Rhetoric of Religion

Rhetoric of Religion

God and Race in American Politics: A Short History by Mark a. Noll

Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 2008 224 Pages

This work is a demonstration of the ability of any historian with the knowledge to do so being able to draw a direct line between decisions made today and their ideological basis. The work demonstrates very effectively that the theological standards and persuasions of the past strongly influence decisions about the nature of political decision making, by both the electorate and elected officials, as well as all the legislation and policy which they push forward, and its legitimate success and/or failure.

The thesis of the work is based upon the idea that the religious standards of antebellum America and all the contentious rhetoric associated with the questions of the determination of standards laws and even election outcomes have been significantly influential even to the present. The ideal of moral standards surrounding race and religion are the basis of modern political stratification. "The religious baptism of racially-based political positions, which occurred with increasing force from 1830, permanently stratified American political allegiance such that patterns from the earlier period have continued through a host of momentous alterations to define the present." (Noll, 2008, p. 14) Noll goes on to state that; "the race-religion connection in American history is suggested by two matters: the results of elections and the perpetual conflict over whether and how to use national power to shape social and cultural norms." (14)

The work then goes on to develop this thesis by utilizing thematic demonstrations of the ideas of the thesis. Noll's chapters include: The Bible, Slavery and the "Irrepressible Conflict, in which he discusses the fundamental attempt by individuals then and now to reconcile or reject slavery based on religious ideology, the Origins of African-American Religious Agency, in which he discusses the standards and ideologies of African-American faith living with and transitioning out of slavery, the Churches "Redemption," and Jim Crow, in which he discusses the ideologies associated with absolution for African-American slavery coupled with the religious resolution for segregation in the form of the Jim Crow laws and standards, Religion and the Civil Rights Movement, in which he discusses the motivational aspects of religion on various facets of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Movement as the Fulcrum of Recent Political History, in which he draws direct lines between the ideological foundations of the civil rights movement in the rhetoric of religion and how these ideologies became the foundation of modern ideals about moral and doctrinal right, wrong and to determine modern social and cultural norms and taboos and finally, Theological Conclusion, in which Noll traces many of the ideologies of this work back through theological interpretations.

The work clearly draws a line between the religious rhetoric of the early antebellum years back to foundational ideas about what is an is not an acceptable "moral" stand for candidates, and diverse other social and political orders as well as building a case for the fact that even when the youngest, least histriological individual in modern culture claims isolation from the religious rhetoric of the 19th century they are doing so falsely, as the standards associated with policy, candidacy, electorate, constitution and many other public entities are fundamentally based upon these ideals, and are likely to remain so for some time.

Noll's assessment of the influence and power that mainstreamed theological education, among both balcks and whites is an essential aspect of how he argues that the religious and moral rhetoric associated with the Civil Rights Movement was shaped. In his chapter specifically on civil rights he gives several examples of how religious rhetoric moved through the institutions that had historical roots in faith and the dissimination of the moral proofs of faith into mainstream education. This thesis is significant in that many institutions, for both blacks and whites in the early days were founded by religious orders and when those institutions began to transition to more modern ideals they also borrowed from more diverse religious sources to do so. The example of how Gandhi's teachings were integrated into mainstream education for blacks is a foundational argument that supports this thesis as well as the whole thesis of the work. Individuals seeking more modern and multicultural ideals regarding how to demonstrate that all peoples are equal and should have equal rights, including those in the minority did not have far to search as they looked to world examples for what to call the system in which minorities lived, one theologian going so far as to call the system a caste system, that unfairly held black youth within a standard that would not translate to modern culture and left them with significant obstacles to overcome. (pp. 111-112)

The author effectively sought and achieved a purpose which draws direct correlations between modern ideals and the moral obligations of religious rhetoric. Calling on examples from all over the world, in some cases, but fundamentally linking much of it back to new and "better" interpretations by founding institutions about ecumenicist and religions morality that should and did fight for resolution of the race question, but was fundamentally incapable of offering anything but interpretive conflict. When Noll argues that the resolutions of the culture with regard to race were not possible through this venue he is well directed, and makes claim that just such a standard followed America even into the modern era. It goes without saying, though Noll argues it wel, that Calvinist interpretations of fundamental rights and standards are individualistic and can vary from person to person and place to place. With this individual thread being the key to individual rather than global reconciliation the conflicts over race were likely to continue for as long as there is an independent interpretation to be had regarding the question. (p. 48)