The dramatic increase in religiously motivated political activity in the United States since the early 1980s has spawned an increased scholarly awareness of the relationship between religion and politics. The rise of such groups as the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and the Family Research Council attests to this growing intersection between politics and religion. Correspondingly, the amount of scholarly writing in this field has increased significantly. This volume compiles overviews of the existing research in religion and political behavior. Designed as a research and reference tool, this work includes over four hundred annotated bibliographic entries for books and journal articles by political scientists and sociologists. These sources encompass a wide variety of aspects concerning the relationship between religion and political behavior. The entries provide information on the theoretical basis, methodology, and result of each study. Entries are indexed by author, subject, and title.

The 1988 Election year, showcasing two ordained ministers seeking presidential nomination, made it apparent that religion is an important force on the U.S. political landscape. The result of such visible roles by religious elites raises many questions including the boundaries between the sacred and the secular, the size and importance of various politico/religious constituencies, and the effectiveness of religiously based elite-mass communications. In response, political scientists are devoting an increasing amount of time to studying the interaction of religion and politics. Taking the first step toward answering these questions, "Religion and American Political Behavior" is a collection of 15 articles written by prominent political scientists. Reflecting the current state of research the articles are diverse and eclectic. They are all written from a behavioral perspective and are based on a careful collection of empirical data. This collection contains a variety of substantive findings that will be of particular value to students and scholars in the social sciences, religion, and political science.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals directly with the methodological difficulties of measuring religious phenomena. This section also serves as an introduction to students or scholars with little background in this field. The second part constituting the body of the work, confronts the question of how religion affects the political attitudes and beliefs of ordinary citizens. The final part is unique to this collection. Entitled Elite Perspectives, it consists of seven articles with a common theme: the impact of religion on the political behavior of elite members of society, including journalists, lobbyists, public officials, political contributors, and clergy.

This edited collection examines various aspects of the explosive abortion issue in the United States and Canada. In both countries, decisions of the national supreme court have made access to legal abortion easier than had previously been the case. This volume looks at the aftermath of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and Morgantaler v. Regina in Canada. Individual chapters deal with the rhetoric of public discourse, public opinion at the mass level, political reasoning on the part of religious and pro-life activists, and the role of religion in political socialization on the abortion issue. Methodologically, the volume includes survey research, content analysis, participant observation, and political theory. The list of contributors includes some of the leading political scientists and sociologists working in the field.

Ted G. Jelen's study asks two basic questions: Why do some people apply their religious beliefs to their political behavior, and what are the consequences of politicized Christianity for the practice of democracy in the United States? Supportive data for his findings, collected from the members and clergy of fifteen churches in a rural Midwestern county, suggest that the decline of the Christian Right is due to religious particularism. Mutual distrust and suspicion among Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Pentecostals, as well as their widespread antipathy to Roman Catholics, prevents the formation of potentially powerful political coalitions.

This book explores religion's tendency to impact conservative politics and what the nature of a fractured religious right implies. Jelen shows that religiously directed politics are often motivated by a prejudice against religious outsiders. Since the Christian Right supporters have not successfully internalized the humble, nonjudgmental tenets of Christianity, both the effectiveness of the politics and the essence of the Christianity suffers. Jelen's discussion encourages dialogue among researchers, scholars, and activists.

Perspectives on the Politics of Abortion examines the abortion issue from ethical, empirical, and legal angles and offers some rather unconventional analyses and surprising conclusions with regard to this familiar issue. One chapter argues that the emphasis on "rights" has made illegal and occasionally violent activity on the part of pro-life activists increasingly likely. Another chapter suggests that abortion is an instance of the more general right to self-defense. A chapter considers the problem of abortion from the standpoint of participants in the political process. And chapters examine the political tactics of the Roman Catholic Church and abortion rights in terms of constitutional due process. This important volume adds new voices and perspectives to the abortion debate.

This study examines the role of religion in American politics. It begins with the assumption that there exist multiple democratic theories, and that religion has a different role to play in each. It compares consensus theories of American political culture, and dualistic theories of political mobilization, and accounts, which emphasize the diversity of the American citizenry. The question of how religious leaders view their political roles is of the work's focus. The major part of the study consists of interviews with nearly thirty Protestant ministers and Roman Catholic clergy concerning their conceptions of the relationship between the sacred and the political. These conceptions are then related to the various theories of democratic political culture, with the conclusion that each of three traditions (Roman Catholicism, mainline Protestantism, and Evangelical Protestantism) embodies to some extent one of the models of democratic politics.

