Document Based Question Assignment

Directions:

1. Read and examine the following documents. Answer the scaffolding questions following each document in complete sentences. Check for spelling and grammar errors. Write legibly, in black or blue pen only.
2. Using at least five of the seven available documents, write an essay response to the question provided below. Incorporate your prior knowledge of politics, the Supreme Court, campaigns and elections, as well as the information contained in the documents, into your answer. Your answer should be approximately two pages in length, typewritten. It must include an opening and closing paragraph, and transitions between all other paragraphs. Organize your essay into a logical structure, weaving your outside knowledge into your writing about the documents. Proofread your essay for spelling and grammatical errors.
3. Use your answers to the scaffolding questions to help you write your DBQ. Refer to them and the actual DBQ assignment frequently.
4. This assignment is due on Monday, April 9^th. Late essays will be docked 10 points per day. Your final grade on this assignment will be determined after your second DBQ assignment.

Historical Context:

Religion has played a major role in the political arena since the mid 20^th century, but was defined as primarily a Republican political strategy starting in the 1980’s with the Reagan campaign. Religion and politics are now almost inextricably intertwined, and has become a bitter point of contention among political factions. “Values Voters” and the “Religious Right” are considered to be important groups of voters. Consider the current debate over “family values,” and issues such as school prayer and gay marriage. Use your observations of the political world, and what you have learned in class this semester about the relationship of church and state to answer the question.

Document Based Question:

Explain the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties regarding the place of religion in campaigns and politics at large. What specific issues does religion influence when it comes to presidential elections? What is the current state of the relationship between religion and politics and how has it influenced recent campaigns and elections?

Document 1:

1980 Campaign button featuring Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Scaffolding Question:

What is this button saying about issues that Reagan will promote if elected? What does “American Values” mean?

Document 2: Speech by Sen. Barack Obama “Call to Renewal,” June 28, 2006

“For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest "gap" in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don't.

Conservative leaders have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design.

Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith…

…and if we're going to do that then we first need to understand that Americans are a religious people. 90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians, and substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution…

But what I am suggesting is this - secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize some overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country. We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of "thou" and not just "I," resonates in religious congregations all across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of American renewal…

Scaffolding Question:

What is Democratic Senator Barack Obama suggesting must be done regarding the incorporation of religion into politics? How does he suggest we change the tone of the debate over religion in politics?

Document 3: Speech – Pat Robertson, Founder of the Christian Coalition, ‘Road to Victory,” September 17, 1994.

“…I am, and have always been, no more and no less than a Jeffersonian Conservative. With Thomas Jefferson, I believe that "the God who gave us life, gave us liberty." With Thomas Jefferson, I believe, that "to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. "

But the ones who call us radical now propagate speech codes and politically correct thought control on our nation's campuses. The petty tyrants who run the Department of Housing and Urban Development bring criminal charges against people who are doing no more than exercising their free speech to stop the destruction of their neighborhoods. In California, a woman who refused to rent to an unmarried couple because it violated her religious beliefs, was compelled, by the liberal thought police, to put up a sign in her front yard that said "I have discriminated." In Michigan, a five-year old girl in kindergarten tried to thank Jesus quietly before her Friday snack, but was told by her teacher that she had to stop because prayer is not allowed in schools. In another case, a teacher snatched a Bible from the hand of a little boy and said "get that thing out of here."

These are a few of the hundreds of cases we get at the American Center for Law and Justice, and thankfully, we've begun to turn some of them around. But it is these people who are the real radicals. It is the militant secularists who are trying to tear out every last vestige of religion from our public life. The real radicals are those, like the former Attorney General and erstwhile Democrat gubernatorial candidate in Texas who said, and I quote, "The state owns your children and it owns you too."

No, Mr. Ex-Attorney General, you do not own our children, and you do not own our country, and we're going to take them back.”

Document 4: Cartoon, Don Wright, The Palm Beach Post, June 14, 2004

Document 5: Mitt Romney’s position statements on gay marriage, from www.mittromney.com

“American values are at the heart of America's historic rise to world leadership. These include, among others, respect for hard work, sacrifice, civility, love of family, respect for life, education and love of freedom. To remain a superpower in the world we must continuously and vigorously reaffirm these key components that have led to America's greatness as a country.
Governor Romney: "America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home."
^{(UPI, February 26, 2005)}
Governor Romney: "What is the culture of this country, what are our underpinnings? We respect hard work. ... We are self reliant, we respect human life, we are a religious people. ... We are a purpose-driven people founded on the family unit. I think every child deserves to have a mother and a father."
^{(Union Leader, March 19, 2006)}
Governor Romney: "Last year the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck a blow against the family, as I'm sure you know. The court forgot that marriage is first and foremost about nurturing and developing children. Its ruling meant that our society is supposed to be indifferent about whether children have a mother and a father."
^{(Boston Globe, March 2, 2005)}

Scaffolding Question:
What is Republican Mitt Romney’s opinion on gay marriage? How is this related to religion?

Document 6: Democratic National Committee Platform, Adopted 2004, from www.democrats.org

“We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a "Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.”

Scaffolding Question:

How does the Democratic Party’s position on gay marriage conflict or support religious viewpoints? What kind of effect can this have on elections and campaigns?

Document 7: Republican National Committee Platform, Adopted 2004, from www.GOP.com

“We strongly support President Bush’s call for a Constitutional amendment that

fully protects marriage, and we believe that neither federal nor state judges nor

bureaucrats should force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage. We believe, and the social science confirms, that the well-being of children is best accomplished in the environment of the home, nurtured by their mother and father anchored by the bonds of marriage. We further believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage.”

Scaffolding Question:
How does the Republican Party’s position on gay marriage conflict or support religious viewpoints? What kind of effect can this have on elections and campaigns?