With The Holy Vote, Ray Suarez explores the advent of this polarization and how it is profoundly changing the way in which we live our lives. With hands-on reporting, Suarez explores the attitudes and beliefs of the people behind the voting numbers, the places in which these new beliefs are being born, and how the political divide is manifesting itself across the country. The reader will come to a greater understanding of how Americans believe, and how this belief structure fuels the debates that dominate the issues on our evening news.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 21, 2016
Complete review, with hyperlinks, at my blog:
http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez is a good introduction to policy discussions with religious claims in the United States in 2006, the time of the book's publication. Some of those issues have waned and new ones have arisen, and, if you've read other books I've reviewed on this blog under the tag Establishment Clause, you may not find these chapters exciting.
Mr. Suarez's style, in this age of bombastic partisanship, is frustratingly documentarian. He includes lengthy quotes from people whose positions he opposes. He avoids snarky rejoinders. Maybe his long years at the United States Public Broadcasting System, which depends on funding from the government and thus must garner support from many diverse sectors of our nation, have increased his ability to listen respectfully to others beyond that of those who publish in ideological Internet news sites, corporate media and crazy, egotistical bloggers like myself!
read more: http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez is a good introduction to policy discussions with religious claims in the United States in 2006, the time of the book's publication. Some of those issues have waned and new ones have arisen, and, if you've read other books I've reviewed on this blog under the tag Establishment Clause, you may not find these chapters exciting.
Mr. Suarez's style, in this age of bombastic partisanship, is frustratingly documentarian. He includes lengthy quotes from people whose positions he opposes. He avoids snarky rejoinders. Maybe his long years at the United States Public Broadcasting System, which depends on funding from the government and thus must garner support from many diverse sectors of our nation, have increased his ability to listen respectfully to others beyond that of those who publish in ideological Internet news sites, corporate media and crazy, egotistical bloggers like myself!
read more: http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
October 13, 2008
Suarez's basic point is that in US politics, conservative Christians are more "conservative" than they are "Christian", and that many people miss the point of an appropriate and beneficial role of religion in our country. He takes about 10 topics (the Bible and public schools, abortion, etc.) and reviews them, giving case study examples and a lot of interviews. I didn't expect this book to be interview-based, but I did learn a lot about peoples' beliefs vs. who they align themselves with politically. His main belief is that nothing will get done to make our country better at serving its people if the the main political arguments are about superficial topics.
May 6, 2025
I read this some years after publication (2025), having been intrigued by the title in a bookshop in Asheville NC on holiday last year.
In a way all the more interesting for being read later, as I think at least some of the author's hypothesis has been proven.
At times this gets into too much detail about particular cases or people interviewed, and could achieve the same in less words.
What does well is builds a picture suggesting that attempts to Christianise America by electing Christians and generating a theocracy are not only hard to square the the constitution, but are also pragmatically likely to fail. Using Alabama really helped this case.
It opens questions about the purpose of Christians in society and the extent to which it is appropriate to try to conform society and government to God's image this side of Jesus' return.
The US now appears to see something quite different; some things achieved that the religious right could only have dreamed of, but enabled by a president who gives less impression of personal faith than any for a long time. Supporting that idea that raw politics, rather than faith, was behind much of this.
Particularly interesting to read for an Englishman like me - where our 'constitution' specifically binds church and state; the King is the head of the church, sittings in the House of Commons begin still with prayer. Yet there is no sense of a 'religious right' here; there are occasionally fringe 'Christian parties', but little sense that Christians dominate the agenda of any party - there are few of us, and sadly a good number steer clear of politics altogether.
Yet church and state are in a way much more separate on this side of the Atlantic. The current PM is an atheist; it would be very unusual indeed for a pastor to tell his congregation how to vote (we have only really seen this with the Anglican bishops during the Brexit referendum - and statistics suggest that more than half their flock ignored them...). The King is almost entirely powerless in practice, and a pronouncement from ths church is often met with disdain in public discourse.
