Politics and American Religious Identity

Recently Received: The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle, by Kathleen Flake.

Mormons today are often considered pillars of their community and patriotic American citizens. At one time, though, there were serious doubts about that. So strong were those doubts, in fact, that when Mormon Reed Smoot was elected to the Senate for Utah, a large coalition of Protestant churches, religious leaders, and politicians worked hard to get him expelled. According to them, Mormons were lawbreakers who couldn’t be trusted as lawmakers — certainly not over moral, patriotic Christians.

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