The Rising Influence of Christianity in American Politics

Something I, and I think many other people as well, have been noticing is the increased use of Christian imagery and references in our public political discussions, debates, and speeches in the United States; something which although not completely foreign to the American tradition, has certainly fallen out of favor over the last few decades if not a little longer than that, due to an overall secularist tendency. This new tendency is also something much more pronounced on the American right rather than the left, for although we’ll get stray comments about a candidate or politician’s faith from a Democrat, it hardly goes beyond a vague declaration that they are “a person of faith;” whereas among the right we’ll often see direct quotes from Scripture and a renewed emphasis on the importance of religion in our politics. All of this is, as I would like to argue, very good news—unless you’re a secularist, in which case this is very very bad news.

I’ve already discussed the role that religion has to play in politics before, and I don’t think it should be a surprise to anyone that I think Christians ought to govern in accordance to their Christian faith. This does not mean imposing our religion on others, though it may imply establishing moral standards for society that not everyone agrees with, but that will always happen irrespectively of whether those moral standards come from one religion or another, be it Christianity or secularism. For all law is the imposition of a moral standard upon those who might disagree with it. A law that protects private property necessarily imposes the moral standard of private property upon those who would reject such a concept, whether they like it or not. And so with all things. The point of this article is to point out why Christians should see this recent trend as a good thing, even with the most pessimistic and cynical interpretation.

The first piece good news is that the Overton Window has shifted in such a way that politicians and normal people in political conversations can freely and openly express their faith and the religious motivation for their policy and positions. Rather than being shunned for “bringing religion into politics”—a silly criticism—it has now become not just acceptable, but even to some extent normal and in some cases a desired trait. It is no longer electorally damaging to openly be a man of faith and to make clear that your policy decisions will be guided by the principles of your faith.

The second piece of good news is that, irrespectively of whether or not these politicians are sincere about their Christian faith, this points towards a massive shift occurring in the American public. Let’s assume, just for a moment, that every single politician who is making some expression of faith in the arena of politics is doing so out of a cynical calculation that this way they’ll be able to gain more votes and win elections—at least if they’re on the right—or at least a majority of them. This still means that their electoral advisors have noticed that the American people themselves have shifted in this direction in a big way, and expect their politicians to express Christian values both in rhetoric and in policy. Sure, the politician himself may not be a practicing Christian by any stretch, and may not even truly believe the things he is saying, but if the people themselves are moving in that direction he will at the very least find himself forced to move in that direction as well, at least as far as necessary to get the people to vote for him.

The third piece of good news is that policy will also become more Christian. Going off of the previous point, even if the politician is merely a cynical calculator, if his constituents expect Christian policy to back up his rhetoric, the cynical politician will have to acquiesce if he wishes to win those votes. This is how representative democracy is supposed to work. And furthermore, by having a populace of Christians who expect Christian policy from their government, even if you don’t have actually Christian politicians now, you will get them in the future.

With all this being said, I think that we can all look towards our future with hope—except the secularists; you guys had a good run, but it’s over now—and know that with prayer, action, and Christian expectations of our representatives, we can turn our countries back toward Christendom.