This work will be of interest to scholars and students of American politics, government, and religion.

This work is a collection of essays that describe and analyze religion and regime relations in various nations in the contemporary world. The contributors examine patterns of interaction between religious actors and national governments that include separation, support, and opposition. In general, the contributors find that most countries have a majority or plurality religious tradition, which will seek a privileged position in public life. The nature of the relationship between such traditions and national policy is largely determined by the nature of opposition. A pattern of quasi-establishment is most common in settings in which opposition to a dominant religious tradition is explicitly religious. However, in some instances, the dominant tradition is associated with a discredited prior regime, in which a pattern of legal separation is most common. Conversely, in some nations, a dominant religion is, for historical reasons, strong associated with national identity. Such regimes are often characterized by a "lazy monopoly," in which the public influence of religion is reduced.

This work is a collection of essays that describe and analyze religion and regime relations in various nations in the contemporary world. The contributors examine patterns of interaction between religious actors and national governments that include separation, support, and opposition. In general, the contributors find that most countries have a majority or plurality religious tradition, which will seek a privileged position in public life. The nature of the relationship between such traditions and national policy is largely determined by the nature of opposition. A pattern of quasi-establishment is most common in settings in which opposition to a dominant religious tradition is explicitly religious. However, in some instances, the dominant tradition is associated with a discredited prior regime, in which a pattern of legal separation is most common. Conversely, in some nations, a dominant religion is, for historical reasons, strong associated with national identity. Such regimes are often characterized by a "lazy monopoly," in which the public influence of religion is reduced.

Piety, Politics, and Pluralism skillfully confronts the question: Is liberal democracy hostile to religion or is it compatible with the rights of believers? Prominent scholars analyze the controversy about religious freedom by examining two areas at the intersection of religion and politics in contemporary American society: the Supreme Court's 1990 decision in Oregon v. Smith and the events of the 2000 presidential campaign. Their essays remind us that in an increasingly pluralistic society, Americans must work continually to reconcile religious commitment and political obligation. Piety, Politics, and Pluralism is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to students of religion and politics, American politics, and constitutional law.

In recent years, political discourse about gun control and the Second Amendment has become increasingly volatile and this collection of original essays by top scholars illuminates the various reasons why. Gun lobbies such as the National Rifle Association are more organized and aggressive and their issue agenda has evolved as new and more powerful weapons and militia appear. On the other side of the debate, the critical wounding of James Brady gave gun control advocates a visible martyr with strong ties to Republican conservatives. In sum, gun control and the right to bear arms have become hotly disputed issues where political alignments are constantly shifting. The contributors chart these changes and explore how Congress, the courts, the President, and individual states are currently addressing the issue of gun control. This book, which includes profiles and examinations of relevant interest groups, the gun control coalition, recent Supreme Court decisions, and public opinion surveys, will be of great interest to classes in political science, American government, law, and sociology.

The 2010 elections were one of the most highly anticipated midterm elections in our nation's recent history. After the historic 2008 election, in which America elected its first black president, Sarah Palin's involvement and the emergence of the Tea Party in the 2010 congressional elections had the potential to transform the composition of congress and set the stage for the nation's politics for the next decade, or even the next generation. In this new edited volume, Charles S. Bullock III collects original contributions from top political scientists to evaluate Sarah Palin and the Tea Party's role in the 2010 midterm elections. Key States, High Stakes focuses on states where Republicans had the chance to pick up Senate seats, as well as examining GOP Senate primaries if they involved a Palin or a Tea Party nominee facing an establishment favorite. Bullock concludes the anthology with a chapter on the legacy of the Tea Party and of Sarah Palin on American politics. One thing is certain. In terms of control of the House and Senate (and its effect on President Obama's policy agenda), the prospects for the 2012 presidential race, and the long-term viability of the Tea Party movement, the stakes in the 2010 midterm elections could not have been higher.

