Religion and Rhetoric

Last updated on: October 9, 2012 at 8:18 am by Andre E. Johnson

Religion and Rhetoric 2012-10-09T08:18:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

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The issue of how churches — and religion in general — ought to relate to public life was debated even before there was a United States of America. The Continental Congress appointed chaplains to lead prayers. George Washington himself, in his Farewell Address, held that “of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports.” He issued proclamations for days of prayer and thanksgiving, actions that his successors, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, refused to follow.

The election of 1800 was bitterly contested and featured the first use of religious language and argument directed against a presidential candidate. Jefferson was called an “atheist” and an “infidel.” Rumors were circulated that, if elected, Jefferson would confiscate Bibles and turn the nation into an atheistic Republic. One newspaper warned: “the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart is ‘shall I continue in allegiance to GOD — AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT; Or impiously declare for JEFFERSON — AND NO GOD!!!” It was the first time — but far from the last — that religion would become a topic of presidential campaigning.

From the very beginning, there was spirited disagreement about what the proper role of religion should be in government. But political campaigns were another matter altogether. There were no rules or laws governing the use of religious topics, language or arguments. In a country that valued free speech, candidates and their surrogates could make whatever appeals they believed would be effective in helping to elect their preferred candidate. And they did.

The campaign of 1828 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson featured an even nastier religious element than the 1800 election. Jackson supporters charged that Adams had “denounced the Roman Catholics as bigots, worshippers of images, and declared that they did not read their Bibles”; furthermore, they charged Adams with secretly working to “unite CHURCH AND STATE after the manner of the English monarch.”
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