Constituting the un-American atheist: Eisenhower's theistnormativity and the negation of American atheists

During the Cold War, President Eisenhower used civil religion and what Philip Wander calls prophetic dualism to construct an image of the American people. In doing so he excluded atheists from his description of the American citizenry. In order to understand how atheists fit into the national imagination inspired by President Eisenhower, this thesis explores how Eisenhower talked explicitly and implicitly, through rhetorical omission, about atheists. I argue that President Eisenhower framed atheists as un-American during his presidency, which contributed to a negative perception of atheists that is still prevalent in modern American society. This thesis also calls on scholars to be more mindful of how the theist-normativity promoted in American society marginalizes American atheists, both historically and today.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Colorado State University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Authors dc:creator

• Lee, Kristina M., author
• Anderson, Karrin Vasby, advisor
• Prasch, Allison, committee member
• Cloud, Doug, committee member

• civil religion
• Eisenhower
• theist-normativity
• atheist
• prophetic dualism
• Cold War

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25675/3.018935

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/189376