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The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse

Ceri Hughes Orcid Logo

International Journal of Communication, Volume: 13

Swansea University Author: Ceri Hughes Orcid Logo

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Abstract

The United States, despite official separation of church and state, is a country dominated politically by Christianity. This is evident in the almost unbroken ranks of Christians elected to the presidency; Christianity is currently a prerequisite to reach the office and a factor of salience when in...

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Published in: International Journal of Communication
ISSN: 1932-8036
Published: University of Southern California 2019
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60712
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last_indexed 2023-01-13T19:21:02Z
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spelling 2022-08-26T15:03:31.5871268 v2 60712 2022-08-03 The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14 0009-0003-9537-9016 Ceri Hughes Ceri Hughes true false 2022-08-03 CACS The United States, despite official separation of church and state, is a country dominated politically by Christianity. This is evident in the almost unbroken ranks of Christians elected to the presidency; Christianity is currently a prerequisite to reach the office and a factor of salience when in office. Presidential discourse is frequently infused with religious language. Content analysis of 106 “high-state” and 342 “minor-state” presidential addresses from Roosevelt to Trump provides evidence to illustrate how such language may be employed strategically. The use of general religious language and explicit references to God sharply escalated from the Reagan presidency, and, somewhat surprisingly, it is Donald Trump who is shown to have the highest rate with both these measures. There is also suggestion that this language may have been employed by some presidents to help trespass into areas of opposition strength. Journal Article International Journal of Communication 13 University of Southern California 1932-8036 presidential speech, religion, issue ownership, party politics, content analysis 30 4 2019 2019-04-30 https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484 https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University Not Required 2022-08-26T15:03:31.5871268 2022-08-03T12:04:04.3387035 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR Ceri Hughes 0009-0003-9537-9016 1 60712__24818__0bf91b0e934447d6b90fbd6e0ccf1880.pdf The God Card.pdf 2022-08-03T12:10:44.0191915 Output 328443 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright © 2019 (Ceri Hughes). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial NoDerivatives (by-nc-nd) License true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
spellingShingle The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
Ceri Hughes
title_short The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
title_full The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
title_fullStr The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
title_full_unstemmed The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
title_sort The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
author_id_str_mv ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14
author_id_fullname_str_mv ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14_***_Ceri Hughes
author Ceri Hughes
author2 Ceri Hughes
format Journal article
container_title International Journal of Communication
container_volume 13
publishDate 2019
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-8036
publisher University of Southern California
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR
url https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The United States, despite official separation of church and state, is a country dominated politically by Christianity. This is evident in the almost unbroken ranks of Christians elected to the presidency; Christianity is currently a prerequisite to reach the office and a factor of salience when in office. Presidential discourse is frequently infused with religious language. Content analysis of 106 “high-state” and 342 “minor-state” presidential addresses from Roosevelt to Trump provides evidence to illustrate how such language may be employed strategically. The use of general religious language and explicit references to God sharply escalated from the Reagan presidency, and, somewhat surprisingly, it is Donald Trump who is shown to have the highest rate with both these measures. There is also suggestion that this language may have been employed by some presidents to help trespass into areas of opposition strength.
published_date 2019-04-30T08:13:24Z
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score 11.04748

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