Research

I study religion and politics in the context of American national institutions, with a focus on how identity (particularly religious identity) shapes political rhetoric and representation in the presidency and Congress. My research asks how political elites use religious language, how institutions structure that rhetoric, and what this means for democratic representation. Methodologically, I use computational text analysis to examine elite speech across different platforms and institutional settings. In addition to my primary research agenda, I am also interested in broader questions of identity and politics, including the intersection of politics with sports and military affiliation.You can learn more about my published work on the Publications Page.

Dissertation

Title: Sacred Speech in a Secularizing Society: Congress, the President, and the Politics of Religious Rhetoric

Committee: Mark Rozell, James Pfiffner, Robert McGrath, Kendrick Kuo

In an era of significant religious disaffiliation in America, the enduring and notable use of religious language by presidents and members of Congress presents a compelling paradox. My dissertation investigates how institutional roles, partisanship, and public religiosity shape these elite rhetorical strategies. I introduce a novel framework to study religious appeals, mapping them along two dimensions: the first distinguishing inclusive civil religion from exclusionary Christian nationalism, and the second differentiating ceremonial, non-mobilizing expressions from strategically mobilizing calls to action. Drawing on this framework, I conduct a large-scale computational text analysis of nearly five decades of presidential and congressional speech (1977–2025). I complement this textual analysis with an original survey experiment designed to assess how Americans perceive and respond to different types of religious rhetoric when delivered by varying institutional voices. Together, these mixed methods are designed to highlight the strategic deployment of religious appeals, offering critical insights into the evolving role of religion in American political communication, its impact on democratic representation, and its function within an increasingly pluralistic society. In doing so, I contribute to scholarship in political communication,religion and politics, and the study of American political institutions.