2026-09-20T11:37:31Zhttps://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/server/oai/request

oai:null:10339/822342026-09-02T15:47:46Zcom_10339_14934col_10339_38132

Langr, Madeleine Eliza 2017-06-15T08:36:08Z 2017-06-15T08:36:08Z 2017 https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/82234 Legislative prayer is a common practice within local, state and federal legislative forums. Despite Supreme Court cases which have challenged the constitutionality of government-sanctioned prayer, legislative prayer persists as a constitutional political tradition within legislative forums. Prayers are offered regardless of what issues are deliberated upon, this has the potential to create tension when proposed bills are on issues that are religiously charged. Given the religious nature of anti-choice arguments, I argue that prayers prior to debates about abortion have the potential to change the affect within the political atmosphere. I transcribed a series of prayers offered prior to state legislative sessions which included deliberation and/or votes on bills pushing for abortion restrictions. Using these prayers, I investigate the rhetorical strategies used in legislative prayers in order to understand how these rhetorical strategies implicate affect within the political sphere. en Wake Forest University Abortion Affect Feminism Legislative Prayer Religion Rhetoric Applying Affect Theory to Studies of Legislative Prayer: Analyzing the Abortion Debate Thesis Louden, Allan Beasley Von Burg, Alessandra Balzano, Wanda Communication open.access