Presidential Faith:The beliefs and practices of notable American Presidents

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“Millions of American evangelicals are absolutely shocked by not just the presidential election, but by the entire avalanche of results that came in.”

“It’s not that our message — we think abortion is wrong, we think same-sex marriage is wrong — didn’t get out. It did get out.”

“It’s that the entire moral landscape has changed. An increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.”

– Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Louisville, Ky.

Religion & the 2012 Elections

• Three states approved same-sex marriage (Maryland, Maine, Washington), while one rejected a constitutional amendment to ban it (Minnesota).• In Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin became the first openly

gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.• In Rhode Island, David Cicilline was reelected to Congress

and in NY, Sean Patrick Maloney was first openly gay candidate elected to Congress

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Candidate Popular Vote Percentage Electoral Votes

Barack Obama 61,814,180 51% 332

Mitt Romney 58,586,318 48% 206

Religion & the 2012 Elections• Two states approved the recreational use of marijuana

(Colorado, Washington). • Massachusetts approved the medical use of marijuana,

joining California, Nevada, Oregon, Maine and Alaska.

Question:• Was the result of the 2012 Election a rejection of

conservative Christian beliefs and values or did people vote on a basis other than religious belief?

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Religion & the 2012 Elections

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Religion & the 2012 Elections

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Religion & the 2012 Elections

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Religion & the 2012 Elections• Tulsi Gabbard | Hawaii, District 2

First Hindu elected to Congress• Mazie Keiko Hirono | Senator-elect | Hawaii

First Asian-American elected to Senate First Buddhist elected to Congress | formerly Hawaii, District 2• Hank Johnson | Georgia, District 4 | Reelected

First Black Buddhist in Congress• Keith Ellison | Minnesota, District 5 | Reelected

First Muslim elected to Congress• (Sworn in on Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Qu’ran) 9

Religion & the 2012 ElectionsNYTimes article:

The evangelical share of the population is both declining and graying, studies show. Large churches like the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God, which have provided an organizing base for the Christian right, are losing members.

“In the long run, this means that the Republican constituency is going to be shrinking on the religious end as well as the ethnic end,” said James L. Guth, a professor of political science at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

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Religion & the 2012 ElectionsIssues to consider for the future:• Growth of non-white America• Growth of religious “nones” (20% of America)• Secularization of the younger generation

(One-third of Americans age 18 to 22 consider themselves atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular.)• 70% of those who said they had no religion voted for

Mr. Obama.

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“This election signaled the last where a white Christian strategy is workable.”

– Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEOPublic Religion Research Institute,

a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization Washington, DC

Presidential Faith

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