The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America

Top reviews from the United States

• 

  Phillip L. Hoover

  5 out of 5 stars

  Verified Purchase

  So good, I gave it to my pastor!

  Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2006

  Format: Hardcover

  My pastor is one of the wisest, smartest, and best-read people that I know. But I was pretty sure he had a copy of THE HOLY VOTE---and he didn't, so I gave him mine.

  I finished reading the entire volume in about two days!

  I've been a fan of Ray Suarez for a long time (devout NEWSHOUR guy here), and I have found him to be balanced, fair, and thorough.

  His book is the very same. He addresses most of the hot buttons in today's society, and in today's church. I was particularly impressed with the introduction he made to his work, and with the quoting of Romans 12 at the beginning.

  I would only hope that every "thinking Christian" takes a good read of this important work.

  Suarez reminds us that regardless of how "thin" the issue may be, it always has at least two sides.

  Terrific book.

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• 

  Wood Worker

  4 out of 5 stars

  Verified Purchase

  Religion & Politics: finding a place to begin the conversation

  Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2007

  Format: Hardcover

  When religion is explicitly used in crafting public policy, we become divided into those who hold such beliefs, and those who do not.

  However, general moral principals can give us a framework for a debate. They should not be asked to give an exact answer. A common set of moral principals, faith based for some people, not so for others, can allow us to make laws that presume from the beginning to be for us all.

  Mr. Suarez's book reaches this place to have the public policy conversations by wading through every area of the culture wars in the news - separation of church and state, abortion, gay marriage, and public school issues -reviewing instances, interviewing people of every imaginable point of view. His tone is conversational and sincere; his perspective is respectful and clear-eyed.

  I found The Holy Vote to be very much a help in understanding the present political discussions in our country - or lack there of - and my own reactions to them, and to re-forming my own opinions

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  10 people found this helpful

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• 

  Emilio R Diaz

  5 out of 5 stars

  Verified Purchase

  The Truth hurts

  Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2013

  A very fair and informative book on the history of religion and politics in this country. Mr. Suarez is complete in his study of this very important subject that is effecting this country.

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  One person found this helpful

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• 

  Vivian M. Jackson

  5 out of 5 stars

  Verified Purchase

  "Now I Know"

  Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2006

  Format: Hardcover

  Excellent explanation of what drives people of extreme faith to do what they do in America to influence others. Ray Swuarez is a gifted writer who knows how to lay it all on the line. I learned so much from reading this book, and highly recommendd it to others who want to become knowledgeable on this subject.

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  7 people found this helpful

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• 

  Ayman

  4 out of 5 stars

  Suppress your ideological commitments & read - there's something here for everyone

  Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2016

  Format: Hardcover

  The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez is a good introduction to policy discussions with religious claims in the United States in 2006, the time of the book's publication. Some of those issues have waned and new ones have arisen, and, if you've read other books I've reviewed on this blog under the tag Establishment Clause, you may not find these chapters exciting.

  Mr. Suarez's style, in this age of bombastic partisanship, is frustratingly documentarian. He includes lengthy quotes from people whose positions he opposes. He avoids snarky rejoinders. Maybe his long years at the United States Public Broadcasting System, which depends on funding from the government and thus must garner support from many diverse sectors of our nation, have increased his ability to listen respectfully to others beyond that of those who publish in ideological Internet news sites, corporate media and crazy, egotistical bloggers like myself!

  If you can suppress your ideological commitments enough to read these chapters, you'll find benefit in each one, even if the issue seems dated. But, if you can't afford the time to read the entire book, start at Chapter 9. The last four chapters are more thematic, and Mr. Suarez's ideas replace the reporting of the earlier chapters.

