“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
“I am the Chosen One.” ~ Donald J. Trump
Long before the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Party, for better or worse, earned the moniker, “the Party of Faith” for its strong affiliation with Christianity and its adoption of certain Christian moral teachings [1]. Conversely, the Democratic Party has been labeled “the Party of Secularity” for its emphasis on inclusivity and adoption of Christian social justice [2] [3]. This has caused many Americans (and perhaps even the whole world) to ask: how does Christian thought relate to American politics?
Every religiously inclined person has the right to be politically active. The Supreme Court has repeatedly guaranteed religious institutions and their members the constitutional right of advocating for or against any legal position contrary to their faith [4]. Ideally, the job of the politician, particularly if he is religious, is to safe-guard rather than weaponise these positions. Politicians typically do whatever will advance their political careers, whether that preserves or harms the inviolable position that Christian thought has in this nation. This renders Christian thought unintelligible in contemporary political dialogue.
It would be foolhardy to say that the United States was not founded as an inherently Christian nation, whose laws are influenced by Judeo-Christian thought [5]. This is self-evident by the emblem of our Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges the Laws of Nature and the inalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness as endowed with by our Creator [6]. Our Founding Fathers understood this in terms of Judeo-Christianity and embedded the acceptance of a natural moral law in the nation’s social fabric. It was their committed belief that this was necessary for the proper formation of the American citizen and for the full realization of the American Dream [7].
The inalienable rights of mankind are not exclusionary to the Jew or Christian: they are the rights of all people. Those religiously disaffiliated and of different religions are full members of the American citizenry. By its inherent nature, Christianity does not force itself upon anyone. In this respect and in recognising that the government must be a secular institution to serve the needs of all, the Founders affirmed the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which guarantees there to be no established religion and the free exercise of all [8].
Christianity is not a monolith. Because of our country's unique history and its original settlers, Protestant Christianity is the dominant sect. Protestantism consists of various Christian denominations that have varying scriptural interpretations. With this interpretational multitude can and does come numerous religious justifications for any political decision. Catholicism, a Christian minority in America, relies on the Church’s innate hierarchical structure for guidance. Because of this unified governing authority, American Protestants were once frightened that American Catholics would request and accept political instructions given by the bishops [9].
Despite these historical, internal divides, the overall decline in Christianity nationwide and the rise in both the religiously disaffiliated and other religions has led to a conglomeration of traditionalist Christians on the Republican side and of progressive Christians on the Democrat side [10].
The Republican Party has wrapped itself in the messianic-mystique of Christianity and has taken up the clarion-call of Christian morality. Christian morality, because it is socially conservative by nature, cannot help but be controversial in an increasingly secular age. Since the rise of the Moral Majority in the Reagan Era, contemporary conservative policies of limited government, free markets, and peace through strength have found themselves increasingly linked with the Christian identity of the Party [11] [12]. Two forms of conservative thought are identifiably radical: Christian nationalism and Catholic integralism. Much is heard of Christian nationalism and its dominant strand of white Christian nationalism. It uses scriptural interpretations to weaponize personal fears and prejudices and therefore justify the exclusion and discrimination of others based on their ethnicity and religion [13]. What matters here is what sect of Christianity you belong in and if you meet the necessary tribal identifiers.
Until recently, not much was heard of Catholic Integralism. It accepts the teaching that the Catholic Faith is the only true Faith and that the political authority of the State is ordered to the common good of human life [14]. However, Integralists misinterpret and distort the Catholic Church’s promotion of religious liberties by encouraging a Church-State union that promotes the dominance of Catholic Christianity [15]. Integralism has the potential of pitting the Faith in violent opposition against other denominations and religions.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party has ostensibly taken up the banner of Christian social justice. If it sounds contradictory for a secular, left-wing party to embrace any form Christian teachings, it is not. In fact, Christian social justice can easily be viewed outside of its divine message to be a type of radical secular social movement. The Progressive Movement heavily aligns the American liberal views of strengthening democracy, protecting freedoms, and advancing societal equity with Christianity [16] [17]. The greater expansion of LGBTQ+ and women's reproductive rights are framed in the context of reforming the negative identity portrayed by mainstream Christianity. The claim is made that the current restrictions on these rights hold no biblical or spiritual grounds and are, subsequently, social impositions [18]. Theology of Liberation goes a step further by realigning Christianity with socialist and communist doctrines: the world is placed in terms of a class struggle, where the workers must engage and win in a violent struggle against the owners and their allies [19]. What is interesting, though, is that there exist Democratic voting blocks that are socially conservative yet politically left-leaning. A prime example is the African-American community. Despite being a major Democrat voting block for reasons of race and the Party’s promise of bringing them economic and social prosperity, many African-Americans hold highly conservative views on Christian morality [20].
