US Politics Analysis: Why The Tea Party Puts God on the Sidelines (Parsons)

Photo: Life It is the 18th-century Gadsden flag ("Don't Tread on Me"), not the Cross, that decorate Tea Party rallies and bumper stickers. There is good reason for this: the movement is not about religion, it is about politics.

At first glance, the Tea Party is not necessarily "secular". The Public Religion Research Institute's recent American Values Survey, “Religion and the Tea Party in the 2010 Elections”, found 47% of voters aligned with the Tea Party movement identified themselves as either part of the Religious Right or the conservative Christian movement.

Yet the social conservatism of the Religious Right is not, nor is it likely, to be front and centre in Tea Party politics. Where is God? The answer, surprisingly, is that he is peripheral..

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