American civil religious rhetoric: putting assumptions to the test

This paper puts theoretical assumptions about the rhetoric of American Civil Religion (ACR) to the empirical test by analyzing a sample of Presidential election speech from 1960 to 2020. First, we quantify 14 motifs theorized to be part of ACR. Second, we examine the claim that ACR is a non-sectaria...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:National identities 2023-03, Vol.25 (2), p.101-117
Main Authors: Squiers, Anthony, Arsenault, Matt
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American civil religion
Articulation
Christianity
city on a hill
Civil religion
Partisanship
political rhetoric
Presidential elections
presidential rhetoric
Presidents
Rhetoric
Sectarianism
Speech
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Summary:This paper puts theoretical assumptions about the rhetoric of American Civil Religion (ACR) to the empirical test by analyzing a sample of Presidential election speech from 1960 to 2020. First, we quantify 14 motifs theorized to be part of ACR. Second, we examine the claim that ACR is a non-sectarian religion distinct from Christianity. Third, we consider if ACR is a persistent rhetorical phenomenon. Fourth, we investigate whether ACR articulation transcends partisan ideologies. We find that ACR is a non-sectarian religion which is distinct from Christianity, that it is a persistent rhetorical phenomenon, and that it transcends partisan lines. Nevertheless, we also find that some motifs previously theorized to be core tenets of ACR are conspicuously scant in the data examined.
ISSN:1460-8944
1469-9907
DOI:10.1080/14608944.2022.2064842