The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America

by David Domke

This volume offers a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past seventy-five years. The authors show that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics. Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, America has seen a no-holds-barred religious politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies, and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even celebrations of Christmas. The updated edition of this ground-breaking book includes a new preface, an updated analysis of the last Bush administration, as well as a new final chapter on the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the candidacies of Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama's victory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Religion

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Zeljka Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an examination of how U.S. politicians use religion to win votes and it is a real eye-opening. I did not care about this topic but had to get this book for the course I´m attending and I´m so glad. It is genuinely an interesting read, fascinating, and very informative, especially if you're at all curious about how influential religion has become in today's political arena. From now on I will definitely view the presidential campaigns in a whole new light.

[David Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only a short book - 150 pages or so if you don’t read the appendices (nobody reads the appendices). That said, it was still quite hard work to avoid skipping (I didn’t avoid skipping).
I was hoping for more of a narrative discussion around how and why the God Strategy became an actual strategy. I was particularly interested in the conflicts it would have caused inside the campaign HQs. For example - how did they manage to reconcile Republican donors on a pro-life (anti-abortion) agenda, when the GOP had previously defined itself on a libertarian, pro-choice ticket? There was a great opportunity to have had commentary and discussion with the staffers who were in the room when it happened. Instead, we get detailed analysis of the usage frequency of specific religious terms, presented on simple graphs, which, for some reason, the authors imagine is worth pages of detailed explanation.
I suppose when you put that much work into analysis, all you can do is present your findings.
It’s also an unavoidable artefact of chronology that the book was making its point so soon after Reagan. The only God Strategy evidence to draw from (Reagan, Clinton, Bushes Snr and Jnr) makes for thin data.
In case you’re interested - the logic of this book still plays out today. All three presidents since Bush Jnr have maintained or exceeded the high levels of religious rhetoric identified by the authors as beginning with Reagan. Rather than declining after Bush Jnr, the God Strategy intensified across party lines, challenging assumptions about which parties are truly secular.​​​​​​
Obama: Broke Democratic tradition by prominently featuring faith, using theological language that combined social gospel themes with evangelical-style personal redemption talk. His 2004 “awesome God” speech marked a shift from typical Democratic secularism.
Trump: in both terms - used / uses religious language at unprecedented levels - 7.3 religious terms per 1,000 words (double the presidential average). He also strategically (cynically?) deployed this rhetoric: almost none during primaries, then dramatically increased as nominee. Tailored religious language by state demographics, using more in religious areas.
Biden: Consistently wove speeches with biblical references, Catholic teachings, and papal quotes. His inauguration was described as “explicitly Catholic,” featuring St. Augustine quotes and emphasizing Catholic social doctrine like “the common good.” Regular Mass attendance and public faith displays.
It seems the God Strategy is here to stay. But I wanted a book that would help me make more nuanced sense of the big questions around it.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a statistical analysis of targeted word & reference counting in presidential speeches and proclamations over the last 70 years. As such, it's a useful and enlightening tool for understanding religious trends in American politics. The down side is that it is only part of the puzzle; which is perfectly okay as it doesn't pretend to be anything else. The last chapter is a bit of a rumination on politics and religion (with an avowed bias towards their separation), but the main thrust of the book is academic.

Other books and studies are better at teasing out why and how political positions have become increasingly "biblicized" over the last 30 years; this book simply establishes (quite authoritatively) that they have.

[Tung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: One of the authors (Coe) is the son of a friend of mine. That said, we’ll see what he thinks when he reads the following review. As the subtitle of this book states, this book examines “how religion became a political weapon in America.” It is a social scientist’s summary of why and how religion became so critically entwined with modern-day politics. Domke and Coe begin with the modern presidency (FDR) and demonstrate how the most recent presidents (Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush) have used religion as an effective way to mobilize votes, much more so than prior presidents. The examination of the intersection between faith and politics is a subject that has been done to death. A unique argument made in this book, however, is an examination of the usage of religious speech in presidential addresses. Domke and Coe investigate the number of occurrences of particular words and phrases (the mention of the phrase “God bless America” for instance) within presidential communications to illustrate how the four most recent presidents utilize religion in subtle and not-so-subtle ways to appeal to the public. They also do a good job of tracing particular nuances of presidential usage of faith. For example, while Bush and Reagan invoked God more often in their addresses, Clinton more often than other presidents tied the destiny of America to divine blessing. Overall, I only had one minor disagreement. One, I think the authors hold with a greater degree of certainty than I do that all of the religious/politics intersection is intentional. Early on, for example, they discuss George W. Bush’s “Christ moment”, his answer to the presidential debate question of 2000 on who he felt was the most personally influential philosopher. I don’t think Bush was intentionally seeking religious votes when he said Jesus Christ; I think he was too dumb, and couldn’t quickly name another philosopher. Domke and Coe don’t spend any time reflecting on what usage of religion might be strategic, and what might simply be the natural communication of a religious person. Otherwise, it’s a balanced and non-partisan look at the growing trend of taking advantage of religion to win votes.

[Meghan Humphreys]

Republicans know how to use religion for their own (nefarious?) purposes. Democrats, not so much, although Clinton came closer than anyone. So far, this is a detailed examination of how Reagan continues to eff up America from beyond the grave. Thanks a lot, Ronnie.

[MsChris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the introduction and first chapter. Was very interesting, especially the entire concept of the God strategy. After that, however, it just became repetitive with lots of charts, graphs and numbers.

[Abolade]

so far, a good solid background on God's language in politics dating back to the eighties.