Race, Religion & Politics

I recently went to a luncheon where DU professor Nancy Wadsworth discussed the role of race and religion in American politics.  The overlap with themes in our class was unbelievable, but one of the things that stuck with me the most was Wadsworth’s comments about intersectionality and the importance of religion.

When politicians only fall into one subordinate group (i.e. Mitt Romney’s affiliation with Mormonism, but still in the dominant for gender, race, class, and ability), it seems as if he/she has an easier time integrating into mainstream acceptance.  On the other side are candidates who are marginalized on several levels, even if not necessarily warranted.  For example, Barack Obama was constantly framed as ‘the other’, criticized for being too black OR not black enough; too Christian OR not Christian enough; targeted as a Muslim; too foreign, etc.  These attacks on different aspects of Obama’s identity began to symbolize who Americans thought should or should not be president.

Relating back to an earlier reading, “Critical Junctures in Intercultural Communication Studies: A Review” by Halualani , Mendoza & Drzewiecka, this most recent election demonstrated the importance of cultural intersection by ‘examining culture through the concepts of historical context and power relations.’  If one doesn’t perfectly fit into the dominant cultural identity of the U.S., s/he faces more obstacles in reaching positions of power.  Prior to the luncheon I had not really thought about religion as being such an important factor in elections, but looking back at history, religion is oftentimes viewed as a race and marginalized as such (i.e. Irish Catholics).  Even with supposedly universal access to First Amendment rights, freedom of religion as been racialized.  Whereas Catholics, Jews and Protestants were once marginalized in politics, but have since moved inside the circle of acceptance, atheists, indigenous religions, Buddhist Chinese and Muslims (religious groups associated with people of color) still remain on the outskirts of that same circle.

Do you think that religion still plays as important of a role in politics as it did in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations?  Could the U.S. ever elect a Buddhist or Muslim president?