Religion In The 1984 Election

Introduction Over the years religion has without a doubt played a huge role and had a great deal of influence in elections from governors to presidents and everyone in between, and it remains to be a key topic of importance to voters today. Many voters choose a candidate whose religious beliefs seem to mirror their own, thinking that those with similar interests as them will create laws and policy that will fall in their own favor. The political party of a candidate can rely heavily on their religious beliefs as there is a trend with Democrats having liberal opinions on abortion, homosexuality, and gun control versus the tendency of Republicans to be conservative and be more religious with their beliefs.

The 1984 election was no exception

He later attended Eureka College, in Illinois, which happens to also be affiliated with Presbyterianism. He began his career in the film industry while switching later to politics in 1964 “when he gave a well-received televised speech for Republican president Barry Goldwater, a prominent conservative” (Kershaw 2012). He would then go on to win the California governorship just two short years later (Kershaw 2012). An assassination attempt on March 31, 1981 helped Reagan remember just exactly how important religion was to him, as he had believed God saved his life that day. A few days later he “said to Terence Cardinal Cooke … ‘Whatever time He’s left for me is His’” (Pierard 1985). Just a couple short years later, in August of 1984, Ronald Reagan, the incumbent president at the time, was selected once again as the republican presidential nominee at the 1984 Republican National

Tickets “had been distributed at local churches, synagogues, and work places” (Pierard 1985), symbolizing yet another way churches seemed to be throwing their support behind Reagan. At the convention, Reagan gave yet another compelling and powerful speech on the importance of religion within politics and the nation. He stated things such as “The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable, and as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide” (Gailey 1984) and “I believe that faith and religion play a critical role in the political life of our nation, and always has, and that the church – and by that I mean all churches, all denominations – has had a strong influence on the state, and this has worked to our benefit as a nation” (Gailey 1984). While “chants of ‘four more years’” could be clearly heard at the end of Regan’s speech (Gailey 1984), some claimed that this was a direct “assault on separation of church and state” (Gailey 1984). This speech would also go on to insult Walter Mondale greatly, who believed that Reagan’s speech was an explicit attack on his own beliefs and was calling him inherently “un-Christian” (Pierard