The use of scripture and the appeal to its authority is not new in American political life, but in recent election cycles it has emerged in new ways on all sides of the political spectrum. This panel will explore how nominally secular political movements and events in the United States are shaped by the use of scriptural texts. Drawing together scholars of various religious traditions who will each offer short reflections on individual moments of scriptural citation in US politics, this panel will interrogate the relationship between scripture and politics in our present moment. We anticipate that an interrogation of this phenomenon will allow us to understand something important about the power of religious language in modern politics; and the roles of faith, community, and memory as discursive ideals or instruments of moral suasion in political speech.
“When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’" This line from former President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech makes clear reference to Psalm 133:1, but to what end? This paper will examine the use of this scripture citation and demonstrate how it is being engaged through the lens of Christian nationalism, an ideology that influced both the 2015 Presidential campaign and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capital. Further, it will be argued that such modes of scriptural engagement in public political discourse subtly shape the expression of civil religion and nationalist discourse so as to equate "American identity" exclusively with a particular form of white evangelical Christianity that rejects, for example, the possibility of Muslims identifying as Americans.
This paper will explore President Joe Biden’s use of The Quran during the annual Eid al-Fitr dinners that hosts Muslim civic leaders, thinkers, and activists at The White House. By quoting from verses 49:13 and 30:22, Biden aims to promote and sanctify American values of equality and diversity, feeding Muslim American appetites for inclusion and belonging in a post-Trump presidency.
In this panel participation, Shonda Nicole Gladden, an AME Elder, Womanist, and Americanist by training, explores Stacy Abrams’ paraphrase of Isaiah 40:31 in “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” a 2020 documentary film on voter suppression in the United States.
| Nauman Faizi | nauman.faizi@lums.edu.pk | View |