What Is The Role Of Religion in US Political Life?

How does religion interact with politics in the US?

When we think of religion in US politics we might first think of the Christian right. Yet there are — and have been, historically — many ways in which religious belief and political action have interacted in the country that describes itself as “one nation under God”. Can we, from a cultural and geopgraphical distance, get any realistic picture of the interaction of these two systems of ideas, both of which are extremely complex and hotly contested? Is religion’s role in US politics ultimately incomprehensible? Or do we have a duty to do our best understand it given its enormous importance? And what (if anything) can our efforts to engage with these questions tell us about the British or European situations, which are clearly quie different? Dr Tim Stanley is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Royal Holloway’s History Department. He has written a biography of Ted Kennedy and is currently working on one on Pat Buchanan. As well as academic research, Tim has written for a variety of national newspapers and magazines and appeared on TV and radio.

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