tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/religious-conservatives-39368/articlesReligious conservatives – The Conversation2024-03-12T11:38:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2252122024-03-12T11:38:46Z2024-03-12T11:38:46ZThe ‘Curse of Ham’: how people of faith used a story in Genesis to justify slavery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580842/original/file-20240310-28-s4o2j8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1587%2C1034&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Drunkenness of Noah' by Giovanni Bellini.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drunkenness_of_Noah_bellini.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to a <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/church-commissioners-england-warmly-welcomes-oversight-groups-report">report by an independent oversight committee</a> released in March 2024, the Church of England should pay £1bn in reparations – 10 times the previously set amount – to the descendants of slavery.</p>
<p>The report was the start of a “multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement”, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/04/church-of-england-told-to-boost-size-of-fund-to-address-legacy-of-slavery">said Justin Welby</a>, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion of about 85 million Christians.</p>
<p>His words summon the shocking spectacle of the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Church of England owned vast plantations in the Caribbean, chiefly in Barbados, employing thousands of slaves. Slavery was thought to be entirely consistent with the Christian message of bringing the Gospel to the “savages”. The Christian leaders even branded “their” slaves “SPG” – the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.</p>
<h2>“Cursed be Canaan”</h2>
<p>The Anglican Church is not alone: all mainstream Christian denominations were deeply involved in the slave trade, as were the main branches of Islam.</p>
<p>How could this be possible? How had religions supposedly dedicated to propagating the word of a compassionate and loving God become so intricately involved in this “appalling evil”? The answer is rooted in a grotesque misuse of the very words of the Bible. Of the many ways that Christians have invoked the Bible to justify their actions, none has exceeded in cruelty and wilful ignorance their appropriation of the “Curse of Ham” to justify slavery.</p>
<p>Ham (no relation!) was the youngest son of the Biblical patriarch Noah. When Ham saw his father drunk and naked, Noah felt so humiliated that he put a curse on Ham’s son, Canaan, condemning his descendants to perpetual slavery. Here is the moment, as told in Genesis 9:24-25 (New King James Version):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him. Then he said: ‘Cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants he shall be to his brethren’.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The making of a ‘slave race’</h2>
<p>Since the 15th century, religious leaders have cited the passage as the justification for the enslavement of <em>all</em> African people. For almost 500 years, priests taught their flocks that a Hebrew prophet had condemned millions of Africans to slavery <em>because</em> they were descended from Ham’s son Canaan. The curse of Ham thus formed the core religious justification for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The curse of Ham entered Islamic thought in the 7th century, as a result of the influence of Christianity, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Ham-Slavery-Christianity-Christians/dp/0691123705">medieval Muslim scholars drew on Noah’s curse in their work</a>, as the historian David M. Goldenberg has shown. The Koran, however, makes no mention of the curse and Muhummad’s Farewell Address <a href="https://theconversation.com/islams-anti-racist-message-from-the-7th-century-still-resonates-today-141575">rejects the superiority of white people over black people</a>.</p>
<p>According to this reading of Genesis, God had not only mandated slavery, he had also <em>predestined</em> black people as a “slave race”. In fact, some Christian leaders argued that it was in the Africans’ interests to be enslaved, because their captivity would hasten their conversion, purifying and redeeming their souls in readiness for Judgement Day.</p>
<p>By manacling and herding millions of Africans onto ships bound for the colonies, slave traders and their enabling church leaders and governments had persuaded themselves that they were guiding the “Negroes” out of darkness and into salvation.</p>
<p>The historian Katie Cannon <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20487919">described the process another way</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Drunk with power and driven by grand delusions, government officials and officers of slave-trading companies… succumbed to the lies and manipulations that their soul salvation depended on the ceaseless replication of systemic violence.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The justification for African slavery in America</h2>
<p>The first written use of the Curse of Ham to justify slavery appeared in the 15th century, when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2953315">Gomes Eanes de Zurara</a>, a Portuguese historian, wrote that the enchained Africans he’d seen were in such a wretched state “because of the curse which, after the Deluge, Noah laid upon [Ham]… that his race should be subject to all the other races of the world”.</p>
