In Obama's Speech on the issue between politics and
religion, Obama used various forms of rhetorical strategies to express his idea
that the government should not need to follow a certain religion's beliefs and
make laws for the entire nation based from one. He argued that the United States
laws should be made with values that are true for all people. regardless of existence or absence of religion. To bring out
this argument Obama used pathos, logos, and ethos to convince the audience.
First when using pathos in his argument, Obama mentioned
his experience with Alan Keyes. This was the first point that made the audience feel a bit more empathy toward his claim when he mentioned that "it did not adequately address the role my faith has in guiding my own values and my own beliefs". I think Obama started using pathos early into his speech due to the fact that he was addressing a crowd of audience who is very religious. By saying what he says invites the audience to listen to what he has to say about his personal beliefs.
Obama applied explicit logos into his argument by providing information about how much of the United States population believe in God and the percentage of Americans who are involved in their religion. I think Obama brought in this statistic to demonstrate to the audience the variety of opinions and beliefs other Americans have. If he provides statistical information, the religious audience will most likely be convinced that politics cannot be based upon religion since so many people think very different.
In order to make a strong argument Obama made sure to include ethos in his speech by mentioning the church he attended in Chicago and address to have the audience believe that Obama actually did participate in religious activities at some point of his life. If he is speaking to a crowd of religious people who most likely are in favor of Mr. Keyes, then to make his argument strong he provided evidence of religious interest.
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