Today new and ever more pernicious forms of terrorist violence threaten the world. Because these new forms of violence are so often linked to religious radicalism, modern terrorism has challenged the secular ethics of contemporary civil society. There is a pressing need to understand modern religious movements that have added militancy and belligerence as fundamental elements of religious practice. Contributors to this volume painstakingly tackle the question of how to define the contours of current religious fundamentalism as they examine the private and public postures of fundamentalist rhetoric, the importance of its regional variants, and the damage it can do to regional and national education systems. Their analysis tracks trends in religious movements that aspire to radicalize, reform, and violently topple governments and nations, while highlighting the difference between fundamentalist interpretations and other longstanding juridical, political, and intellectual traditions.

Can individual decisions concerning whether or where to attend church, to contribute time or money to religious organizations, or to forgo certain activities be explained as a special case of economic theory? In Sacred Markets, Sacred Canopies, Ted G. Jelen brings together the leading scholars in the sociology of religion to debate market theories of religion. As the contributors examine whether or not religious choices can be understood as responding to the same laws of supply and demand as other forms of consumer behavior, they bring out many of the issues, controversies, and concerns surrounding this innovative theory. The result is a concise source for the arguments, evidence, and criticism of the market model of religious economies-a perfect starting point for students and scholars approaching this set of problems.

Should the wall of separation between church and state be permeable or inviolable? This question has been hotly contested since the nation's founding and contentious debates persist today. With a collection of the most significant documents and an introduction by Clarke E. Cochran that provides the historical context of the debate, prominent scholars Mary Segers and Ted Jelen debate the impact of organized religion on the democratic process, examine its influence on political discourse, and discuss its significance for the creation of public policy. The authors illuminate the constitutional implications of using religion to cultivate public morality and discuss the complexities of creating a civic-minded citizenry in a pluralistic society.

While the Christian Right has been the subject of a good deal of scholarly analysis, it has not been adequately studied within a comparative context -- across time, across different institutional systems, or across different religious communities. In Sojourners in the Wilderness, a host of distinguished scholars examine these dimensions of the Christian Right. The contributors analyze the Christian Right historically -- what is its relationship today with earlier manifestations? How have its organizational structures and strategies changed over time? Sociologically -- what are the current opportunities for Christian Right inroads within African-American, Catholic, and Jewish communities?; and politically -- what accounts for the affinity between many evangelical Protestants and the Christian Right within the American political context, while such an affinity appears to be lacking in other political contexts? All of those interested in religion's role in politics and history will find this book valuable.

Using data from the Williamsburg Charter surveys, this book provides a portrait of public attitudes on church-state issues. It examines the social, religious and political sources of differences on issues, making comparisons among Protestants, Catholics, Jews and non-denominational others.

Using data from the Williamsburg Charter surveys, this book provides a portrait of public attitudes on church-state issues. It examines the social, religious and political sources of differences on issues, making comparisons among Protestants, Catholics, Jews and non-denominational others.

Newly revised and updated, "To Serve God and Mammon" is a classic in the field of religion and politics that provides an unbiased introduction and overview of church--state relations in the United States.

Jelen begins by exploring the inherent tension between the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment. He then examines how different actors in American politics (e.g., the courts, Congress, the president, ordinary citizens) have different and conflicting values that affect their attitudes and actions toward the relationship between the sacred and the secular. Finally, he discusses how the fragmented nature of political authority in the United States provides the basis for continuing conflict concerning church--state relations.

This second edition includes analyses of various recent court cases and the implications of living in the post--9/11 era. It also features discussion questions at the end of each chapter, a glossary of terms, and synopses of selected court decisions bearing on religion and politics in the United States.

This two-volume encyclopedia brings together leading scholars to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on politics and religion ever produced. Editors in Chief Paul A. Djupe, Mark J. Rozell, and Ted G. Jelen-joined by an editorial board of associate editors (Gizem Arikan, Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom, Taylor Boas, Steven Kettell, Amy Erica Smith, and Gunes Murat Tezcur)-have assembled over 100 peer-reviewed entries. In this extensive resource, readers will find authoritative overviews of the key topics, theories, and findings in religion and politics. Social scientists have closely observed religion at multiple levels of analysis, across a long time span, and in diverse outlets. As a result, it can be difficult for new researchers and interested observers to understand the state of the field. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion addresses that need, and is therefore essential reading for all who seek to understand some of the most important issues and questions facing the world, including the role of regulation of religion by states, how religion is linked to civil war, whether religion is compatible with democracy, how religion structures political behavior and public opinion, how religious parties behave, and much more.