The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America [Hardcover]

Ray Suarez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 2006

The Holy Vote examines the way Americans worship, how organized religion and politics intersect in America, and how this powerful collision is transforming the current and future American mind-set

Not since the Civil War has the United States been so polarized—politically and ideologically. But at the very heart of this fracture is a fascinating rig and paradoxical marriage between our country’s politics and religions.

Over the past several election cycles, the differences between so-called "Red America"—conservative, church-affiliated, suburban, and rural—and "Blue America"—urban, secular, and socially liberal—have hardened. Although on most days, these two big American mainstreams move on parallel tracks, they increasingly find themselves head to head, ready to fight at the slightest offense. They react to new stories in different ways. They react to government power in different ways. They certainly vote in different ways.

With The Holy Vote, Ray Suarez explores the advent of this polarization and how it is profoundly changing the way in which we live our lives. With hands-on reporting, Suarez explores the attitudes and beliefs of the people behind the voting numbers, the places in which these new beliefs are being born, and how the political divide is manifesting itself across the country. The reader will come to a greater understanding of how Americans believe, and how this belief structure fuels the debates that dominate the issues on our evening news.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Suarez made his name hosting NPR's Talk of the Nation by seeing to it that issues were genuinely discussed, not buzz-worded and shouted to death. This book reflects his radio style in that the copious quotation of interviewees includes the loose grammar and vague references of speech, requiring much immediate rereading to figure out exactly what is meant. That said, it's darn good colloquy about the Religious Right, separation of church and state, and old and new issues including Christian prayer by military chaplains, gay marriage, display of the Ten Commandments, sex education and evolution in public schools, abortion, Catholic participation in politics, and the impact of growing minorities who are generally more religious than the waning white mainstream. The penultimate chapter homes in on attempts in Alabama to make the state more theocratic, and the last implicatively suggests that most Americans like quite strict church-state separation. Suarez invariably presents articulate spokespersons on both (or more) sides of the issues, and if they evade some of his questions, doesn't lambaste them for it. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Ray Suarez has been a senior correspondent with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer since 1999, where he is responsible for conducting news-making interviews, studio discussions and debates, and reporting from the field as well as serving as a backup anchor. He came to the NewsHour from NPR’S Talk of the Nation, and prior to that spent seven years covering local, national, and international news for an NBC-owned station in Chicago.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Rayo (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060829974
• ISBN-13: 978-0060829971
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,467,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So good, I gave it to my pastor!, October 9, 2006

By 

Phillip L. Hoover (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHAT DRIVES YOUR VOTE? A CONSIDERATION OF TODAY'S ISSUES OF FAITH!, September 22, 2006

By 

RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (Hardcover)

Four VERY IMPORTANT Stars!! Written by Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", this fact-laden, opinion-driven book investigates the juxtaposition and intersections of religion and politics in America. Mr Suarez states he wants "to alternately infuriate and intrigue you". And so he does! In many ways, it's a series of topical essays which are energized by years of interviews and many quotes. In fact, it is as much a brief history lesson as a survey of religion and politics, revealing many finer details of our historical background and the personages that have populated our history. If you missed the importance of religion to politics or believe it doesn't exist, this book will drive home the point from Mr Suarez' point of view. Indeed, some religious blocks are claiming more and more that they are determining the outcomes of elections from the local level to the White House. This book is not a demographic-driven study of the voting habits of the religious in America with charts and graphs showing the past votes and future trends from sea to shining sea. Perhaps in this form it's ultimately more conversational and readable.

He states that some claim the origins of the moral decline in our country can be traced to the Supreme Court decisions dealing with limiting school prayer. He, however, sees the country as having grown into one that is more religious and religiously diverse. Even so, the author feels many of the bedrock ideals of our past that may have been taken for granted are now the subject of open conflict and negotiation.

While admitting "the Constitution is a political document, not a sacred one" and "Ours was not founded as a Christian country", he sees the USA as the country with "the largest numbers of religious believers, active congregants, and people who merely say they believe in God." He tackles a number of topics that revolve around the topic: religions that took root in America. The beliefs of our earliest leaders. Tracking secularism and religion amid the westward expansion, thru the "Frantic, brutal, bloody nineteenth-century America", thru the 20th century, and into the increasingly diverse 21st century.

Age-old questions abound and are examined as he attempts to answer them: "Is America a Christian nation" or just a nation with an abundance of Christians? Is our separation of state and religion unique in world history? What is a "just war"? Other topics impacting on the political realm: the marriage issue, the 10 Commandment controversy, the alleged religious intolerance at a military service academy, the battles over school curriculum and prayer, hispanics and Catholicism in politics, and so on. Since there are no ultimate answers, one may find themselves only a little less perplexed about these issues at the end as when they began the book, but Mr Suarez certainly gives us pause and much food for thought, fleshing out some facts and situations of which we may not have been aware.

This book should be read by all potential voters to get at the breadth of the important voting issues. One may not be voting for what was previously thought to be a valid issue. But this book is not a technical treatise on faith-based voting blocks. The words "Okay, Wise Guy...Now What?" hang in the air at the end. Indeed!! Let's all agree to vote the way we see it, based on our religion, party, or whatever instructs us on the issues, giving a lot of consideration to this book. See you at the voting booth!! Recommended! Four ENGROSSING Stars!

(This review is based on an unabridged Ebook digital download in Adobe reader. Save a tree, download your books in your favorite reader!)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Religion & Politics: finding a place to begin the conversation, January 4, 2007

By 

Wood Worker (Newton, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (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