Mass media and the influence of religion on American foreign policy

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

07/30/2009

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

Social sciences

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Summary :

Introduction
The importance of making a number of qualifications
Expansiveness of the topic of religion and foreign policy
The nature of the term religion
The failure of Bush's administration in the case of Iraq
Attempts to make American foreign policy more ethical
The direct influence of religion: Fox's argument
Conclusion
References

Abstract

The proverbial "man from mars" suddenly plunged onto the american continent would be amazed and confused at the spectacle before him. He would soon discover that in the world's most perceived secularized society it is not uncommon to justify national interests with religious undertones and the "will of god". Perhaps, this notion is better illustrated in the words of Abraham Lincoln when, nearing the end of the civil war, he stated: "In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time." The significance of Lincoln's statement has not lost its purpose in the contemporary era. For one thing, it reinforces the fact that religious justifications of american government policy are by no means a recent phenomenon. It also articulates the worth placed upon religious influence in american politics. As literature on the topic has suggested, the american political system is continually shaped, in part, through religious influence. Having examined the role of a civil religion in the United States, I began to wonder whether religious influence is limited only to public policy issues, or whether such influence extends to the foreign policy apparatus of the world's largest superpower. Scanning the literature on the subject, I realized that there exists a series of competing claims concerning the issue of religious influence in american foreign policy. Accordingly, it is not the objective of this paper to produce a clear definitive statement outlining the role of religion in american foreign policy. Instead, this paper will produce an analysis of the various positions of the issue as part of a complex debate on the religious influence in american foreign policy since the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001.