<p>In 1627, an English author and defender of the slave trade wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This curse to be a servant was laid, first upon a disobedient sonne Cham [Ham], and wee see to this day, that the Moores, Chams posteritie, are sold like slaves yet.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the American colonies the Curse of Ham served as <em>the</em> ideological justification for African slavery. The Puritan colonisers of the New World bought slaves in large numbers to turn Providence, Rhode Island, into a Christian “city on a hill”. All were deemed the progeny of Canaan.</p>
<p>The moral obscenity of slavery was the root cause of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Both sides enrolled God’s authority in their cause. In the south this involved a literal reading of the Curse of Ham. Sulphuric southern preachers thundered that Noah’s condemnation of Canaan had condemned all Africans to slavery. An “almost universal opinion in the Christian world” held that “the sufferings and the slavery of the Negro race were the consequence of the curse of Noah”, asserted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Crummell">Alexander Crummell</a> (1819–1898), an African-American minister and Cambridge-educated academic, in 1862.</p>
<p>Benjamin M. Palmer (1818–1902), pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and Mississippi’s pre-eminent clergyman during the Civil War, raged in sermon after sermon that Noah’s curse was a prophetic blueprint of the destinies of the “white”, “black” and “red” races. While the white descendants of Shem and Japhet (Noah’s elder sons) would flourish and succeed, Palmer asserted that “[u]pon Ham was pronounced the doom of perpetual servitude…”.</p>
<h2>An important reference in the Civil War</h2>
<p>In the opening months of the Civil War, bigotry and rank superstition blanketed the south with a Biblical defence of slavery. Southern Catholics also eagerly cited the curse as a validation of slavery. On 21 August 1861, Bishop Augustus Marie Martin of Natchitoches, Louisiana, declared in a pastoral letter, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/though-their-skin-remains-brown-i-hope-their-souls-will-soon-be-white-slavery-french-missionaries-and-the-roman-catholic-priesthood-in-the-american-south-178918651/7E167009CBB9C2C2C41BAA756BA9D987">“On the occasion of the war of southern independence”</a>, that slavery was “the manifest will of God”, and that all Catholics must snatch “from the barbarity of their ferocious customs thousands of children of the race of Canaan”, the accursed progeny of Ham.</p>
<p>All this was Biblical balm to slave traders and owners who feared for the salvation of their souls. The religious justification of slavery erased those concerns.</p>
<p>Setting aside the theologians’ misuse of Genesis, even on its own terms the Curse of Ham made a vague and unpersuasive case for slavery. Nowhere in Genesis is there a curse on Africans or black-skinned people.</p>
<p>If slave traders needed an explicit Biblical endorsement of slavery, they might have turned to the New Testament, where we find Saint Peter telling slaves to “be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh”. Or Saint Paul, who urged slaves to “be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling”.</p>
<h2>Come abolitionism</h2>
<p>Abolitionists were not silent in the face of this grotesque rendering of Christendom’s most sacred text. In a <a href="https://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/teagle/texts/frederick-douglass-fifth-of-july-speech-1852/">5 July 1852 speech</a>, Frederick Douglass, the great anti-slavery activist and politician who had himself escaped his “owner”, delivered this response to those who peddled the Curse of Ham from their pulpits:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[The] church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters… They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God…”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And all based on a misinterpretation of Genesis 9:24-25 by the pro-slavery “Divines”, who thus transformed their religion into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty. It was a sham and a lie, and anything but what Christianity was held to stand for.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ham ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>For nearly 500 years, priests and imams justified slavery on the basis of a misunderstood passage of the Bible.Paul Ham, Lecturer in narrative history, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248182024-03-01T18:10:05Z2024-03-01T18:10:05ZWhy a US state court ruling on the rights of children before birth is unjust<p>In 2020, in a medical facility in one of the southern states of the US, a patient wandered into an unsecured nursery for extremely premature children. Unfortunately, the patient managed to accidentally disconnect multiple babies from their life support. Worried that they would get in trouble, they fled the scene. But by the time the children were found, it was too late. Several had already died.</p>
<p>Of course, this event was extremely distressing for the children’s parents. They subsequently sued the medical facility, but to their astonishment, the state court rejected their case. Had the mothers been pregnant at the time of the incident, they would have had a legal claim for damages. But because the children were in the nursery – outside their mothers’ bodies, the court found that the “wrongful death” statute did not apply.</p>
<p>What should we make of this extraordinary case from the point of view of medical ethics?</p>