These are rough categorizations; but they capture, more or less, the trend of partisan extremism. I say all this as a conservative who supports certain Republican policies. But I am also a Christian—a Roman Catholic—who is not pleased with the distortion of Christianity for political purposes. A person’s Faith is meant to be the linchpin of their way of life. But when politicians narrow in on certain Christian positions that vaguely align with their agenda, they implicitly make Christianity contingent to their political affiliation. Not only does this make Christianity appear partisan, but it also aids in creating a false image of Christianity to both believers and non-believers, irrespective of their political affiliation. This can either extremise, or serve as a driving force for religious disaffiliation. How can the everyday American look at politics and religion as anything but a dismal mess?
End Notes:
[1] Campbell, David E. 2020. “The Perils of Politicized Religion.” Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences 149, no. 3 (Summer): pg. 87-104.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ross, Lee D., Yphtach Lelkes, and Alexandra G. Russell. “How Christians Reconcile Their Personal Political Views and the Teachings of Their Faith: Projection as a Means of Dissonance Reduction.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, no. 10 (2012): 3616–3622. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1117557109
[4] Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York, 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
[5] The Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States, “‘The Christian in Action’: Statement by Catholic Bishops Attacking Secularism as an Evil,” New York Times, November 20, 1948, 63. https://www.nytimes.com/1948/11/21/archives/no-pockets-in-a-shroud-by-horace-mccoy-167-pp-paper-covers-new-york.html.
[6] The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, July 4, 1776, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.
[7] An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North‑West of the River Ohio, National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, July 13, 1787, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/northwest-ordinance.
[8] The Bill of Rights: A Transcription, National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, December 15, 1791, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript.
[9] National Public Reporter. “Transcript: JFK’s Speech on His Religion.” NPR, September 12, 1960. https://www.npr.org/2007/12/05/16920600/transcript-jfks-speech-on-his-religion.
[10] Becka A. Alper et al., “Who Are ‘Spiritual but Not Religious’ Americans?”, Pew Research Center, December 7, 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/who-are-spiritual-but-not-religious-americans/
[11] Johnson, James M. “7 Core Principles of Conservatism.” U.S. Congressman Mike Johnson, 2018. https://mikejohnson.house.gov/7-core-principles-of-conservatism/.
[12] Applebome, Peter. 2007. “Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority Founder, Dies at 73.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/obituaries/16falwell.html.
[13] Maxwell, Angie, and Todd G. Shields. 2019. The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics. N.p.: Oxford University Press.
[14] Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), promulgated November 21, 1964, Vatican, no. 14, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html
[15] Waldstein O.Cist, Edmund. “What Is Integralism Today?” Church Life Journal, October 31, 2018. https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/what-is-integralism-today/.
[16] Dias, Elizabeth. 2021. “In Biden's Catholic Faith, an Ascendant Liberal Christianity (Published 2021).” The New York Times, January 23, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/us/biden-catholic-christian.html.
[17] 2024 Democratic Party Platform, Democratic National Committee, July 2025, https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf
[18] Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ. “What Is Progressive Christianity?” Bethel UCC, 2026. https://www.bethelbeaverton.org/progressive-christianity.
[19] The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Instructions on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’” Vatican, August 6, 1984. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html
[20] Shelton, Jason E. “The Black Church and the 2024 Presidential Election.” Brookings, February 15, 2024. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-black-church-and-the-2024-presidential-election/.