One Nation under God: Making Historical Sense of Evangelical Protestantism in Contemporary American Politics

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON P. NEWMAN

Commentators noted the role of the religious right in the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004. This essay suggests that such assessments are ahistorical and flawed, and illustrates the ways in which evangelical Protestantism has shaped American political life. Examples of the intersection of religion and politics include Jefferson's election in 1800, John Brown's trial and execution, Abraham Lincoln's Civil War leadership and William Jennings Bryan's radical democratic politics. The essay concludes by arguing that if American-studies teaching and research marginalizes religion it fails to comprehend a vital component of American society and culture.

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Mowlam

CENTRAL TO THE STUDY OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICS IS THE IDEA of popular control over the activities of elites. More specifically, how can the preferences of citizens be aggregated into a political choice for a government policy or government personnel? Popular control, the effects of citizen participation in political life, is the basis of a major value orientation in the discipline: the notion of participant democracy. The degree of citizen participation becomes the key to the nature of democracry in a society : the more participation, the more democratic the political life of a country becomes. Political participation may take a variety of forms, e.g., running for office, holding office,voting, soliciting votes, and campaigning for, or contributing funds to, I the party of one's choice. However, voting is the most emphasized aspect of citizen participation, since it is the only form of active participation many engage in. The limitations placed on voting as a mechanism for popular control over political choices are well documented. Voters do not choose when to vote, nor the agenda. They have minimal input into the selection of candidates and the choice of issues which divide the parties at elections. Public participation in the selection and resolution of important policy issues between elections is severely restricted.


Author(s):  
Todd Nicholas Fuist ◽  
Ruth Braunstein ◽  
Rhys H. Williams

This chapter introduces readers to the often-overlooked field of progressive religious activism in the United States, and maps its contours. First, it traces the history and continued relevance of progressive religious activism in American political life. Second, it argues that progressive religion should not be conceptualized as a category of social actors, but rather as a field of action defined by participants’ commitment to progressive action, progressive values, progressive identities, and/or progressive theology, as well as through participants’ efforts to distinguish themselves from the activities of religious conservatives and/or secular progressives. Finally, it assesses the varied ways that attention to progressive religion challenges common political binaries (like Right/Left and progress/tradition), and prompts a reconsideration of long accepted theories of religion and social movements as well as the role of faith in democratic politics and civic life.


Author(s):  
Alfred Stepan

This chapter investigates whether there should be more or less secularism in Indonesia and particularly, since religions can be neither wholly privatised nor allowed to dominate political life, what are the best ways of accommodating it in a democratic society, in line with this volume’s overall focus. Indeed, it should be pointed out that Indonesia lived under a military dictatorship from 1965 till 1998 so the question needs to be addressed first by asking if Indonesia is a democracy now; and if it is, what types of accommodations about religion Indonesians have made and why. I come at these questions as a specialist in subjects such as authoritarian regimes, military governments, the breakdown of democracies, failed and successful democratic transitions, and recently the role of religion and politics. My writing is normally comparative, and has often been based on field research in Brazil, Chile, Spain, India, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Senegal and Indonesia.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Tessler

AbstractThis paper explores the nature and determinants of attitudes toward the political role of Islam held by ordinary citizens in the Arab world. Based on results from nationally representative surveys carried out in seven Arab states during 2006-2007, it engages the pervasive debate about Islam and democracy—showing that the significant divide is not between those who favor democracy and those who favor Islam, but between those who favor secular democracy and those who favor a political system that is both democratic and Islamic in some meaningful way. Furthermore, this analysis finds that the civic values and predispositions of individuals who favor a political role for Islam are overwhelmingly similar to those of individuals who favor a separation of religion and politics. The paper also finds little consistency in the factors that incline individuals towards support for political Islam in the different countries surveyed. Most importantly, this analysis concludes that there is little or no incompatibility between Islam and democracy in the public mind and that a proper understanding of the reasons and ways that Muslim Arab publics think about governance and the political role of Islam is possible only if attention is paid to the particular political and societal contexts within which attitudes are formed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 664-677
Author(s):  
Vladimir N. Amelin ◽  
Arusyak Levonovna Hovhannisyan

The review reveals the main topics described in the monograph "Religion in modern Russia: contexts and discussions", published in 2019. The review examines the role of religion in the modern social and political life of Russia, the development of relations between the religious organizations and Russian state and society, the special features of the inter-religious dialogue in Russia, as well as the theoretical framework for studying the relationship between religion and the public sphere in the modern world. Modern political science pays mounting attention to the socio-cultural dimension and cultural and civilizational aspects of politics, overcoming the paradigm of modernity and the idea of linearity of political processes. Religion begins to act as one of the most important factors influencing the sphere of politics. In the current situation, when political processes are inherently post-secular, while the methods of describing them are still secular, it becomes necessary to develop new theoretical and methodological tools for studying the relationship between religion and politics. The review touches upon a possible theoretical framework for describing the role of religion in contemporary politics. The authors also pay attention to the role of religion in the formation of group identity, the socially significant functions of religious organizations, the role of religion in transmitting the most important values to wide sections of society. The review pays special attention to the problems of interreligious relations, as well as the relationship between religion and politics in Russia, emphasizes the important role of religion in resolving a number of problems in Russian society, where, in the context of the historically established coexistence of various religions and confessions, building interreligious and interconfessional dialogue is particularly important.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019/2 ◽  
pp. 5-39
Author(s):  
Darius Baronas