<p>Some readers will have realised already that the case above relates to <a href="https://publicportal-api.alappeals.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/343D203A-B13D-463A-8176-C46E3AE4F695/docketentrydocuments/E3D95592-3CBE-4384-AFA6-063D4595AA1D">a judgment</a> released by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/alabama-supreme-court-frozen-embryos-children-ruling-ivf">the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this month</a>. The case description <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/23/1088851/alabama-court-embryo-artificial-wombs/">reflects the facts</a>, but perhaps I should clarify.</p>
<p>The nursery was not a newborn intensive care unit, but a <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2024/02/22/alabama-ivf-ruling-science-translocation-fertilized-embryos/">“cryogenic nursery”</a>. The extremely premature children were not 23 weeks gestation, but embryos three to seven days after conception – smaller than a grain of salt. </p>
<p>The wandering patient had removed the embryos from the freezer and dropped them after burning his hand. In a ruling that many have claimed has disturbing implications for fertility treatment, the court found that the parents in the case could sue the medical facility for the death of their unborn children.</p>
<h2>Old laws, new technology</h2>
<p>There are different responses that might be made to the Alabama Supreme Court judgment. For example, we might question whether the court should have applied a <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2022/title-6/chapter-5/article-22/section-6-5-391/">150-year-old piece of Alabama law</a> to a late 20th-century reproductive technology. The lawmakers in 1872 clearly did not have a case like this in mind. </p>
<p>The dissenting judge in the case, Justice Cook, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/21/us/alabama-supreme-court-embryo-ruling.html">argued</a> that when this law was enacted there was no intention for it to be applied to foetuses, let alone embryos.</p>
<p>Alternatively, we might ask how this ruling applies to IVF more generally. IVF providers in Alabama have apparently <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/alabama-ivf-gop-rushes-to-pass-protections-be65fa9c">paused activity</a>, worried that they might become criminally liable if they dispose of unwanted frozen embryos. Many commentators have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/embryos-ivf-abortion-personhood-laws-ffe4f4d326469a97fef999254ca86eea">expressed deep concern</a> about how this ruling might be taken up by campaigners and politicians to further restrict reproductive choice.</p>
<p>But from an ethical perspective, the court did three things that were unquestionably correct. First, it recognised that the parents in this case had suffered a significant loss for which they were owed redress. This loss is more than just a breach of contract. The clinic’s apparent negligence had deprived these parents of future children.</p>
<p>Second, the court recognised that the physical location of an embryo cannot change its intrinsic moral properties. If parents would have had a claim for loss of a five-day-old embryo in the womb, it makes no ethical sense to say that they would have no claim for loss of an embryo that happens to be residing in a freezer.</p>
<p>Third, from a biological point of view, the Alabama Supreme Court was correct to identify these embryos as living human beings, and in so far as they were the genetically unique offspring of their parents – as “children”.</p>
<h2>Two meanings of ‘child’</h2>
<p>But the problem with the ruling (and with an Alabama <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Alabama_Amendment_2,_State_Abortion_Policy_Amendment_(2018)">constitutional amendment</a> passed in 2018) is the conflation of two ethically distinct meanings of “child”, and hence two different sources of concern.</p>
<p>One sense of a “child” is that of the progeny of parents. Such offspring are (in almost every case) loved and treasured. If a child is harmed or lost it is profoundly distressing to those parents and potentially other family members.</p>
<p>But a second sense of a “child” is of an immature human being, living and growing outside a mother’s body, with a special right to our nurturing, care and protection. If such a child is harmed or dies, there is a significant loss to that child. Even if there were no parents who loved or cared for this child, we should identify this loss as morally significant.</p>
<p>These two different senses of a child can come apart.</p>
<p>The early embryo or foetus is clearly a child in the first sense. Indeed, that is why the parents in the Alabama case have a legitimate claim for damages. However, whether an early embryo or foetus is a “child” in the second sense is deeply contested. </p>
<p>Many philosophers have questioned whether <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24439776">a clump of cells</a> has the same moral status as a six-year-old child or an adult. And indeed most of the wider community, including most religious believers worldwide, share that scepticism. For example, IVF and disposal of unwanted embryos is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27650544">permitted in Islam</a> because “ensoulment” is not thought to occur until 120 days.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Human embryo at the very early stages" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579190/original/file-20240301-16-jpt089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What is a child?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-cells-egg-208569940">895Studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That is why IVF and the use of frozen embryos has been, and continues to be, widely accepted. It is why, in the Alabama case, there were no newspaper headlines at the time, and why there were no calls for criminal prosecution of either the clinic or the wandering patient. It is why the reference to the rights of “unborn children” in conservative laws and rulings is both misleading and mistaken.</p>
