American Politicians: Secular Statesmen or Spiritual Saviors?

President Donald Trump speaking at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference on June 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. Photo via Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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Despite the social standard for religious involvement plummeting over the past decades, the far-right political sphere continues to use the church as its launching pad. The overlap is so prevalent that, at times, it’s unclear where religious worship ends and secular politics begin.

Pew Research Center has been documenting the steady decline of people in pews in America—especially among young adults. Fordham University’s student body has followed this national trend of decreasing religious affiliation over the years despite its reputation as a religious university, with the percentage of students identifying as Catholic dropping from 46% in 2019 to 32% today.

Recent polls suggest a stagnation in this decline, but the 18-24 age group has become a progressively tougher sell on the church, specifically traditional Christian ideologies. 

Robert Lewis, adjunct professor of Theology at Fordham, as well as pastor of his local Methodist church, reported via Google Meet that “it’s hard to recruit people who are younger, even when their parents are attending.” However, given all of the scandal and controversy around churches, he doesn’t hold it against young people for not being able to find their way to faith.

Professor Lewis earned his Ph.D. in Theology at Fordham in 2013, and has been teaching theology classes at the university ever since. In his experience as both a political and spiritual individual, Lewis has picked up on some concerning trends in the political landscape. He noted that his beliefs do not reflect those of the university.

“Political parties have tended to abuse religious constituency groups for their particular ends,” said Lewis. “There’s a disconnect between the red-letters of Jesus and the policy-making going on in Jesus’ name.”

People naturally try to implement the same values they have spiritually to politics, since, in essence, both strive for improvement and perfection in human nature.

Lewis assessed that there was a “tug-of-war” between Christians following the message of inclusion and goodwill and, on the other side, elected officials distorting Christian beliefs and prioritizing power. Essentially, the end that these Christian-advertised politicians are aiming for is not always for the sake of honest righteousness and does not justify the means. 

Lewis also condemned the use of Jesus playing a supporting character for a political party.

“As a believer, your faith is wrapped up in Christ, not in a political party,” said Lewis. “If you are loyal to Jesus, your loyalty does not reside—cannot reside—in a political party.”

The genesis of this religious takeover is evident in the 1980s, when pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell pushed the idea of Republicans being the intercessor for a Christian God. This gave the Grand Old Party a chance to use charismatic evangelicalism to juxtapose themselves with the so-called unholy democratic model, thus becoming a thorn in the democrats’ side.

Now, the GOP’s use of religion as a political tool has been giving them an edge among the demographic of young voters still associating with religion, specifically young males. But why is it that young Americans feel this craving for this conservative approach in the first place? 

One primary contributor is how anxious social media has made us. We are constantly fed information online that we carry in the form of pessimism towards the world, so when a political party uses this fearmongering and suggests that they can fix it, people naturally latch onto that. 

“It’s right for you guys to feel anxious,” said Lewis. Anxiety, along with “total frustration,” is facilitated by social media among young people. 

Recognizing this energy of instability, political parties have taken advantage of religious principles to recruit voters. The young generations are used to getting what they want in the most captivating ways, something that evangelical religions have caught on to. 

“People on the far right who have church styles that model this high energy tend to [attract] young people,” said Lewis.

Image via Religious Landscapes Study of U.S. Adults conducted by Pew Research Center.

Entering this era of possible religious reawakening, the younger subsect is more likely to gravitate towards the conservative beliefs of the right. It is important for these new adults to be cautious of what they sign up for and remember that, more often than not, a politician’s motivations end up diverging from any well-intentioned spiritual origin.

To combine the two spheres in a constructive way, Lewis encourages people to allow faith to inform ways of life. “If Martin Luther King Jr. had not been faithful,” said Lewis, “the civil rights movement would not have had the look that it did.”

Keep your wits about you when politicians draw parallels between their policy and divinity and recognize that Capitol Hill is no Mount Sinai. If you use scripture as a guide for political decisions, remember that all organizations of humanity should be for the good of humanity. 

“There has to be some kind of a groundswell of ‘can we make policy decisions based on the common good?’” urged Lewis. “Whatever will help most of us will help all of us.”

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This article was edited by Hayley Dunn.