Politics and Religion
Political Science 425
Spring 2006
Dr.
Sean F. Evans
Office: PAC A-38
Phone: (731) 661-5237
Email: sevans@uu.edu
"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and
unto God what is God's" (Matthew 22).
For Christians 2000 years ago and today, differentiating between what is
God's and what is Caesar's has not always been easy. During the Middle
Ages, the Pope claimed that all was God's and that the state must act within
the dictates of the Church. Today, you
will find people, including some religious people, who claim that all belongs
to Caesar and God should not enter into any political considerations. Many of the proponents of this view take the
separation of church and state literally by erecting a high wall that prevents
any religious belief from entering the public square. However, they fail to realize that by passing
legislation that restricts or regulates religious activity they breach the wall
they claim to support.
Even if we could prevent the state from imposing
upon the church or vice versa, we still could not eliminate religion from our
public discussions. For many people, their
faith is at the core of who they are. As
such, their religious beliefs guide their political beliefs. Evangelicals' belief that a fetus is a human
life leads them to oppose abortion. Jews
who want to protect their religious heritage oppose prayer in school because
they believe the state is denigrating their religion. African Americans believe that the God who
brought the Israelites out of bondage in
If religion inevitably plays a role in domestic and
international politics, what role exactly should religion play? What are the problems associated with full
engagement or complete withdrawal or some place in between? These are some of the questions that will
guide us over the coming semester. We
begin by examining the role that religion plays in the public square looking at
how religion’s role in politics has evolved over the past millenia. Next, we examine the political behavior of
religious groups in
Requirements
Let me begin by discussing what this class is and is
not. This class is not a class about
theology. It is a class about politics
but with an emphasis on how religion affects politics. As such, we will discuss theology but not in
the context of who is right and who is wrong.
Following the Baptist tradition, that is an issue between God and
you. Instead, we will discuss how
theology has influenced and continues to influence politicians, citizens, and
political theorists.
This class will follow a seminar format. What this means is that I will not lecture or
I will do it rarely. Instead, I will
provide the topics and some overarching themes, but it is up to you to provide
the discussion. In this discussion format,
I am a facilitator as you and your colleagues grapple with important issues,
challenge many of your existing beliefs, and improve your critical thinking and
communication skills as you parry and thrust with your colleagues. However, this class will only work if you
come to class prepared each day.
The readings for this class come from three books
and many reserve readings available in the library. The three books available at the Lifeway Bookstore are:
Curtis,
Michael. 1981. The Great Political Theories, Vol. 1.
Huntington,
Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking
of the World Order. NY: Touchstone.
Wald,
Kenneth D. 2003. Religion and Politics in the
Grading. Your grade for this course is determined from three
exams, a paper, and your in-class participation. As a 400 level course, all exams are essay
and each of the three exams is worth 20% of your grade. There are no make-up exams so if you miss the
first exam, the final counts twice.
While I have high expectations, I reserve the right to
curve grades to your benefit. In
addition, what is important is what you know at the end of the semester and not
at the beginning. Therefore, if a
student makes substantial improvement over the course of the semester, the
student’s grade is based on his or her work at the end of the semester (e.g., D
on first test but A on last test and active participation and positive
contribution to simulation, A for the course).
After exams are returned, you must wait 24 hours before
discussing the exam with me. This serves
as both a cooling off period and as a time for you to reflect upon the exam and
what you may have done wrong. We will
then sit down and discuss any problems you may have had with the exam, how we
can correct this, and how you can improve over the course of the semester. If I make a mistake, I will rectify that but
I do not engage in point grubbing. Finally,
when and/or if I curve test or final grades, I reserve the right to withhold
the curve from students who never attend class.
Paper. The paper for this class requires students to
do a social/political analysis of a church, synagogue, or mosque. In this paper, you will engage in
participation observation, primary document analysis, Web page analysis, and
outside research to discuss the role of politics in the religious group that
you visit. More detailed information
will be provided later. The paper is
worth 30% of the grade and is due on April 7 though we will begin our
discussions on April 5. Students must
receive my approval for your church by February 10.
In writing your
paper(s), please write in a clear and organized fashion. Be sure to include a thesis, topic sentences,
introduction, conclusion, etc. While
this is not a grammar course, an integral part of communication is good
grammar. As such, I will stop reading
any paper that has not been spell checked or grammar checked (it is usually
easy to tell) and assign that paper an F.
