Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics

Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics PDF Author: David C. Leege
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315485672
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This text addresses whether and how religion and religious institutions affect American politics. For some time, analysts have argued that the conflicts of the New Deal era rendered cultural differences trivial and placed economic interests at the top of the political agenda. The authors and their collaborators - John C. Green, James L. Guth, Ted G. Jelen, Corwin E. Smidt, Kenneth D. Wald, Michael R. Welch, and Clyde Wilcox - disagree. They find that religious worldviews are still insinuated in American political institutions, and religious institutions still are points of reference. The book profits from the new religiosity measures employed in the 1990 National Election Studies. Part 1 discusses the study of religion in the context of politics. Part II examines religion as a source of group orientation. Part III takes up religious practices and their political ramifications. Part IV does the same for doctrinal and worldview considerations. Part V explores the sources of religious socialisation. In conclusion, Part VI reviews the research on religion and political behaviour and looks ahead to where work should proceed.

Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics

Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics PDF Author: David C. Leege
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315485672
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book

Book Description
This text addresses whether and how religion and religious institutions affect American politics. For some time, analysts have argued that the conflicts of the New Deal era rendered cultural differences trivial and placed economic interests at the top of the political agenda. The authors and their collaborators - John C. Green, James L. Guth, Ted G. Jelen, Corwin E. Smidt, Kenneth D. Wald, Michael R. Welch, and Clyde Wilcox - disagree. They find that religious worldviews are still insinuated in American political institutions, and religious institutions still are points of reference. The book profits from the new religiosity measures employed in the 1990 National Election Studies. Part 1 discusses the study of religion in the context of politics. Part II examines religion as a source of group orientation. Part III takes up religious practices and their political ramifications. Part IV does the same for doctrinal and worldview considerations. Part V explores the sources of religious socialisation. In conclusion, Part VI reviews the research on religion and political behaviour and looks ahead to where work should proceed.

Catholics and Politics

Catholics and Politics PDF Author: Kristin E. Heyer
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 158901653X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Catholic political identity and engagement defy categorization. The complexities of political realities and the human nature of such institutions as church and government often produce a more fractured reality than the pure unity depicted in doctrine. Yet, in 2003 under the leadership of then-prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a "Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life." The note explicitly asserts, "The Christian faith is an integral unity, and thus it is incoherent to isolate some particular element to the detriment of the whole of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the Church's social doctrine does not exhaust one's responsibility toward the common good." Catholics and Politics takes up the political and theological significance of this "integral unity," the universal scope of Catholic concern that can make for strange political bedfellows, confound predictable voting patterns, and leave the church poised to critique narrowly partisan agendas across the spectrum. Catholics and Politics depicts the ambivalent character of Catholics' mainstream "arrival" in the U.S. over the past forty years, integrating social scientific, historical and moral accounts of persistent tensions between faith and power. Divided into four parts—Catholic Leaders in U.S. Politics; The Catholic Public; Catholics and the Federal Government; and International Policy and the Vatican—it describes the implications of Catholic universalism for voting patterns, international policymaking, and partisan alliances. The book reveals complex intersections of Catholicism and politics and the new opportunities for influence and risks of cooptation of political power produced by these shifts. Contributors include political scientists, ethicists, and theologians. The book will be of interest to scholars in political science, religious studies, and Christian ethics and all lay Catholics interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the tensions that can exist between church doctrine and partisan politics.

Secular Surge

Secular Surge PDF Author: David E. Campbell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108918344
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
American society is rapidly secularizing–a radical departure from its historically high level of religiosity–and politics is a big part of the reason. Just as, forty years ago, the Religious Right arose as a new political movement, today secularism is gaining traction as a distinct and politically energized identity. This book examines the political causes and political consequences of this secular surge, drawing on a wealth of original data. The authors show that secular identity is in part a reaction to the Religious Right. However, while the political impact of secularism is profound, there may not yet be a Secular Left to counterbalance the Religious Right. Secularism has introduced new tensions within the Democratic Party while adding oxygen to political polarization between Democrats and Republicans. Still there may be opportunities to reach common ground if politicians seek to forge coalitions that encompass both secular and religious Americans.

Religion and American Politics

Religion and American Politics PDF Author: Mark A. Noll
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198043164
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
How do religion and politics interact in America? How has that relationship changed over time? Why have American religious and political thought sometimes developed along a parallell course while at other times they have moved in opposite directions? These are among the many important and fascinating questions addressed in this volume. Originally published in 1990 as Religion and American Politics: From The Colonial Period to the 1980s (4921 paperback copies sold), this book offers the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between religion and politics in America. It features a stellar lineup of scholars, including Richard Carwardine, Nathan Hatch, Daniel Walker Howe, George Marsden, Martin Marty, Harry Stout, John Wilson, Robert Wuthnow, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Since its publication, the influence of religion on American politics--and, therefore, interest in the topic--has grown exponentially. For this new edition, Mark Noll and new co-editor Luke Harlow offer a completely new introduction, and also commission several new pieces and eliminate several that are now out of date. The resulting book offers a historically-grounded approach to one of the most divisive issues of our time, and serves a wide variety of courses in religious studies, history, and politics.

Religion and Politics in the United States

Religion and Politics in the United States PDF Author: Kenneth D. Wald
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742540415
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
Religion and Politics in the United States, Fifth Edition, offers a comprehensive account of the role of religious ideas, institutions, and communities in American public life.

