Has the civil religion language or the way that works out changed in America in recent years?
Yes, it’s become more overt and explicit. I think what you saw — you can go all the way back to George Washington, and you’ll see references to divine providence, and in some ways that language is more generic in general. We’ve gotten to the point now, I think, where language is much more explicit if not Christian, closely tied to scripture and a more active faith than a kind of vague, general language of providence and so forth. Even compared to the 1950s, I think we have more overt, religious language. Certainly with George W. Bush and his inaugural address, you saw more explicit references to religion than you saw with Eisenhower, a fellow Republican. Q: How unique was George W. Bush’s relationship with evangelicals, and how challenging will that be for another candidate to replicate? A: Well, that’s a great question because George W. Bush, in fact, came out of the evangelical community himself. He had a well-known conversion experience, where he gave up drink, gave up alcohol, gav