  Chapter 9 is an examination of three different Catholic candidates for President: Al Smith, John F. Kennedy and John Kerry. Al Smith ran for President in 1928, when the Roman Catholic Church's latest official proclamations on Liberalism were rejection. Some of his detractors used this and other texts to claim that one could not be a good Catholic and a good American at the same time. Does that sound familiar? Later, John Kennedy had to address less intense questioning of his religious affiliation and beliefs. Finally, John Kerry failed to win some Catholics' support because they did not see him as Catholic enough.

  Chapter 10 is devoted to ethnic minorities' religion and state entanglements, a topic often overlooked in other books which ignore or minimize the history of United States white supremacy while discussing separation of religion and state.

  Chapter 11 has a chapter describing Alabama's failed attempts to govern according to Christianity.

  Chapter 12 talks about Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a politician of whom I'd never heard until Secretary Clinton selected him for Vice-President this year. Kaine won Virginia campaigning with religious values with which a broad cross-section of Virginians could either agree or tolerate. By talking about his religious values, he succeeded in persuading enough people who nominally identified more with those values his Republican evangelical opponent expressed to consider his secular political positions. And enough of those voters voted for Kaine. In 2016, I wonder if Mr. Suarez is thinking to himself, "Hey, I wrote about this guy 10 years ago."

  In flights of fancy, I think about running for political office, but I am utterly stumped by how I would get past questioning about my religion, Islam. This chapter would provide some good ideas. Voters challenge the candidate of a minority religion, not to see if his or her theology is up-to-snuff, but simply to see if the candidate has values. Once the voters believe the candidate has values, most seem to be willing to evaluate the candidate on bases of experience and policy positions.

  I have no idea if there are plans for a second edition, but I'd love to hear Mr. Suarez discuss the seemingly swift (incomplete, I know) change in the USA towards acceptance of gays and lesbians and a comparison of Muslims and Catholics in the USA. Another important topic would be the impact of the changes in Popes from John Paul to Benedict to Francis on USA Catholics' political positions.

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  4 people found this helpful

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• 

  L.C. Brown

  2 out of 5 stars

  Not worth it

  Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2019

  Format: Paperback

  I learned a few things, but overall, the author was so heavily biased against conservative Evangelicals and even conservative Catholics such as Rick Santorum that it ruined the book for me. This surprised me as he began by stating how strong his faith was in Catholicism. Near the end he even seems to dismiss God's sovereignty in answering prayers, so I have no idea why he attends any church at all. I'm not exactly sure WHAT he believes in!

  Style-wise, he spends pages and pages on quotes by those he interviewed, as he would prepare for a TV newscast, I presume. But books need a different style. He had open-ended questions, too. If I were an English teacher I'd be grading him poorly on his weak and biased analyses and conclusions.

  Lastly, it was interesting reading this 15 yrs after it was written. His prognosis that the Religious Right was on its way out was .... way wrong, as 80% of conservative Evangelicals voted for Trump and continue to support him!

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• 

  Gary Miller

  4 out of 5 stars

  Holy Vote

  Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2007

  Format: Hardcover

  Holy Vote The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez.

  Suarez is a regular reporter of the News Hour on PBS. He writes about how he sees the connection of religion and how it interacts with politics both historically as well as the present. Here are some interesting tidbits from his book.

  Suarez goes back to the Founders to see what their intent was. He quotes Jefferson: "Question with boldness even the existence of god, because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than the blindfolded fear". Jefferson used reason to question many of the items in the Bible. He felt the Bible should not be taken literally and felt that Jesus was a wise teacher, who did not consider himself God.

  From the very beginning, many Christians came to this country, took over and denied the humanity of American Indians making them easier to kill. We do same thing even today to people we don't know such as Iraqis.

  Today many Muslims in the Arab world think that when we say, "democratize" we really mean "Christianize". It doesn't help when we have a General saying we are going to win this war against Muslims, because our God is real and theirs isn't. We have God on our side and they have Satan. Instead of this General being reprimanded, he was promoted.

  God loves Iraqis as much as He loves us. People don't seem to care that hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have died in this current war.

