Compare and contrast church sermons to campaign speeches
Communication remains an imperative component in society as it helps people exchange ideas, relate with others, and form close bonds with family members. However, communication assumes different forms depending on the subject, audience, environment, and other constructs. Church sermons and campaigns speeches remain the two forms of communication in the contemporary society, but they share similar aspects and differ in others as addressed in this paper.
Church sermons and campaign speeches appeal, convince, and encourage the audience, through emotional inspiration to take a certain course of action. In the case of church sermons, the speaker (religious leader/pastor) appeals to the audience to take an action of having deeper understanding of Christian teachings, exalt their belief and faith in God, and enhance their relationship with the God. Similarly, in the case of campaign speeches, the speaker appeals to the audience to take an action of voting for the speaker during the election period or vote for a particular candidate contesting for an election position under a particular party.
Church sermons and campaign speeches are inclined to a particular agenda or topic. In essence, the speaker in church sermons has a moral and religious agenda that is premised on religious teachings and biblical concepts. In such situations, the speaker uses biblical teaching, facts, and analysis to support the agenda and inspire the congregation spiritually. Likewise, campaign speeches are grounded on political agenda that appeals the audience/listeners to vote or sideline with political ideologies of the speaker. In this case, the speaker substantiates his/her claims using the available information and facts derived from different sources.
Church sermons and campaign speeches include humor and other rhetoric means to attract attention of the audience. In most cases, pastors/religious leaders involve personal experiences and biblical stories to elicit humor in the sermon and attract attention of the audience. Similarly, politicians/speakers in campaign speeches create humor through propaganda where they speak ill of their opponents and tarnish the image and reputation of their opponents through false criticism. The use of humor in church sermons and campaign speeches does not only attracts attention of the audience, but also help the audience relate, question, and conceptualize the subject matter addressed by the speaker.
Differences
Although church sermons and campaign speeches share similar aspects, they differ in several ways. Church sermons and campaign speeches target different sets of audience/listeners. In case of church sermons, the speaker targets mainly the congregation or individuals belonging to a particular religious denomination. On the other hand, campaign speeches do not necessarily targets members of a particular party or politicians, but a wide range of the audience. In essence, people from different occupations, lifestyle, and social-economic status attend and listen to campaign rallies and campaign speeches respectively.
Church sermons are relational, transformational, and experimental whereas campaign speeches are informational. In case of church sermons, the audience/listeners are supposed to experiment the teachings and relate with God in order to build their faith and belief in Jesus. In other words, church sermons are transformational because the impact of the sermon is not immediately reflected on the audience. On the other hand, campaign speeches are informational because the speaker can only convey the information to the audience and form cordial relationship with the listeners. This infers that campaign speeches focus on disseminating and conveying information to the audience. Based on these assertions, it remains clear that church sermons and campaign speeches share similar aspects and at the same time differ in other constructs.