Religion in American Politics

Religion in American Politics PDF Author: Frank Lambert
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400824583
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention blocked the establishment of Christianity as a national religion. But they could not keep religion out of American politics. From the election of 1800, when Federalist clergymen charged that deist Thomas Jefferson was unfit to lead a "Christian nation," to today, when some Democrats want to embrace the so-called Religious Left in order to compete with the Republicans and the Religious Right, religion has always been part of American politics. In Religion in American Politics, Frank Lambert tells the fascinating story of the uneasy relations between religion and politics from the founding to the twenty-first century. Lambert examines how antebellum Protestant unity was challenged by sectionalism as both North and South invoked religious justification; how Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth" competed with the anticapitalist "Social Gospel" during postwar industrialization; how the civil rights movement was perhaps the most effective religious intervention in politics in American history; and how the alliance between the Republican Party and the Religious Right has, in many ways, realized the founders' fears of religious-political electoral coalitions. In these and other cases, Lambert shows that religion became sectarian and partisan whenever it entered the political fray, and that religious agendas have always mixed with nonreligious ones. Religion in American Politics brings rare historical perspective and insight to a subject that was just as important--and controversial--in 1776 as it is today.

Religious Ideology in American Politics

Religious Ideology in American Politics PDF Author: Nicole Guétin
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786453168
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
The connections between religion and political discourse in the arena of American politics are profound and longstanding. By looking at the writings of American thinkers from colonial times to the present, this work argues for the consistency and permanence of the American religious vision as it relates to political life. Ideas including Manifest Destiny, America as "God's Country" and Americans as "God's People" are explored within this framework, as is how these ideals of American exceptionalism and the "City on the Hill" have survived and mutated into the current U.S. political climate. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground

Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground PDF Author: Barbara A. McGraw
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791486958
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Returning to the ideas of John Locke and the Founders themselves, Barbara A. McGraw examines the debate about the role of religion in American public life and unravels the confounded rhetoric on all sides. She reveals that no group has been standing on proper ground and that all sides have misused terminology (religion/secular), dichotomies (public/private), and concepts (separation of church and state) in ways that have little relevance to the original intentions of the Founders. She rediscovers a theology underlying the founding documents of the nation that is neither anyone's particular religion nor one requiring religion. Instead, it justifies freedom of conscience for all and provides a two-tiered public forum—a civic public forum and a conscientious public forum—for the debate itself and the actions that debate inspires. America's Sacred Ground—this theology and its public forum—determines the meaning of freedom and the ways in which Americans can pursue "the good": good government, good communities, good families, good relations between individuals, and good individuals from a plurality of perspectives. By exploring our past, McGraw answers the critical question, Who are we as a people and what do we stand for?

Religion and Politics in America

Religion and Politics in America PDF Author: Allen D. Hertzke
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429947356
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
Religion and politics are never far from the headlines, but their relationship remains complex and often confusing. This book offers an engaging, accessible, and balanced treatment of religion in American politics. It explores the historical, cultural, and legal contexts that motivate religious political engagement and assesses the pragmatic and strategic political realities that religious organizations and people face. Incorporating the best and most current scholarship, the authors examine the evolving politics of Roman Catholics; evangelical and mainline Protestants; African-American and Latino traditions; Jews, Muslims, and other religious minorities; recent immigrants and religious "nones"; and other conventional and not-so-conventional American religious movements. New to the Sixth Edition • Covers the 2016 election and assesses the role of religion from Obama to Trump. • Expands substantially on religion’s relationship to gender and sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class, and features the role of social media in religious mobilization. • Adds discussion questions at the end of every chapter, to help students gain deeper understanding of the subject. • Adds a new concluding chapter on the normative issues raised by religious political engagement, to stimulate lively discussions.

The Future of Religion in American Politics

The Future of Religion in American Politics PDF Author: Charles Dunn
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081312929X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Should parents receive vouchers to send their children to religious schools? What limits—if any—should the government place on abortion? Should the government permit and fund stem cell research? Should religious organizations have the right to prohibit the employment of homosexuals? Should public schools teach both creationism and evolution? How does religion influence our political stances on gay marriage? The death penalty? Immigration? The issues are real. The emotions are intense. The solutions are difficult to reach and often problematic. From the White House to the courthouse, from governors’ mansions to the United States Supreme Court, religion factors into many contemporary legal controversies. Efforts to establish the proper balance between church and state create heated debates in America and raise seemingly insoluble questions. Politicians and their advisers walk a fine line when addressing religious issues in an increasingly pluralistic society where religious factions attempt to impose their values on the electoral and legislative processes. The Future of Religion in American Politics presents thoughtful, wide-ranging essays by twelve eminent public intellectuals and scholars, offering rich and stimulating views on one of the most divisive issues of our time. Editor Charles W. Dunn and the contributors assess the impact of religion on American politics in four distinct time periods: the founding, the Civil War, the New Deal era, and the modern era. Dunn out lines seven propositions that characterize the interaction of religion and politics during these time periods and describes how and why religion continues to influence politics in America. Contributors to this volume argue that whereas religion in the founding era held society together in a shared belief of the biblical portrayal of humanity, today’s pluralistic religious interpretations of God appear to be tearing society apart. The rise of Islam and other world religions poses perplexing questions about the issue of tolerance. Can America survive as a free society without commonly accepted morals that are based in religion? Is America a secular society with a clear separation of church and state, or a government created and informed by ever-changing religious values? The Future of Religion in American Politics includes essays about religion in the public square, evangelical, and faith-based politics in presidential elections. The authors investigate many thought–provoking questions about the extent of religious influence in the U.S. government today and its likely impact in the future. Lucid and accessible, this book covers a wide range of issues and will be invaluable to students of politics, religious studies, and history.