I will propose a panel entitled “Religion and Contested American Values.” My paper will explore the evangelical Right’s articulation of “American Values” at the 1980 Washington for Jesus rally, which brought hundreds of thousands of conservative Protestants to the mall during an election year. Speakers at the rally emphasized the nation’s Christian founding and history, a departure from biblical morality, and God’s recent judgments upon the United States for such apostasy. At the same time, mainline Protestants and more secular Americans criticized Washington for Jesus as excluding people of different religious persuasions and different political principles. They argued that a competing set of values – equality and diversity – provided the foundation for the modern United States.
I seek co-panelists interested in discussing the relationship of religion to “American values” in the modern United States. Other papers could highlight the contribution of other religious groups or discuss secular responses to the linking of American values to particular religions or to religion in general. I propose that we pre-circulate papers and leave considerable time for discussion among panel members and with the audience. Please contact me at jturner5@nd.edu if you would be interested in joining this panel.