<p>There are, of course, different views about when a child (as offspring) becomes a child, with rights and in need of ethical and legal protection. </p>
<p>One problem with laws that refer to “unborn children” is that they simply assume that these two senses of child are the same, when that is open to debate and question. But the other massive problem is that they impose one particular answer to the question, an answer believed by a relatively small number of religious conservatives, on others (religious and non-religious) who do not share that belief. And that is profoundly unjust.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Wilkinson receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>What constitutes an ‘unborn child’ should not be decided by a relatively small number of religious conservatives.Dominic Wilkinson, Consultant Neonatologist and Professor of Ethics, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073682023-06-08T20:38:00Z2023-06-08T20:38:00ZPat Robertson’s lasting influence on American politics: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530969/original/file-20230608-23-rgp67w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C8%2C5317%2C3488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pat Robertson speaks at the Christian Coalition's annual meeting on Sept. 9, 1995, in Washington, D.C.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pat-robertson-speaks-at-the-christian-coalitions-annual-news-photo/1131590117?adppopup=true">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Televangelist Pat Robertson, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/us/pat-robertson-death/index.html">who died at the age of 93 on June 8, 2023</a>, was a familiar face on television for many conservative Christians, attracting a million viewers each day on his flagship show, “The 700 Club.” </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.kbzk.com/christian-media-giant-pat-robertson-dead-at-age-93#:%7E:text=Robertson%20founded%20the%20influential%20Christian,the%20early%20evangelical%20right%20movement.">1960, Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network</a> and in 2018 launched the first 24-hour Christian television news channel. He also founded an evangelical school in Virginia Beach in 1977, the Christian Broadcasting Network University, and changed its name to Regent University in 1990. </p>
<p>Over the past several years, scholars writing for The Conversation have commented on Robertson’s enormous influence on American politics. <a href="https://abc7news.com/pat-robertson-christian-evangelist-and-former-presidential-candida/13358383/">In 1988, he sought the Republican nomination for president</a>; though his bid was unsuccessful, he continued to play an important role politically through his popular show. </p>
<p>Here are three articles from our archives that explain his influence in blending religion into U.S. politics.</p>
<h2>1. Religious right and influence on public policy</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551">Roberston was part of the Moral Majority</a>, founded by Jerry Falwell in 1979. That group was a broad coalition of conservatives – mostly white evangelical Christians, who came to represent the “Religious Right,” wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-flory-308449">Richard Flory</a>, a scholar at USC Dornsife.</p>
<p>Those leaders, including names such as James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, Pat Robertson and Phyllis Shlafly, came to have an enormous impact on American politics, which extended to an influence on public policy.</p>
<p>The group supported what Flory said is now “a familiar agenda”: legislation for “traditional” family values, prayer in schools, opposition to LGBT rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion and other issues.</p>
<p>Indeed, as host of “The 700 Club,” Robertson made comments that were often seen to be controversial and racially insensitive. For example, he once <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2358563/Outrage-controversial-television-evangelist-Pat-Robertson-says-Facebook-needs-vomit-button-pictures-gay-people">compared gay people to thieves and murderers</a>.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551">Revisiting the legacy of Jerry Falwell Sr. in Trump's America</a>
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</p>
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<h2>2. Conflating Christian and American identities</h2>
<p>At the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/samuel-perry-239674">Samuel Perry</a> wrote about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-capitol-siege-recalls-past-acts-of-christian-nationalist-violence-153059">many Christian symbols on display that day</a> that were signs of Christian nationalism’s influence on the event.</p>
<p>He noted the role of evangelical Christian media in promoting that type of Christian nationalism, which suggests that Christians risk being suppressed unless they are in control of the state. </p>
