Allen D. Hertzke - Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices

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 con ventional 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 religions 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.

Allen D. Hertzke is David Ross Boyd Professor of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma. He is author or editor of several books on religion and politics, most recently Religious Freedom in America and Christianity and Freedom, vols. I and II.

Laura R. Olson is Centennial Professor in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Kevin R. den Dulk is the Paul B. Henry Chair in Political Science and Director of the Henry Institute at Calvin College. He is the coauthor of The Disappearing God Gap? Religion in the 2008 Election and Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility.

Robert Booth Fowler is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His published books include Enduring Liberalism: American Political Thought since the 1960s, The Dance with Community: The Contemporary Debate in American Political Thought, and Unconventional Partners: Religion and American Liberal Culture.

Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices

SIXTH EDITION

Allen D. Hertzke
Laura R. Olson
Kevin R. den Dulk
Robert Booth Fowler

Sixth edition published 2019
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Taylor & Francis

The right of Allen D. Hertzke, Laura R. Olson, and Kevin R. den Dulk to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Fifth edition published by Westview Press 2014

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hertzke, Allen D., 1950 author. | Olson, Laura R., 1967 author. | Dulk, Kevin R. den, author. | Fowler, Robert Booth, 1940 author.
Title: Religion and politics in America : faith, culture, and strategic choices / Allen D. Hertzke, Laura R. Olson, Kevin R. den Dulk, Robert Booth Fowler.
Description: Sixth Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | New to the Sixth Edition: Covers the 2016 election and assesses the role of religion from Obama to Trump. Expands substantially on religions 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.t.p. verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018004050| ISBN 9781138596153 (hardback) | ISBN 9780813350578 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780429487910 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Religion and politicsUnited States. | United StatesReligion. | United StatesPolitics and government.
Classification: LCC BL2525 .H474 2019 | DDC 322/.10973dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018004050

ISBN: 978-1-138-59615-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-813-35057-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-48791-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Minion Pro
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK

List of Illustrations

Preface

RELIGION AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN AMERICA: FROM THE HISTORICAL LEGACY TO THE PRESENT DAY

The Puritan Temper

Religious Freedom and Pluralism

The Evangelical Dimension

The Populist Dimension

Spiritual and Religious Individualism

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

Notes

THEORIES OF RELIGION, CULTURE, AND AMERICAN POLITICS

Civil Religion

The Unconventional-Partners Thesis

Culture Wars

The Secularization Thesis

Populism

The Religious-Marketplace Thesis

The Culture-Shift Thesis

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

Notes

CHRISTIANITY AND ITS MAJOR BRANCHES

The Status of Religion in the United States

Evangelical Protestantism

Mainline Protestantism

Roman Catholicism

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

Notes

JUDAISM, ISLAM, AND OTHER EXPRESSIONS OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

Jews and Judaism

Muslims and Islam

The LDS Church: A Uniquely American Christian Faith

Separatist Religions

Other Small Religions

Secular and Other Disaffiliated Americans

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

Notes

LATINO AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGION AND POLITICS

The Changing Status of Latino Religion

Latinos in Public Life

African-American Religion and Politics: Toward a Broader View

History and Black Political Attitudes

Connections between Black Religion and Politics

Islam in the African-American Community

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

Notes

GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RELIGION, AND POLITICS

Gender and Religion in American Life

Womens Diverging Perspectives on Religion and Politics

The Politics of Women in the Pews

The Politics of Women Clergy

Religion, Politics, Sexual Orientation, and LGBT People