The Bible verses in the spotlight at party conventions

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
I wrote last week about how political parties appeal to religious voters, noting that the process is getting harder as the country becomes more religiously diverse — and less religiously engaged.
Under these conditions, party leaders, including top politicians, must look for ways to connect with Christians without alienating non-Christians and to connect with religious voters without alienating nonreligious voters.
That effort is more visible in the Democratic Party than the Republican Party at the moment, since it’s more religiously diverse, and since it has a higher share of religious “nones.”
One of my sources for the story, Brian Kaylor, co-author of “Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism,” helpfully walked me through what it looks like to appeal to religious voters without being overly religious by highlighting examples from last week’s Democratic National Convention.
He noted that several speakers at the DNC referenced biblical teachings without citing specific Bible verses, focusing their remarks on general moral wisdom rather than Christian ideals.
“They’re borrowing biblical or religious language without taking a Bible-thumping approach,” Kaylor said, as I wrote in my article.
Kaylor built on that point in an X post about popular Bible verses at the Republican and Democratic national conventions.
While the list for Republicans was comprised of four specific Bible passages, the list for Democrats had two specific verses and two broad faith-based teachings.
Common Bible references at the Republican National Convention:
Common Bible references at the Democratic National Convention:
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