<p>Christian radio stations that bring mostly white evangelical messaging have seen a growth over the past few years. But the genre’s roots go back to Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network, which has operated for decades and, according to Perry, “similarly blends politics with religion.” </p>
<p>While Robertson condemned the attack at the Capitol, he had previously claimed that President Donald Trump’s reelection was certain. </p>
<p>According to Perry, Roberton’s blend of politics and religion may not necessarily contribute to Christian nationalism, but “it does contribute to conflating Christian identity with American identity.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C7%2C4863%2C3219&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in black suits have a conversation with one another." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C7%2C4863%2C3219&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530961/original/file-20230608-17-igcoc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks with Pat Robertson, right, at Regent University in Virginia Beach in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GOP2016Bush/1a4e04f6c17c44a49f452e9e357c1d99/photo?Query=pat%20robertson&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=199&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-capitol-siege-recalls-past-acts-of-christian-nationalist-violence-153059">The Capitol siege recalls past acts of Christian nationalist violence</a>
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<h2>3. Long history of Christian media</h2>
<p>There is no doubt the Christian Broadcasting Network has been highly influential, particularly among evangelicals. Trump used the network from time to time to reach this support base. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jason-bruner-573022">Jason Bruner</a> at Arizona State University, Christians have “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-christian-missionary-media-shaped-the-world-104888">shared and shaped the content of world news and information</a> through a distinctly Christian viewpoint” since at least the 19th century.</p>
<p>He described how Christian missionary publications served as informal foreign correspondents for a broadly Christian public in the eastern United States and Western Europe. Those missionaries highlighted the genocide against Assyrian and Armenian Christians in the eastern Ottoman Empire. They also helped build international opinion against the brutal reign of King Leopold of Belgium in the decades straddling the turn of the 20th century, during which some 10 million people are estimated to have died.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-christian-missionary-media-shaped-the-world-104888">How Christian missionary media shaped the world</a>
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<p>As Bruner wrote, Robertson put the network in a longer line of “creating a global Christian identity through knowledge production” and left an enormous impact on both religion and politics in the U.S.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207368/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Pat Robertson, founder of the global Christian Broadcasting Network, blended religion into American politics and played an important role in the Republican Party.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism InitiativeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1637122021-07-02T12:16:07Z2021-07-02T12:16:07ZReligion at the Supreme Court: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409328/original/file-20210701-17-1ui7qcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C8171%2C5415&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illuminating recent Supreme Court rulings.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/supreme-court-royalty-free-image/1250962188?adppopup=true">Geoff Livingston via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term on July 1, 2021, with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/politics-live-updates/">a couple of final opinions</a>.</p>
<p>It was the first session with Justice Amy Coney Barrett sitting on the bench. Her appointment – replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruth-bader-ginsburg-helped-shape-the-modern-era-of-womens-rights-even-before-she-went-on-the-supreme-court-95705">died in September 2020</a> – tipped the balance further in favor of conservative-leaning justices, who now hold a 6-3 majority in the highest court of the land.</p>
<p>Religion proved a throughline for the session. Legal arguments over the extent to which First Amendment rights <a href="https://theconversation.com/amy-coney-barrett-sizes-up-30-year-old-precedent-balancing-religious-freedom-with-rule-of-law-149600">protect faith-based groups in the public sphere</a> were among the first heard back in November, with a ruling on the matter coming down in mid-June. In between, the justices were called upon to decide whether <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-11-26/supreme-courts-conservatives-lift-covid-restrictions-on-new-york-houses-of-worship">religious freedoms should trump health concerns</a> during the pandemic, among other issues.</p>
<p>These rulings tended to fall in favor of religious liberty. Legal experts writing for The Conversation were on hand to help explain what it all means. </p>
<h2>1. A verdict that hints at more to come?</h2>
<p>Getting a unanimous verdict on a contentious issue is no mean feat. But it was achieved in the case of <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/19-123">Fulton v. City of Philadelphia</a>, in which the justices agreed 9-0 that the city was wrong to end its relationship with a Catholic adoption agency that refused to work with same-sex couples.</p>