Since the paper requires some outside research, proper citations are
required and rules against plagiarism are enforced. For more information, please check out my
Writing Guide at www.uu.edu/personal/sevans/wrtngguide.htm.
Participation. I expect all of you to participate in class. This is a small class so if
you neither read and nor participate, it will be obvious. While quality is usually more important than
quantity, the small size of this class makes both equally important. Moreover, an
important component of a liberal art education is your ability to synthesize
and present material to others and this tests this. Finally, you increase your ability to
participate by reading and bringing the relevant reserve readings and textbook
to class. I do however expect that you treat all
members of the class, including any special speakers that may come, the
courtesy that you would like exhibited toward you.
Class
participation is worth 10% of your grade.
In assessing participation, students who attend class but do not
participate earn a D in participation.
Those who show they read but show a superficial understanding receive a
C. Those who read and show they
understand the material in discussions receive a B for participation and those
who excel by showing a thorough understanding of readings and an ability to
connect concepts across lectures, readings, and discussions receive an A for
participation.
Cheating. Don’t do it. Anyone caught cheating will receive an
automatic F for the course and will be referred to the appropriate authorities
for punishment.
Extracurricular. Students are
expected to attend special political science events this semester.
Special Needs. If you have any special needs that will affect your
ability to learn in this class, please inform me and I will take the
appropriate steps to help you.
The Syllabus. I reserve the right and prerogative to modify the
syllabus in accordance with student needs. The syllabus should not be construed
as a contract.
Class Outline
Feb.
1 Introduction – What is God’s and what is Caesar’s?
Feb.
3 The City of
Curtis
The Great Political Theories, Vol. 1,
"Early Christianity"
Feb.
6 The Two Swords and the Separation of Church and
State
Curtis,
“Medieval Life and Thought” and "The Two Realms"
Feb.
8 The
Curtis,
"The Renaissance" & “The Reformation”
Feb.
10 Middle Ages
Curtis,
“Resistance,” “Divine Right,” and “Constitutionalism”
Feb13
Classical Conservatism
Selections
from Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France
Feb.
15 Move to Secularism
Feb.
17 Can the state enforce morality?
Feb.
20 Traditional Conservatism Responds
Nash, Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, chs. 2-3
Feb.
22 Neoconservatism
Excerpts
from Gershon's The
Essential Neoconservative Reader
Feb.
24 Naked Public Square
Selections
from Neuhaus The
Naked
Feb.
27 The Things That Matter Most
DiIulio and Dionne What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?,
Politics and Witness
March
1 Is politics inherently immoral and how can
Christians be effective?
March
3 Catch – up and review
March
6 First Exam
March
8 Is the
Wald, chs. 1& 3
March
10 Civil Religion
Pierand &
Linder, Civil Religion and the Presidency, chs. 1-2
March
13 Church-State Relations
Wald,
ch. 4
March
15 Religion and American Public Policy
Wald,
ch. 5
March
17 Religious Dimension of American Political Behavior
Wald,
ch. 6
March
20-24 Spring Break
March
27 Christian Right
Wald,
ch. 7
March
29 Non Evangelical Religious Politics Today
Wald,
ch. 8
March
31 Catch-up
April
3 Second Midterm
April
5 Churches and politics – paper discussions
April
7 Churches and politics – paper discussions
April
9 Your faith and politics/Evangelical Political Philosophy
National
Association of Evangelicals “For the Health of
the Nation”
April
12 The Social Gospel
Selections
from Rauschenbusch’s Christianizing the Social Order
April
14 Good Friday – No Class
April
17 Liberation Theology
Gutierrez
“Liberation Theology” and Chopp “Latin American
Liberation Theology”
April
19 Just War Theory
Fotion "Reactions to War:
Pacifism, Realism, and Just War Theory" and Crawford “Just War Theory and
April
21 Human Rights/Humanitarian Intervention
Caney
"Human Intervention and State Sovereignty"
April
24 Faith Based Organizations
DiIulio and Dionne What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?,
Faith Based Social Action
April
26 Values as Solutions to the Collective Action Problem
Frank
"A Theory of Moral Sentiments" and Smidt
“Religion as Social Capital”
April
28 Clash of Civs
May
1 Clash of Civs
May
3 Clash of Civs
May
5 Clash of Civs
May
8 Clash of Civs
May
10 The Next Christianity
Jenkins
“The Next Christianity”
May
12 Catch-up and review
May
17 Final 8:30-10am