So a worthwhile read even if slightly heavy going at points; not only in that it led me to reflect on US / UK differences, but also in that it got me thinking again about the extent to which a Christian's role is to use political means to try to 'build God's kingdom on earth' (clearly to me we are to pursue justice - which includes valuing human life - but how seems a more open question?), rather than largely doing this by making Jesus known to others.
In a way all the more interesting for being read later, as I think at least some of the author's hypothesis has been proven.
At times this gets into too much detail about particular cases or people interviewed, and could achieve the same in less words.
What does well is builds a picture suggesting that attempts to Christianise America by electing Christians and generating a theocracy are not only hard to square the the constitution, but are also pragmatically likely to fail. Using Alabama really helped this case.
It opens questions about the purpose of Christians in society and the extent to which it is appropriate to try to conform society and government to God's image this side of Jesus' return.
The US now appears to see something quite different; some things achieved that the religious right could only have dreamed of, but enabled by a president who gives less impression of personal faith than any for a long time. Supporting that idea that raw politics, rather than faith, was behind much of this.
Particularly interesting to read for an Englishman like me - where our 'constitution' specifically binds church and state; the King is the head of the church, sittings in the House of Commons begin still with prayer. Yet there is no sense of a 'religious right' here; there are occasionally fringe 'Christian parties', but little sense that Christians dominate the agenda of any party - there are few of us, and sadly a good number steer clear of politics altogether.
Yet church and state are in a way much more separate on this side of the Atlantic. The current PM is an atheist; it would be very unusual indeed for a pastor to tell his congregation how to vote (we have only really seen this with the Anglican bishops during the Brexit referendum - and statistics suggest that more than half their flock ignored them...). The King is almost entirely powerless in practice, and a pronouncement from ths church is often met with disdain in public discourse.
So a worthwhile read even if slightly heavy going at points; not only in that it led me to reflect on US / UK differences, but also in that it got me thinking again about the extent to which a Christian's role is to use political means to try to 'build God's kingdom on earth' (clearly to me we are to pursue justice - which includes valuing human life - but how seems a more open question?), rather than largely doing this by making Jesus known to others.
August 21, 2022
This book was printed in 2006, 16 years ago, however it is extremely pertinent to today. One finds information about the founding fathers which is not taught and rarely mentioned. For instance, Thomas Jefferson's 1787 letter to his nephew Peter Carr in which he writes "Question with boldness even the existence of a god, because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Many of our "founding fathers" were deists not necessarily religious.
As for the 'Holy Vote" movement, the author notes, is just getting started to turn the US into a country where it is harder to get an abortion, for children to learn about sex, and "where public money will be made available to primarily to religious organizations that also do social service work." Something that has come to pass in 2022. In essence the fundamentalists want to return to something close to the doctrine of coverture.
As for the 'Holy Vote" movement, the author notes, is just getting started to turn the US into a country where it is harder to get an abortion, for children to learn about sex, and "where public money will be made available to primarily to religious organizations that also do social service work." Something that has come to pass in 2022. In essence the fundamentalists want to return to something close to the doctrine of coverture.
March 9, 2008
Read this for our church book-club. I didn't want to, since I was sure it would only raise my blood pressure, which it did. But Suarez is very even-handed and gives plenty of space to all sides of the various aspects of religious politics in the US today (actually, two years ago). He only allows himself to get impatient with and snarky towards the right in the last chapters--which is where I wished he'd been from the start.
October 1, 2011
A book for every American. A book for every Christian. Are we misguided in thinking separation of church and state is great...unless it is our particular religion we are talking about? Some very good insight on the protection that this wall of separation gives to all religions and why we might not want that wall to break down even in favor of our own particular views.
September 11, 2014
A very evenhanded treatment of the interaction of religion and politics over the last 10 to 15 years. That being said, there are a few times where the author questions the religious desire to enact a number of policies without offering similar critiques of their opponents.
December 28, 2007
Don't trust God.
July 22, 2008
Interesting read about the impact of the Evangelical Christian movement on US Politics. Written from the perspective of the 2004 election, is relevant reading for this next election cycle
December 8, 2008
don't let the title dissuade you. a good read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews