Mobilizing Religious Interests

The role of religion has always been downplayed in politics. This however, is not
true once you go into the depths and study the effects of religious affiliations and
opinions on the politics and elections. To a normal person this can be dismissive
evidence that religious agenda has little to no effect on political matters, but an in
depth analysis of behind the scene as well as on stage connections of religious
opinion and political affiliations reveals the truth that when more than half the
population is religious their opinions and agendas begin to affect the political
outcomes in the elections. This is a somewhat unknown territory and only a depth
analysis refines the otherwise invisible patterns.

Chapter 5 of the book Religion and Politics in the United States tackles with this
problem. The chapter attempts to explain the role of religious bodies in election
campaigns and how they affect the general population. The chapter explains the
motives and means for religious mobilization. The means, motive and opportunity
model which is the model on which crime novels and thrillers are based works as a
framework for explaining the link between religion and politics.

The chapter begins by explaining the religious interests. How the solution to any
problem has to begin with somebody saying what is wrong and then the group
decides how the matter should be handled and how it should proceed. This plays a
huge role in policy making. Collective action plays a major role in this scenario.
Collective action occurs when a group does things in the form of a group. Sit-ins,
protests, boycotts are all examples of collective actions. Organized religious
interests are associated with formal memberships of groups like Christian Coalition
or Interfaith Alliance. Although, these are organized groups not all religious people
are part of organized groups and hold a separate solo and public opinion on matters
of policy making.
The chapter then moves forward towards the topic of establishing a motive as to
why religious mobilization is needed in matters of politics. First religious cultures
and interests are explained. This is the most highly valued point in defining the
motives for religious mobilization. Religion and culture play an important role in
the sense that matters pertaining to issues of public are heavily reliant on certain
set boundaries and norms set by a society and the phrase ‘God says so’ has a very
strong influence on people. This is why there are movements around subjects such
as gay marriages and abortions, because such laws against the norms which have
been passed down and set over the centuries. The chapter then attempts to identify
further sources of motivation mainly group think, group status, theology, world
view and institutional interests.

Group identity caters to the identity a religious group can provide to an individual.
The feeling of being a part of something bigger than yourselves and the sense of
belonging a religious group provides allows for people to adhere to the policies and
problems of a group. Group status means the status of a group in society. The
source of motivation in this scenario is that members may disagree with the current
working of the group and may believe that their group is not getting the due share
of public relation or that the way their group was meant to be run is under attack.
Theology is perhaps one of the most important sources of motivation for religious
mobilization. The sense that the person or party you are supporting believes in the
same ethics as your group and will prove useful in the matters of policy making
regarding your problems, provides perhaps the biggest linkage between religion
and politics. Worldview simply refers to the way a certain group views the world.
One group’s problems may seem not as important for another group. Institutional
interests mean the vested interest organized groups have in matters of public policy
making and how they chose to address it.
The chapter then moves ahead to discuss the means by which religious
mobilization takes place. The means discussed here are the role of elites, role of
clergy as political leaders, religious activists and community activists. The role of
elites refers to the clergies or the wealthy people in religious communities. They
bear the burden of framing the solutions as well as bearing the costs in providing
the solutions to problems. Recent surveys have shown that the leaders within a
religious organization are mostly the ones making all the religious decisions as
well as sending the religious messages. They are the ones controlling the ideas and
how best to move forward. While, clergies may take part in politics, their main
work is to provide religious and spiritual guidance the bulk of the religious matters
are handled by political activists who are much more public and can provide better
solutions to public problems. Moreover, if you apply this working to a community
then this work is done by community activists, as they are the ones attending
council meetings and dealing with the public and passing on matter of public issues
to relevant political authorities.

To conclude, I would like to say that the chapter has done an excellent job of
explaining how, and why, religious mobilization is done for political matters. The
explanation with various statistics and examples has done a good job of explaining
the motives and means behind religious mobilization in politics.