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Scholars assume that religious values, attitudes, and discourses have shaped American politics since the founding era despite official adherence to the principle of church-state separation. Many presidents have used religious symbolism and rhetoric as a political strategy for electoral gain, to influence public policy, and to justify military action. Presidents are also widely viewed as the "high priests" of America's "civil religion" because they perpetuate the widely shared American perception that God has particularly blessed the United States (Bellah 1967). Nevertheless, our knowledge about the nature and role of religious rhetoric is extremely limited at this time. Religion and politics scholars and sociologists of religion alike often assume that religion influences presidential leadership, but their assumption has not been subjected to rigorous empirical testing. Moreover, presidential scholars have ignored the role of religion on the American presidency. Our paper marks the beginning of a major study of the ways in which presidents strategically employ religious rhetoric. We are principally concerned with the question of whether and how the use of religious rhetoric by presidents hasvaried over time. In this paper, we begin the process of analyzing presidential rhetoric by assessing the use of substantive and symbolic religious rhetoric in the public speeches and statements made by Ronald Reagan during his two terms in office, 1981-1989. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars assume that religious values, attitudes, and discourses have shaped American politics since the founding era despite official adherence to the principle of church-state separation. Many presidents have used religious symbolism and rhetoric as a political strategy for electoral gain, to influence public policy, and to justify military action. Presidents are also widely viewed as the "high priests" of America's "civil religion," because they perpetuate the widely shared American perception that God has particularly blessed the United States (Bellah 1967). Nevertheless, our knowledge about the nature and role of religious rhetoric is extremely limited at this time. Religion and politics scholars and sociologists often assume that religion influences presidential leadership, but their assumption has not been subjected to rigorous empirical testing. Moreover, presidency scholars have ignored the role of religion on the American presidency. Our paper marks the beginning of a major study of the ways in which presidents strategically employ religious rhetoric. We are principally concerned with the question of whether and how the use of religious rhetoric by presidents has varied over time. In this paper, we begin the process of analyzing presidential rhetoric by assessing the use of substantive and symbolic religious rhetoric in the public speeches and statements made by Ronald Reagan during his first term in office, 1981-1984. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]