A lecture by Max Perry Mueller will examine the backgrounds and goals of the Republican ticket for the 2016 presidential election.
The talk, “That Old Time (Race and) Religion: How the Trump/Pence Ticket Wants to Make America White and Christian Again,” is 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Nebraska Union Regency A Suite.
Mueller, assistant professor in classics and religious studies, said an article he wrote for Religion and Politics will provide the basis for the lecture.
While the Republican ticket leaders do not see eye-to-eye on issues and differ in personality/public demeanor, Pence’s identity as a conservative Christian and the governing worldview that it forms align with Trump’s view of seeing a world divided starkly into allies and enemies, security and menace.
“In this sense, both Trump and Pence are restorationists,” Mueller said. “And, their restorationist visions for America are complimentary. Trump’s is racial, while Pence’s is religious. Together, their ticket embodies a ‘white Christian America’ in decline.”
During the lecture, Mueller will discuss how white Christian America hopes to resist the forces of demographic and cultural change, while working to restore white Protestant Americans (especially men) to a place of unchallenged preeminence.
The talk is free and open to the public. For more information on Mueller, click here.
