In the United States, religion has a profound yet understated effect on politics, said Dr. Jonathan “Doc” Bradley, the newest member of UVM’s Political Science Department. “We are the most religious, industrialized democracy in the world. Our religious salience matches pre-industrial, global south countries. And part of the reason is because we have this religious marketplace. There's a huge competition between belief systems,” Dr. Bradley said.

Dr. Bradley brings deep personal experience and scholarship to his new role. The former Army soldier grew up in the south around fundamental and evangelical Christianity. He had a burning curiosity for a deeper meaning to the structures and social implications of religion. “I went to the University of Arkansas, actually majored in psychology there because I didn't know what else to do and wound up taking a minor in world religions and fell in love with it, just madly in love with it,” he said.

Dr. Bradley got a second bachelor’s degree in world religions, “and had the intention of going on to get the PhD. But, you know, life happens, you get sidetracked, wound up out here in Vegas to pay off some debt, make some money.”

Serendipity struck Dr. Bradley when he ran into the President of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) in a casino, who convinced him to pursue his PhD. “I'd always been kind of interested in the role of conservative Christianity in politics,” Bradley said, “so I specifically studied that.”

Bradley said that religiosity is entrenched in modern day political discourse. He describes the political divide as “this idea that the other side does not have the best interests of the country at heart, what they are doing is, in some religious language, evil or immoral.”

And the religion you identify with can influence electoral outcomes, Bradley said.

“If I was to stand up and say I'm an atheist or a Buddhist here in Las Vegas, depending on where I am, it would be difficult for me to win an election. And there are parts of the country where that would almost guarantee I'm going to lose,” he said. “If I stood up and I said, I am a Buddhist, I’m an atheist, I might have a good chance of winning in Vermont.”

Bradley is very much looking forward to starting at UVM in the fall. “I'm looking forward to the green. I'm looking forward to rain. It's something I'm really excited about.”

And he extended a warm welcome to students. “Please feel free to stop by my office to say hi,” he said. Bradley’s unique background coupled with his infectious enthusiasm and scholarship is going to put religion and politics into the center of many student conversations this fall.

Bradley will be teaching courses on Environmental Politics, the American Political System, and Religion and US Politics.

 

 

Brady Jalili is a Junior Political Science student with a passion for local government.