<p>It was a narrow ruling that, initially at least, only affects the specific case brought to the court. To the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-cheer-for-the-supreme-court-on-religious-liberty-11623970233">disappointment of some conservatives</a>, it didn’t deliver an immediate, dramatic expansion of religious rights. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/political-science/faculty/marietta-morgan.aspx">constitutional law expert Morgan Marietta</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-unanimously-upholds-religious-liberty-over-lgbtq-rights-and-nods-to-a-bigger-win-for-conservatives-ahead-161398">argues it is nonetheless consequential</a>. “It means that any unequal treatment of religious groups will be regarded as a violation of the First Amendment, even if it comes at the expense of the dignity of LGBTQ citizens,” he writes.</p>
<p>And, Marietta adds, it could nod toward a greater victory for the religious right further down the track: “It suggests that when the broader question of whether religious groups have the right to discriminate does come before the justices, they will likely uphold religious liberty over gay rights.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-unanimously-upholds-religious-liberty-over-lgbtq-rights-and-nods-to-a-bigger-win-for-conservatives-ahead-161398">Supreme Court unanimously upholds religious liberty over LGBTQ rights – and nods to a bigger win for conservatives ahead</a>
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<h2>2. Continuing a winning streak</h2>
<p>The verdict in the Fulton case should come as no real surprise. As <a href="https://willamette.edu/law/faculty/profiles/green/index.html">Steven Green, professor of law at Willamette University</a>, writes, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-supreme-court-found-its-faith-and-put-religious-liberty-on-a-winning-streak-158509">Supreme Court has tended to look favorably on faith-based arguments</a> in recent years. He notes that since George W. Bush appointed John Roberts as chief justice in 2005, “the justices have ruled in favor of religious claimants 81% of the time.”</p>
<p>This winning streak extended into the pandemic with majority <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-courts-ruling-blocking-cuomos-covid-19-order-could-influence-other-cases-11606428800">rulings in which</a> <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/02/divided-court-allows-indoor-worship-services-to-resume-in-california/">the Supreme Court struck down</a> restrictions on religious services imposed to lower the risk of COVID-19’s spread.</p>
<p>Green points out that the court is essentially saying religious entities have to be treated as favorably as the most essential service in the pandemic when deciding if they should remain open. At the same time, such entities have been given the go-ahead to “discriminate against customers or employees in a way the essential services cannot,” according to Green.</p>
<p>“It is,” Green concludes, “the legal equivalent of having your cake and eating it, too.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-supreme-court-found-its-faith-and-put-religious-liberty-on-a-winning-streak-158509">How the Supreme Court found its faith and put 'religious liberty' on a winning streak</a>
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<h2>3. Religious identity and ideology</h2>
<p>The backdrop to these rulings is a shift to the right – both religiously and politically – in the makeup of the Supreme Court in recent decades. <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/?id=312#:%7E:text=Nomi%20M.,liberalism%2C%20and%20law%20and%20literature.">Nomi Stolzenberg, professor of law at University of Southern California</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-identity-and-supreme-court-justices-a-brief-history-146999">took a deep look at the history of religious identity</a> at the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>She explains that religion has “always played a strong role” in shaping the composition of the Supreme Court. But the nature of that influence has changed over time. Whereas until the 1980s it was denominational in nature – that is to say, focus was on the faiths that justices ascribe to – it is now ideological: </p>
<p>“In recent decades it has been shaped by conservatives of different faiths, construed as part of a mythical Judeo-Christian tradition, coalescing around a common agenda,” Stolzenberg writes.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-identity-and-supreme-court-justices-a-brief-history-146999">Religious identity and Supreme Court justices – a brief history</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Religion was a common theme in some of the cases to come before the nine justices in the recently concluded Supreme Court term. Three experts help explain what is at stake.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613302021-06-24T12:11:09Z2021-06-24T12:11:09ZConversion therapy is discredited and increases risk of suicide – yet fewer than half of US states have bans in place<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407913/original/file-20210623-15-18oqf06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5275%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gov. Andy Beshear is in favor of making Kentucky the 21st state to ban conversion therapy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KentuckyGovernorGayRights/79946422d96540dc8da6171497ee0276/photo?Query=LGBTQ%20AND%20kentucky&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=11&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Bryan Woolston</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pride Month is being marked by some lawmakers in Kentucky with <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/06/01/kentucky-democrats-mark-pride-month-pushing-conversion-therapy-ban/5254630001/">a renewed push to ban</a> “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26051&LangID=E">conversion therapy</a> – the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/26/716416764/activists-and-suicide-prevention-groups-seek-bans-on-conversion-therapy-for-mino">discredited practice</a> of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. </p>