ANNOTATION. This article is the first attempt of the biographic research of Grand Duchess Uliana Algirdienė of Lithuania (d. 17/03/1392), based on the critical analysis of primary sources. It is also aimed at pointing out the reflection of the role of women in the pagan Lithuanian society. The research was carried out by means of the analytical and comparative method of historical source analysis with a view to separate as distinctly as possible the information derived from contemporary sources from the images imposed by later historiographic tradition. The article questions the stereotypes related to Uliana’s great political power in Lithuania’s political life that are well-established in modern historiography and present-day cultural memory. With this an attempt is made to draw attention to the problematic nature of information derived from historical sources as well as to more distinctly define the frames imposed by the political culture of pagan Lithuania which clearly marked the boundaries for the political activities of women representing the ruling dynasty. This article for the most part dwells on the issues related to the coverage of Algirdas and Uliana’s marriage and the period of their married life up to Algirdas’ death in 1377. KEYWORDS: Uliana, Algirdas, Simeon, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Moscow, Tver, Rus’, women


2017 ◽  
pp. 126-169
Author(s):  
S.E. Tariverdieva

The article deals with the development of the coregency system of Augustus and Agrippa from 29 to 18 BC: from formal and actual disparity of the coregents to their formal equality with the dominance of the princeps auctoritas. Particular attention is paid to the earlier stages of this development and to the crisis of 23 BC. The coregency system created by Augustus is often regarded by modern historians as means of ensuring uninterrupted succession of power. Agrippa as his coregent often is thought to have assumed the role of the regent who temporally replaces the princeps, just as it was in formal monarchies, or that of the tutor of the future rulers. However, the Roman system of state administration did not allow such type of regency. The princeps coregent, who was his equal in formal credentials but his inferior in terms of auctoritas, in case of the princeps death had to become the next princeps as his immediate successor. It is unlikely that later he was expected to voluntarily give up his power in favour of younger heir and to vanish from the political life altogether. The inheritance system under Augustus was like a ladder with the princeps at the top, the coregent who was also the immediate successor one step below, heirs of the next degree further down. In case of death of one of them, successors shifted one step up. The coregency had one more function: geographically it allowed Augustus and Agrippa to rule jointly the empire while staying in different parts of it.В статье исследуется развитие системы соправления Августа и Агриппы с 29 по 12 гг. до н. э.: от формального и фактического неравенства соправителей до их формального равенства при преобладании auctoritas принцепса, причём особое внимание уделяется раннему этапу этого развития и кризису 23 г. до н. э. Институт соправления, созданный Августом, часто рассматривается, как средство обеспечения бесперебойного перехода власти, причем Агриппе, как соправителю, НЕРЕДКО отводится роль регента, временно замещающего принцепса или воспитателя будущих правителей. Однако римская система государственного управления не предполагала регентства. Соправитель принцепса, равный ему по формальным полномочиям, но уступавший по auctoritas, в случае его смерти должен был СТАТЬ следующим принцепсом, ближайшим его наследником. Вряд ли предполагалось, что в будущем он должен добровольно уступить власть более молодому наследнику и исчезнуть из политической жизни. Система наследования при Августе представляла собой нечто вроде лестницы, на вершине которой стоял принцепс, на следующей ступени соправитель, он же избранный преемник, ниже наследники следующей очереди в случае смерти когото из них происходило продвижение наследников по ступеням вверх. Кроме того, соправление имело и иное значение позволяло Августу и Агриппе совместно управлять империей, находясь в разных ее частях.


1990 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Fredericia

The background for the present knowledge about hydraulic conductivity of clayey till in Denmark is summarized. The data show a difference of 1-2 orders of magnitude in the vertical hydraulic conductivity between values from laboratory measurements and field measurements. This difference is discussed and based on new data, field observations and comparison with North American studies, it is concluded to be primarily due to fractures in the till.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009059172098295
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Barringer

The Apology is often read as showing a conflict between democracy and philosophy. I argue here that Socrates’s defense critically engages deeply political Athenian conventions of death, showing a mutual entanglement between Socratic philosophy and democratic practice. I suggest that Socrates’s aporetic insistence within the Apology that we “do not know if death is a good or a bad thing” structures a critical space of inquiry that I term “mortal ignorance;” a space from which Socrates reapproaches settled questions of death’s appropriate place in political life, ultimately prompting a partial transformation of Athenian democracy. I argue here that Socratic mortal ignorance supports a self-reflective politics of death, one which produces many potential responses and accepts the impossibility of closing off death’s meaning in any final sense—an aporia suitable for the unending, precarious work of democratic politics.


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