Abstract
Recent deliberations on a new farm, food, and rural development bill in the House Agriculture Committee involved Scriptural exegesis:
At both committee meetings, debate over the food stamp cuts was heated, with defenders of the program saying that the bills would take food out of the mouths of children and the elderly. In the House, the discussion turned to the Bible. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., quoted the Gospel of Matthew in opposing the cuts: “When I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink.” In response, several Republicans talked about their Christianity and said the Bible encourages people to help each other but doesn’t dictate what the federal government should do. “We should be doing this as individuals, helping the poor,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., offered an amendment to do away with the cuts that was rejected by the panel. “Christians, Jews, Muslims, whatever—we’re failing our brothers and sisters here,” McGovern said. (Associated Press, May 17, 2013)
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adams, Greg D. 1997. “Abortion: Evidence of an Issue Evolution.” American Journal of Political Science 41 (3): 718–737.
Asmussen, Nicole. 2011. “Polarized Protestants: A Confessional Explanation for Party Polarization.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle.
Benson, Peter L., and Dorothy L. Williams. 1982. Religion on Capitol Hill: Myths and Realities. San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row.
Bradley, Martin B., Norman M. Green, Jr, Dale E. Jones, Mac Lynn, and Lou McNeil. 1992. Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990. Atlanta, GA: Glenmary Research Center.
Burden, Barry C. 2007. Personal Roots of Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
D’Antonio, William, Steven A. Tuch, and Josiah R. Baker. 2013. Religion, Politics, and Polarization. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Fastnow, Chris, J. Tobin Grant, and Thomas J. Rudolph. 1999. “Holy Roll Calls: Religious Traditions and House Voting. Social Science Quarterly 80 (4): 687–701.
Fenno, Richard. 1978. Home Style. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Fenton, John H. 1960. The Catholic Vote. New Orleans, LA: Hauser.
Grant, Tobin J., Lyman A. Kellstedt, and Thomas J. Rudolph. 1995. “The Changing Religious Composition of the U.S. Congress.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, St Louis.
Green, John C., and James L. Guth. 1991. “Religion, Representatives, and Roll Calls.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 16 (4): 571–584.
Green, John C., James L. Guth, and Cleveland R. Fraser. 1991. “Apostles and Apostates? Religion and Politics among Political Activists.” In James L. Guth and John C. Green, eds., 113–136. The Bible and the Ballot Box. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
Green, John C., and John S. Jackson. 2007. “Faithful Divides: Party Elites and Religion.” In David E. Campbell, ed., 37–62. A Matter of Faith: Religion in the 2004 Presidential Election. Washington, DC: Brookings.
Guth, James L. 2007. “Religion and Roll Calls.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.
Guth, James L., and Lyman A. Kellstedt. 2001. “Religion and Congress.” In Corwin E. Smidt, ed., 213–233. In God We Trust: Religion and American Political Life. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Haider-Markel, Donald P. 1999. “Morality Policy and Individual-Level Political Behavior: The Case of Legislative Voting on Lesbian and Gay Issues.” Policy Studies Journal 27 (4): 735–749.
Hanna, Mary. 1979. Catholics and American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hansen, Susan B. 2011. Religion and Reaction. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Highton, Benjamin, and Michael S. Rocca. 2005. “Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress.” Political Research Quarterly 58 (2): 303–316.
Hunter, James Davison. 1991. Culture Wars. New York: Basic Books.
Kellstedt, Lyman A., and James L. Guth. 2013. “Survey Research: Religion and Electoral Behavior in the United States, 1936–2008.” In Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith, eds., 93–110. Political Science Research in Practice. New York: Routledge.
Layman, Geoffrey C. 2001. The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
McTague, John, and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz. 2011. “Voting from the Pew: The Effect of Senators’ Religious Identities on Partisan Polarization in the U.S. Senate.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle.
—. 2013. “Thou Shalt Not Flipflop: Senators’ Religious Affiliations and Issue Position Change.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
Mann, Tom. 1990. “Religion in Congress.” The Arizona Republic, August 25.
Norris, Pippa, and Ronald Inglehart. 2004. Sacred and Secular. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oldmixon, Elizabeth Anne. 2005. Uncompromising Positions: God, Sex, and the U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Oldmixon, Elizabeth Anne. 2009. “Religion and Legislative Politics.” In Corwin E. Smidt, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and James L. Guth, eds., 497–517. Handbook of Religion and American Politics. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oldmixon, Elizabeth Anne, and Brian R. Calfano. 2007. “The Religious Dynamics of Decision Making on Gay Rights Issues in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1993–2002.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46 (1): 55–7o.
Poole, Keith T., and Howard Rosenthal. 2007. Ideology and Congress. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Rieselbach, Leroy N. 1966. The Roots of Isolationism. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
Rosenson, Beth A., Elizabeth Anne Oldmixon, and Kenneth D. Wald. 2009. “U.S. Senators’ Support for Israel Examined through Sponsorship/Cosponsorship Decisions, 1993–2002.” Foreign Policy Analysis 5(1): 73–91.
Smidt, Corwin E., Lyman A. Kellstedt, and James L. Guth. 2009. “Religion in American Politics: Explanatory Theories and Associated Analytical and Measurement Issues.” In Corwin E. Smidt, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and James L. Guth, eds., 3–42. Handbook of Religion and American Politics. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Lauren E., Laura R. Olson, and Jeffrey A. Fine. 2010. “Substantive Religious Representation in the U.S. Senate.” Political Research Quarterly 63 (1): 68–82.
Steensland, Brian, Jerry Z. Park, Mark D. Regnerus, Lynn D. Robinson, W. Bradford Wilcox, and Robert D. Woodberry. 2000. “The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art.” Social Forces 79 (1): 291–318.
Swierenga, Robert P. 2009. “Religion and American Voting Behavior, 1830s to 1930s.” In Corwin E. Smidt, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and James L. Guth, eds., 69–94. Handbook of Religion and American Politics. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Toff, Monica D., Daniel Philpott, and Timothy S. Shah. 2011. God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics. New York: W.W. Norton.
Wald, Kenneth D., and Clyde Wilcox. 2006. “Getting Religion: Has Political Science Rediscovered the Faith Factor?” American Political Science Review 100 (4): 523–529.
Warner, J. B. 1968. “Religious Affiliation as a Factor in the Voting Records of Members of the 89th Congress.” PhD dissertation, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Williams, Rhys H. ed. 1997. Culture Wars in American Politics. New York: De Gruyter.
Wuthnow, Robert. 1988. The Restructuring of American Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2014 Kevin R. den Dulk and Elizabeth A. Oldmixon
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Guth, J.L. (2014). Religion in the American Congress: The Case of the US House of Representatives, 1953–2013. In: den Dulk, K.R., Oldmixon, E.A. (eds) Mediating Religion and Government. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137389756_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137389756_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48392-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-38975-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)