  Suarez talks about all the current church/state issues in today's society including the wording of "under God" in the Pledge, of teaching creationism in the schools, the issue of abortion, same sex marriage and faith based initiatives. Even whether we should continue to use the Christian Bible to assist in the courtroom swearing in witnesses.

  The book reminded me of an incident that happened to me many years ago. I was asked if I was upset about the fact that we live in a Christian nation. My answer: If only we did.

  If we were truly a Christian nation, would we have the highest rates of murder of violent crime than any other nation in the world? If we were a truly Christian nation, would we not figure out a way to use the nation's wealth to help the poor?

  He talks about how some bishops will deny pro-choice candidates communion, but hides information regarding priests who molest boys. Many bishops will deny communion to a candidate, who feels the government should not be involved with what a woman does with her body regarding abortion. The candidate or elected official may not have had any direct involvement on this issue, but because s/he feels the government shouldn't be involved, then the person is denied communion. On the other hand, we have Catholic governors who allow someone to be executed (against church teachings) but nothing is said about them.

  Overall an interesting book for those who are interested in church/state issues.

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• 

  Kelly Smith

  2 out of 5 stars

  Incomplete discussion of a key national issue.....

  Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2006

  Format: Hardcover

  This book adopts a common modern perspective for its analysis: belief frameworks with a supernatural component are ultimately inappropriate in the public square. Only a belief framework without any supernatural component is acceptable (i.e., secularism).

  Mr. Suarez does not seem to understand that many Americans are skeptical about secularism's ability to determine what is good, which societal goals are desirable, and what laws should be enacted to achieve those goals. As a result, he talks past those who have serious concerns about the weaknesses of the secular belief framework. To his credit, Mr. Suarez avoids the condescending tone of many similar books (e.g., "What's the Matter With Kansas?").

  Two ironies continually emerge in this area:

  1. The traditional Western Christian framework was the matrix for the current tolerant society that permits this kind of analysis to be printed (in stark contrast to the historically repressive nature of non-Christian societies; secular or not). For all the West's imperfections (e.g., a history of slavery), its view of all individuals being equal (and equally valuable and responsible) in the eyes of a personal God remains the foundation for its freedoms.

  2. Many of the issues that Mr. Suarez and other analysts highlight were not put in the political arena by traditional Christians. While it is true that traditional Christians led the fight against slavery, they did not lead the fight for no-fault divorce, abortion, and gay rights; nor were they proponents of such secular frameworks as Freudian psychology, evolutionary biology, or Marxian economics.

  Recent political analysis has often emphasized a kind of Hegelian synthesis as the way out of the current conflicts. This solution seems increasingly unlikely since the dominant belief frameworks in the world appear to be moving toward purer forms. For example:

  1. Third world Christianity is increasingly traditional.

  2. Traditional Christians in the United States are placing increasing emphasis on apologetics (e.g., the explosion of worldview books and training).

  3. Islam is engaged in a fierce debate about whether *any* non-traditional beliefs are acceptable.

  4. Secularism is moving away from moral perspectives that were grounded in Christianity (e.g., the proposals of bioethicist Peter Singer).

  5. Mainline Christian groups that have abandoned traditional Christian perspectives are declining rapidly (i.e., the various attempts to synthesize secularism and Christianity seem to be failing).

  Given these realities, Mr. Suarez should have included a serious summary of the key assumptions of the Christian and secular belief systems, discussed the similarities and differences, and addressed past attempts to synthesize them. The thoughtful reader will have to look elsewhere (e.g., Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian", Geisler & Turk's "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist"), and reach their own conclusions about (1) what common ground (if any) exists between these two ways of viewing the world and (2) whether a workable synthesis is likely to emerge in the near future.

  In its current form, Mr. Suarez's analysis will appeal to thoughtful secularists (and some non-traditional religionists), but is unlikely to be seen as relevant by traditional Christians.

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