If you followed media coverage of the Democratic party convention last week, you may have heard about the short-lived controversy that broke out over the lack of the word “God” in the party platform (as well as the platform not explicitly mentioning Jerusalem as the capital of Israel). Fox News picked up on the lack of religious references and highlighted it as a major failing. Both items were hastily added to the platform.
Over at Organizations, Occupations and Work, Chris Prener posted a graph showing the number of times “God” appears in the party platforms over the last century. As Prener mentions, explicit references to a deity were rare before World War II. After including it a few times in the ’40 and ’50s, the Democratic party platform mostly left it out until the 1996. The Republican party has much more consistently included “God” at least once in each platform since 1948, but 2012’s platform stands out, since it has more than double the mentions as in any prior platform:
Using the word “God” in official party platforms isn’t a tradition inherited from the earliest days of the two parties. It’s a relatively recent change, illustrating a trend toward more explicit inclusion of or reference to religion in U.S. politics and by political candidates.
Comments 11
Mordicai — September 13, 2012
So goofy.
Lunad — September 13, 2012
I'd be interested in mentions of religion and/or more neutral terminology (eg higher power), and whether it follows the same pattern.
Yrro Simyarin — September 13, 2012
I'm really surprised to see an article about this without a mention of the root cause - the "godless" communists. God was inserted into the pledge in a very similar manner.
The real story about the re-insertion of God and Israel is that it was done at the behest of party leadership, over the strong objections of the actual delegates to the convention.
Jamiekehayes — September 13, 2012
Interesting. But I would say that when people are feeling low, they turn to God for guideance and support.
INCLUDING “GOD” IN REPUBLICAN & DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS « Welcome to the Doctor's Office — September 13, 2012
[...] from SocImages [...]
Lisa — September 13, 2012
"The Republican party has much more consistently included “God” at least once in each platform since 1948" - According to the graph, there were 0 mentions of God in the 1972 Republican platform, but there was at least 1 mention in every other year since 1948.
Pinklapin95 — September 14, 2012
I'm surprised to see a large and fairly consistent difference in mentions of "God" between the Republican and Democratic platforms. Yet, I think that the visual proves in essence the society's cultural and economical states are tied to the need and desire for God and religious assurance. For example, 1945 is one year that shows the frequency of the word "God" is the same in both the Democratic and Republican platforms. After all, the motivation for fighting in WWII came largely from religion. However, questions that come up in my mind, are why might the Republicans' mention of God shot up from 2008-2012? Can the possible relationship between loss in elections and mention of God be made? How efficient in terms of communicating to the population might it be?
Andrew — September 14, 2012
http://whitehouse12.com/republican-party-platform/
http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform
If context matters much, in the 2012 Republican platform, most uses of the word "God" are actually in the expression "God-given," as in "God-given talent," "God-given resources," and "God-given natural beauty." This use carries an enormous amount of subtext, especially considering its conspicuousness in light of the constitutional separation of church and state, but it sidesteps any substantial articulation of the role the party intends to have religion The two uses of "God" that signal actual policy are the ones that are really relevant: ". Reaffirm that our rights come from God,..." appears in the preamble,although they don't bother explaining that bit of nonsense. And a bit about the flag condems "activist judges" denying children the opportunity to say "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance at state schools. The Democratic platform's sole use of the word only occurs in the phrase "God-given potential." It's interesting to see, as Yrro noted, how divisive even that rhetorical flourish was.Primary source geeks - the party platforms from decades past make for a fascinating read. The Democrats in 1924 closed their platform with this statement on relations with Latin America: "The democratic party sends to these republics its cordial greeting; God has made us neighbors—justice shall keep us friends." It's hard to tell if this usage would have been controversial at the time.However, when the Republicans dropped the G-bomb in 1948, they meant business: "We pledge a vigorous enforcement of existing laws against Communists and enactment of such new legislation as may be necessary to expose the treasonable activities of Communists and defeat their objective of establishing here a godless dictatorship controlled from abroad."