Between 2007 and 2019 Pew Research Center (2019) studied the religious landscape in the United States unveiling that it is changing, with the percentage of professing Christians and regular churchgoers declining. Every fourth year, the newly elected president of the United States delivers an inauguration speech. Researchers propose that a political speech is strategic and reflects the attitudes that are already withinthe audience. Against this backdrop, this essay addressed the three research questions following.
RQ1:What are the religious inclinations of the five US presidents between 1989 –2017, which are reflected inthe ways of using Christian vocabulary in their inaugural speeches, and mentions of religions other than Christianity?
RQ2: What are the frequencies of five commonly used Christian words in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) in the years of 1990 and 2019?
RQ3:Is there any relationship between the individual presidents' religious inclinations and the frequency fluctuation of the Christian words in COCA? If so, in what ways are they related to each other?
Eight U.S. presidents' inaugural speeches were studied for its Christian content, and data from Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) 1990-2019 were observed and analyzed both quantitively and qualitatively. In doing so, the frequent usage of the following five words that are essential to a professing Christian: 'Jesus Christ, Cross, God, Bible and Church' were studied. The results reveal that each President uses Christian language in their inaugural speeches, but to various degrees. The number of occurrences each President refers to certain Christian linguistical categories varied a lot, with the average times being 16 times. The frequent usage of the five examined words fluctuated from one year to another, generally with the highest peak around 2007, and lowest in 2016. During George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton's time as presidents, the average percentage of the five words increased, approximately +10 %. Throughout Barack Obama's presidency, the average percentage dropped –30%, and continues to do so with Donald Trump as president, -12%. Based on the results, the study suggests that changes in the religious landscape of the United States is revealed in how the U.S. people use essential Christian words. There is a decline, both in professing Christians since 2007 and in the frequent usage of essential Christian words.
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