Exceptional secularism: The religion-politics nexus in American domestic and foreign policy orientations

Oussema Othmeni

Exceptional secularism: The religion-politics nexus in American domestic and foreign policy orientations

Oussema Othmeni

Abstract

The growing political polarization in the United States of America in the 21st Century was accompanied by shifting ideological landscapes that reflect how cultural and religious divides continuously shape public discourse and policy orientations. Accordingly, this article highlights the role of religious paradigms in influencing political practice in the American context. It aims to inform current scholarship by assessing the relationship between religion and politics from both historical and contemporary perspectives. The article examines the fundamental relationship between Amer- ican Exceptionalism, political practice, and religiosity. It argues that the American model of secularism is exceptional in nature and post-secular in practice. This study demonstrated that religion plays a significant role in shaping American political culture and policymaking processes despite the U.S. Constitution’s emphasis on the separation of Church and state. This confirmed that key historical and contemporary instances where religious rhetoric intertwined with political discourse reflect a considerable reliance on religious paradigms to formulate and legitimise domestic and foreign policy orientations. Furthermore, the paper assessed the implications of the religion-politics entanglement on U.S. democracy by evaluating whether American political practice truly aligns with the secular ideals that are enshrined in its founding documents from the Federalist Papers to the U.S. Constitution. This paper argues that the American model of secularism is an exceptional and post-secularist one seeing that it encompasses religious diversity and theoretically promotes state neutrality while simultaneously depending on religious motifs in setting the norms for public debate, domestic policy, and foreign entanglement. The results of the study can be used to take into account religious aspects in the development of political campaign strategies, analysis of public opinion and forecasting of political changes

Keywords

political practice; religious discourse; policymaking; American exceptionalism; post-secularism

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Suggested citation

Othmeni, O. (2024). Exceptional secularism: The religion-politics nexus in American domestic and foreign policy orientations. Foreign Affairs, 34(6), 66-75. https://doi.org/10.59214/ua.fa/6.2024.66