ABSTRACT
The religious rhetoric produced by the Democratic Party is often described as an epiphenomenal reaction to the skilful employ of religious language by modern-day Republican politicians, who are commonly depicted as masters in the art of exploiting religion for political gain. If not viewed through such a restrictive prism, then the Democratic Party’s religious rhetoric is more often than not considered marginal, rare if not even purely non-existent. Chapter 4 brings evidence to the contrary and demonstrates that the Democratic Party has actually left a very specific religiously laden signature in general campaign speeches, be it by calling religious denominations by their name (Section 4.1), by articulating their vision of welfare and mutual aid with religiously laden justifications that seem rooted in a communitarian understanding of religion (Section 4.2), or else by referring to the Bible and actually quoting verbatim from it (Section 4.3).
