The Year in Religion and Politics
Selections from The Atlantic’s coverage of 2016—from religious-liberty bills to Donald Trump's polarizing effect on evangelicals.
David Goldman, Richard Drew, Steve Helber, Chuck Burton / AP / Katie Martin / The Atlantic
CANDICE NORWOOD
5:00 AM ET
A contentious presidential race that reshuffled political coalitions put religion in the national spotlight in 2016. Many religious voters, feeling ostracized in a changing national landscape, chose to support Donald Trump—a candidate who hardly seemed to exemplify Christian morality, but who nevertheless promised to “make America great again.” Those who could not connect with Trump’s controversial rhetoric instead challenged his candidacy, dividing religious communities. Over the course of the year, Atlantic writers also delved into other prominent issues—from the battle over religious freedom to the country’s growing Islamophobia.
The Year’s Coverage
The Freedom to Choose: Religious liberty came to the fore of the national conversation after the Supreme Court’s landmark 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. In 2016, it produced a push for legislation that would give businesses, public bathrooms, and religious colleges the right to limit services to LGBT people. Emma Green followed these bills closely throughout the year. She covered the challenges state legislatures face working to protect LGBT civil-rights while also upholding religious freedom. In another story, she examined what the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will mean for the future of religious-freedom decisions. Jonathan Merritt also weighed in, writing that the problems these laws claim to address don’t actually exist. Alan Noble offered a plea for accommodation between activists and religious colleges, and Alan Levinovitz argued that trigger warnings served to make campuses hostile to religious students.
Living in Fear: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and policy platforms sparked questions over how Muslims should be treated in the United States. Research suggests that his divisive rhetoric—from calling for a ban on Muslim entry into the country to strategizing plans for a nationwide registry—may fuel Islamophobia and hate crimes, wrote Clare Foran. And Nafisa Eltahir looked at the bind facing religious Muslims, who can downplay their religious identity to avoid discrimination, but may find that approach “can only bring exhaustion, along with the loss of distinctive elements of Muslim culture.”
A Community Divided: Donald Trump proved to be a controversial figure within evangelical communities, as well. Molly Ball highlighted the split among evangelical leaders after Trump gave a speech at Liberty University in January; Emma Green returned to the campus in October, to find students fatigued with politics and the Republican Party that gave them Trump. Jonathan Merritt examined the shift away from looking to politicians for moral leadership, and Yoni Appelbaum argued that in Trump, evangelicals had found a champion, not a moral exemplar.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/2016-religion-and-politics/511736/