Religion, Politics, and Polarization How Religiopolitical Conflict Is Changing Congress and American Democracy

Big issues surrounding society today, such as abortion, homosexuality and the nature of marriage, affect people in some way or another, but do their views of religion affect the way they vote and the way the Congress has been shaped? In The Religious Factor in the U.S. Congress, 1690-2010, William D'Antonio, Steven Tuch and John White trace the influence of religion and party in the U.S. Congress over time. For almost four decades now these key issues have competed for public attention with health care, war, terrorism, and the growing inequity between the income of the middle classes and that of corporate America. They examine whether abortion and the other key issues throughout are uniquely polarizing or if they are models of a more general pattern of increasing ideological division in the U.S. Congress. By examining the influence of religion compared to these key issues the authors effectively address the question of how, if at all, the various religious denominations and sects were and are reflected in the religious makeup of the U.S. House and Senate. Throughout the book they draw on survey data, interviews, and extensive research, as well as compare the religious makeup of the First Congress to the present composition, to establish that party affiliation has trumped the influence of religion in the voting patterns of party members.