Where Religion and Politics Intersect

Article by Aspen Wooley

Claire Brimhall, a senior Honors student from Portland, Oregon, has noticed something alarming. Many voters claim to hold fast to certain religious identities yet support politicians and policies that stray from what their religions teach. Even when leaders advocate for contradictory policies, support often remains intact. Claire is seeking to explain this by focusing her Honors thesis on the use of religion in politics and wartime policy.

Claire is studying international relations, with an emphasis on international and economic development. One of her capstone classes, taught by Dr. Doug Atkinson, focused on the domestic politics of war. She and Dr. Atkinson designed a study to better understand how policy and religion intersect. “Christian propaganda will change the way that people view Christianity,” Claire explained, “and that will then affect how they manifest their religious values in their own lives.” She is using both previous and contemporary wars in Europe to dive deeper into these theories.

Her research is split into two chapters, one half looking at Nazi Germany in World War II and the other half examining the current Russia-Ukraine war. Chapter One of her thesis presents a possible explanation for decreasing religiosity in Germany, as Nazi leaders manipulated religious beliefs to garner support for the regime. This study has met some challenges because it relies on existing data. But by looking at Nazi-era speeches, voting patterns, and articles, as well as shifting religious participation, Claire has been able to build a foundation for her research.

The second chapter looks to present-day Poland and the response toward Ukrainian refugees fleeing from war at home. Polish politicians are using Catholic values to appeal to the people’s reactions towards those seeking refuge. This summer Claire had the chance to go to Poland and carry out a survey asking respondents various policy statements about Ukraine. She framed these with and without religious rhetoric, and in support of and opposition to helping Ukraine. The Catholic Church has been in favor of extending help, and so it would make sense that strongly religious people would stand in support of Ukraine.

Claire discovered a different story and shared, “the only significant finding was that no matter what framing the respondents were given, the more strongly they said that religion was important to them, the less likely they were to support Ukraine.” This was a surprising fact to find, especially given the religious rhetoric in the survey, but supports the theory that this pattern is occurring.

Claire explained that her participation in Honors and her major led her to be able to carry out this research and make an impact. The Honors program has exposed Claire to different ideas and “the conversations really help you engage in thinking about things in the way that a researcher would.” Through her major she met professors and had opportunities to go abroad and focus on topics she cares about. This has taught her a lot about research and helped her immensely in this project.

As Claire has worked on this project, she has come to learn some personal lessons. She said that it has helped her to more fully understand how her own religious beliefs affect her voting decisions. She has been able to talk to people about applying religious values “in the way that I vote and in the way that I see our country and the issues that matter, and what I think Christ would do if He were here.” These have been really positive conversations as she has been able to explain these ideas to others and learn from them. Claire explained further the need for having Christlike leaders and “the importance of making sure that we love our neighbor in the policies that we support.”

This research has implications for everyone. Each of us can choose how to make an impact. Living a life guided by religion is valuable but comes with responsibility. This responsibility reaches even into decisions people make about policies and voting. If Claire could have everyone know just one thing about this project, it would be that if they are religious, “to think about why they support the policies that they do, and if their values actually play into that. If they don’t, then they should know why.”