You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
From the first rumblings of the Moral Majority over twenty years ago, the Christian Right has been marshalling its forces and maneuvering its troops in an effort to re-shape the landscape of American politics. It has fascinated social scientists and journalists as the first right-wing social movement in postwar America to achieve significant political and popular support, and it has repeatedly defied those who would step up to write its obituary. In 2000, while many touted the demise of the Christian Coalition, the broader undercurrents of the movement were instrumental in helping George W. Bush win the GOP nomination and the White House. Bush repaid that swell of support by choosing Senator...
America's clergy are not just religious leaders. Their influence extends far beyond church doors. Houses of worship stand at the center of American civic life-one of the few spheres in which relatively diverse individuals gather together regularly. And the moral authority granted to pastors means that they are uniquely positioned to play a role in public debates. Based on data gathered through national surveys of clergy across four mainline Protestant (the Disciples of Christ; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the Reformed Church in America; and the United Methodist Church) and three evangelical Protestant denominations (the Assemblies of God; the Christian Reformed Church; and, the Southern Bap...
In recent decades, Christian clergy have ever more frequently had to decide whether to become involved in politics. When they do become involved, their influence can be substantial. In this book Sue E. S. Crawford, Laura R. Olson, and their coauthors explore the political choices clergy make and the consequences of these choices. Drawing on personal interviews and statistical data to place the actions of clergy in both their religious and secular contexts, the authors study mainline and evangelical Protestant, Catholic, and Mennonite communities. They examine the role of white, African American, and female religious leaders. And they address issues of local development, city government, and ...
Providing an in-depth analysis of public opinion, including its origins in political socialization, its role in the electoral process, and the impact of the media, American Public Opinion goes beyond a simple presentation of data to include a critical analysis of the role of public opinion in American democracy. New to the 11th Edition Updates all data through the 2020 elections and includes early polling through 2022. Pays increased attention to polarization. Expands focus on support for democratic values in the Trump and post-Trump era. Covers new voting patterns related to race, ethnicity, and gender. Expands coverage of political misinformation, media bias, and negativity, especially in social media. Defends political polling even in the wake of 2020 failings.
Surveying the past 30 years, historian Kenneth Heineman offers a revealing look at the expanding role of the conservative movement in American politics and society. Heineman ultimately questions whether moral politics are a diversion from our most pressing problems or a cure for what ails the nation.
This book examines the paradoxical relationship between the religious and political behaviors of American and British Evangelicals, who exhibit nearly identical religious canon and practice, but sharply divergent political beliefs and action. Relying on interviews with British religious and political elites (journalists, MPs, activists, clergy) as well as focus groups in ten Evangelical congregations, this study reveals that British Evangelicals, unlike their American counterparts known for their extensive involvement in party politics, have no discernible ideological or partisan orientation, choosing to pursue their political interests through civic or social organizations rather than elect...
In the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Christian Right expected major victories in the 1998 elections. Instead, many of its allies lost close contests, and the movement was seen as a liability in some high-profile campaigns. In the only in-depth study of the Christian Right's role in these races, leading scholars analyze the role of the movement in fourteen key states, from Maine to California, and address speculations that the movement is fading from the American political scene. The book focuses on elections on the state and local levels, where the Christian Right is most influential, and it describes the movement's niche in some detail. Although each campaign described in the bo...
In God's Own Party, Daniel K. Williams presents the first comprehensive history of the Christian Right, uncovering how evangelicals came to see the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could reclaim America as a Christian nation.
Challenging a widespread belief that religious people are politically intolerant, Marie Ann Eisenstein offers compelling evidence to the contrary. In this surprising and significant book, she thoroughly re-examines previous studies and presents new research to support her argument that there is, in fact, a positive correlation between religious belief and practice and political tolerance in the United States. Eisenstein utilizes sophisticated new analytical tools to re-evaluate earlier data and offers persuasive new statistical evidence to support her claim that religiousness and political tolerance do, indeed, mix--and that religiosity is not the threat to liberal democracy that it is often made out to be.
The Test of Time brings together fifteen outstanding empirical studies, contributed by top political scientists and state policymakers. This volume offers both case studies of key states and cross-state comparisons that examine how legislatures, legislators, and political linkages such as lobbying and electoral competition have been affected by the imposition of legislative term limits. This essential source includes both a comprehensive annotated bibliography of term limits literature and a history of the term limits movement.