Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics

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• Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?
• Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities, Immigration
  
• and the Presidential Election
• lecture presented by
• Andrea Althoff
• University of Chicago Immigration Workshop
• November 4, 2008

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Introduction Religion Ethnicity in the 2008
  Presidential Campaign
• History Ethnicity, Religion Political
  Participation of Latino Immigrants
• Latinos Religious Affiliations and Party
  Preferences
• Ethnic-religious identities of Latino Renewalists
  and presidential candidate Barack Obama
• Conclusion

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election
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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?
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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• History of the United States
  shows ethnicity, religion, and immigration
  have played an important role in how
  political participation and party
  preferences are constituted.

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Latinos are no coherent immigrant group
• huge variety that exists among Latin
  Americans in terms of nationalities,
  ethnicities, and religious affiliations

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Renewalist an umbrella term. It refers to
  Protestant Evangelicals, Pentecostals,
  Charismatics, and Catholic Charismatics
• all Christians, Catholic and Protestant
  that consider themselves born again or
  evangelical Christians

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• 3.1 Presence of Latino Renewalists
• Pew Study (2007) 67.6 of Latino respondents
  identified as Catholic, regardless of their time
  spent in the US
• 54 of the Latino Catholics identified as
  Catholic-Charismatic
• 74 of Latino Catholics are foreign-born
  immigrants
• Latino foreign-born Catholics are much more
  likely to be charismatic than native born Latinos
  (58 vs. 43)

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• 3.2 Political Party Preferences and Religion
• Pew Study (2007) Latino evangelicals are twice
  as likely to be Republicans as Latino Catholics.
• Pew Study (2004) Republican gains have been
  greatest among Protestant Hispanics especially
  those that consider themselves Christians.
• However, conservative Latino Catholics favor the
  Democratic party.
• Conservative ideology does not
  automatically translate into support of the
  GOP

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Latinos and Immigration
• Latinos in general perceive the GOP being
  responsible for a negative immigration debate
• Pew Study (2007) Latino evangelicals favored the
  Democratic Party on the immigration issue
• Intergenerational composition of Latino families

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• 3.3 Catholicism, Latinos and the Democratic Party
• Latino Catholics outnumber Latino Protestants
• Latinos prefer by and large the Democratic Party
• Close connection between Catholic Church and
  pro-immigrant networks (campaigns of citizenship
  rights and voter registration often used
  infrastructure of Catholic parishes)
• Newly registered voters are often Latinos and
  much more likely to vote for the DP

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Future Prospects
• In the long run the Republican Party may benefit
  from the conversion of Catholic Latinos, leading
  to a polarization of the electorate, a situation
  already visible during the 2004 presidential
  election.
• A more likely scenario is that the disappointment
  with the immigration reform will convince Latino
  renewalists to embrace a passive approach to
  politics, with no voting gains either for the
  Republicans or Democrats

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Vote por Hillary Clinton or John McCain pero no
por un verdadero islamico disfrasado de
occidental, que quiere estar en la posicion mas
poderosa del planeta.
Por favor, reenvialo a familiares y amigos.
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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• Vote for Hillary Clinton or John McCain but not
  for a real islamist disguised as a Westerner who
  wants to be in the most powerful position of the
  planet.
• Please, forward this to family and friends.

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• Obama is a radical Muslim
• He is not a Westerner
• He is not honest (opportunist)
• He is not a patriotic American

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• Latinos are Westerners
• Latinos are patriotic Americans
• Latinos are trustworthy
• Latinos are honest Christians

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• 4. Conclusion
• The unifying factors of Christian Renewalism
• It bridges the conservative culture of Latin
  America with the conservative tradition of North
  American culture (e.g. family values, being
  anti-abortion, anti-homosexual etc.)

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• 2) The Dividing Elements
• Renewalism entails a radical boundary discourse
  that excludes all those that are not considered
  part of this moral order. It widens the gap
  between Republicans and Democrats, liberal and
  conservative Christians, what is believed a
  certain order and disorder, traditional and
  modern values.

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El candidato presidencial demócrata, Barack
Hussein Obama, nació en Honolulu, Hawaii, el 04
de Agosto de 1961, siendo su padre Barack Hussein
Obama, Sr., un musulman de raza negra oriundo de
Nyangoma-Kogel, en Kenya su madre, Ann Dunham,
una atea blanca de Wichita, Kansas.
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Los padres de Obama se conocieron en la
Universidad de Hawaii. Tenía dos años Obama
cuando sus padres se divorciaron, regresando su
padre a Kenya su madre contrajo nuevas nupcias
con Lolo Soetoro, un musulman radical de
Indonesia.
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El señor Barack Hussein Obama no recita el
Pledge of Allegiance (himno nacional de los
Estados Unidos) ni muestra ninguna reverencia por
la bandera Norteamericana.
Mientras otros ponen su mano sobre el corazón,
Obama da su espalda a la bandera en actitud
irrespetuosa.
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Por consideraciones políticas, y para poder
aspirar a ocupar las más altas posiciones dentro
del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos, Obama se hizo
cristiano, formando parte de la UNITED CHURCH OF
CHRIST, para así tratar de encubrir su formación
islámica.
Es importante recalcar que cuando Obama juró para
ocupar su cargo como senador no lo hizo ante la
Santa Biblia, sino ante el Korán.
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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and
Politics?Latinos Ethnic-Religious Identities,
Immigration and the Presidential Election

• electoral delegates
• New Mexico (45 ) 5
• Texas (36) 34
• California (36 ) 55
• Arizona 10
• Florida 27
• Colorado 9
• Nevada 5
• New York 31
• New Jersey 15
• Illinois 21

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Divided by Faith, Ethnicity, and Politics?

• Priorities for Latinos (Pew Study July 2008
  Hispanic Voter Attitudes)
• Extremely important / very important
• Education (93)
• Cost of living (92)
• Jobs (91)
• Health care (90)
• Crime (82)
• Iraq (75)
• Immigration (75)