The Future of Religion in American Politics

In this volume, editor Charles W. Dunn brings together twelve essays, in addition to his introductory one, on the subject of politics and religion in the United States. This book adds to what is now a burgeoning literature on religion and politics, though the interest of political scientists in this topic has been a relatively recent development, beginning in the 1980s. These essays are unique in their breadth and diversity. Methodologically, they range from theoretical discussions to historical arguments to empirical analysis. Topically, they touch on a broad array of issues, including questions of religious liberty (Novak), the Religious Right (Hart), America's status as a Christian nation (Helco), religion in the public square (Elshtain), and global religion and democracy (Hertzke). Although this collection is commendable for bringing together a variety of issues and methodological styles, it also exhibits an unevenness in the quality of the constitutive essays. Some offer intriguing arguments and a contribution to the field. For instance, Hart engagingly argues that a religious left represents the norm in American political history, while “the religious Right is actually an aberration within the history of evangelical politics” (144). To give another example, Smidt's essay presents a four-fold empirical classification of religious expression along two dimensions, public and private, to draw conclusions about how different modes of religious practice relate to political and civic engagement. Smidt concludes that those who are involved in public expressions of religion are more involved in other public activity, as compared to those who exhibit privatized religion or no religious expression at all. Other essays, such as those by Dreisbach, Dunn, Hertzke, Green, Arkes, and Helco, offer thoughtful insights, but largely traverse ground that has been covered elsewhere. Surprisingly, a handful of essays provide only brief treatment of a general topic (five or six pages), few or no footnotes, and read more like an opinion piece, than a scholarly essay.

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