Denver Law Review Volume 86 Issue 3 Article 7 December 2020 God-Talk in the Age of Obama: Theology and Religious Political Engagement Charlton C. Copeland Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr Recommended Citation Charlton C. Copeland, God-Talk in the Age of Obama: Theology and Religious Political Engagement, 86 Denv. U. L. Rev. 663 (2009). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. GOD-TALK IN THE AGE OF OBAMA: THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT CHARLTON C. COPELANDt Discussions of the role of religion in political life usually take one of two forms. In popular depictions, the focus is on the role that reli- gious affiliation plays in determining how individual support of or oppo- sition to a number of hotly contested issues, including the Presidency,' ballot initiatives on same-sex marriage, 2 the use of federal funds in stem- cell research,3 restrictions on the availability of abortion,4 or the role that religious evangelicals play in American political life. In academic treat- ments, the focus is usually on the extent to which religious adherents should be required to ground their public, political positions on reasons that can be accepted by all rational participants. 5 Despite the fact that religion played a sensational role in the historic 2008 Presidential cam- paign,6 the 2008 election did not give rise to a discussion over the role of religion in public life, as it had in past elections.7 t Associate Professor, University of Miami School of Law.