This paper seeks to investigate how religion and moral psychology can be used to explain U.S. national defense decisions made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower during his administration.
While often underrepresented in scholarship, government leaders frequently integrate religion into policies to gain support for domestic affairs and international relations. Eisenhower’s ecumenical religion fosters a civil religion to unite individuals against Communism; his initiatives including public prayer, oratory religious appeals, and Christian ideology contribute to this effort. Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory helps generate an explanation for specific national defense strategies such as nuclear deterrence, missile defense, space institution establishment, and educational initiatives. Analysis of the specified policies reveals a correlation between five moral foundations and Eisenhower's national defense strategy as well as alignment between Eisenhower’s political leaning and foundations attributed to liberals or conservatives. This study concludes with a discussion of the importance of religion and moral psychology in connecting and encouraging communication between groups of varying ideologies to ultimately reduce the polarization of America’s political realm.
Upon reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, millions of Americans utter …show more content…
At the suggestion of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Congress passed a bill to add “Under God” to the Pledge, and later, made the national motto of the U.S. “In God We Trust” (Canipe, 2003). Although church and state act as separate entities in the U.S., religion is far from removed from the political realm, as illustrated by these two pieces of legislation. While often underrepresented in scholarship, government leaders frequently integrate religion into policies to gain support for domestic affairs and international
While often underrepresented in scholarship, government leaders frequently integrate religion into policies to gain support for domestic affairs and international relations. Eisenhower’s ecumenical religion fosters a civil religion to unite individuals against Communism; his initiatives including public prayer, oratory religious appeals, and Christian ideology contribute to this effort. Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory helps generate an explanation for specific national defense strategies such as nuclear deterrence, missile defense, space institution establishment, and educational initiatives. Analysis of the specified policies reveals a correlation between five moral foundations and Eisenhower's national defense strategy as well as alignment between Eisenhower’s political leaning and foundations attributed to liberals or conservatives. This study concludes with a discussion of the importance of religion and moral psychology in connecting and encouraging communication between groups of varying ideologies to ultimately reduce the polarization of America’s political realm.
Upon reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, millions of Americans utter …show more content…
At the suggestion of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Congress passed a bill to add “Under God” to the Pledge, and later, made the national motto of the U.S. “In God We Trust” (Canipe, 2003). Although church and state act as separate entities in the U.S., religion is far from removed from the political realm, as illustrated by these two pieces of legislation. While often underrepresented in scholarship, government leaders frequently integrate religion into policies to gain support for domestic affairs and international