<p>If successful, <a href="https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/22rs/prefiled/BR49.html">the bill</a>, which aims to prohibit mental health professionals in the state from "engaging in sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts” with minors, would make Kentucky the 21st state in the U.S. to put in place such a prohibition.</p>
<p>Other states are likewise cracking down on the delegitimized practice. Michigan’s governor signed an executive directive on June 14, 2021, <a href="https://www.9and10news.com/2021/06/14/gov-whitmer-signs-executive-directive-defunding-conversion-therapies/">blocking the use of state funds</a> for conversion therapy with minors.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/sheperis-donna-s-phd-lpc-ncc-acs-ccmhc">experts in</a> <a href="https://www.tamusa.edu/college-of-education-and-human-development/facultystaffindex/csheperis.html">mental health counseling</a>, we welcome these moves. But we remain concerned that at present <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">many LGBTQ youth</a> live in states that have no ban in place protecting them from conversion therapy – a practice that the scientific community has long since shunned. </p>
<h2>What is conversion therapy?</h2>
<p>Conversion therapy, or the practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, has also been known as reparative therapy or “the gay cure.” It <a href="https://www.history.com/news/gay-conversion-therapy-origins-19th-century">began being practiced in the late 1900s</a> and is based on an outdated and incorrect notion that such identities are a choice that can be changed.</p>
<p>Early conversion therapy <a href="http://www.opportunityinstitute.org/blog/post/when-the-u-s-used-lobotomies-to-create-gay-auschwitz/">included lobotomies</a> – surgical procedures on the brain – and aversion therapies, such as giving people <a href="https://www.history.com/news/gay-conversion-therapy-origins-19th-century">electric shocks while they looked at homoerotic material</a>. It now involves more behavioral techniques, such as forcing people to be celibate or making them dress in accordance with their assigned gender roles. It is often accompanied with requiring the person to pray and having others pray for them to make this change.</p>
<p>Multiple professional bodies including the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/american-medical-association-backs-nationwide-conversion-therapy-ban-n1088731">American Medical Association</a>, the <a href="https://www.apa.org/about/policy/sexual-orientation">American Psychological Association</a> and the <a href="https://www.counseling.org/government-affairs/state-issues/conversion-therapy-bans">American Counseling Association</a> have over the past 20 years denounced conversion therapy and determined it to be deliberately harmful and abusive to clients who are subjected to the practice. A 2020 <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305637">study from the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute</a> found that gay, lesbian and bisexual people who experienced conversion therapy were <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/lgb-suicide-ct-press-release/">almost twice as likely</a> to have suicidal thoughts and to have attempted suicide.</p>
<p>The findings confirm a 2019 survey by crisis support organization The Trevor Project on LGBTQ youth mental health that found a <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2019/?section=Conversion-Therapy-Change-Attempts">considerable difference in rates of attempted suicide</a> between respondents who were not coerced into trying to change their sexual orientation or gender identity and those who underwent conversion therapy.</p>
<p>Even more alarming, over half of transgender and nonbinary youths exposed to conversion therapy reported that they attempted suicide in the 12 months before the survey. In addition, lack of family acceptance – commonly associated with conversion therapy – results in increased rates of substance abuse in LGBTQ individuals and <a href="https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/FAP_Family%20Acceptance_JCAPN.pdf">declines in general health</a>.</p>
<h2>Where is it legal?</h2>
<p>Despite professionals’ near-universal opposition to conversion therapy, the practice continues in the United States, particularly in Christian communities. Religious or faith-based practices provided by pastors or lay counselors do not fall under the auspices of professional bodies that have prohibited members from engaging in conversion therapy. </p>
<p>In the absence of a federal ban, cities and states have taken it upon themselves to protect young LGBTQ Americans.</p>
<p><iframe id="u4zYA" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/u4zYA/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Currently, conversion therapy is banned in <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">20 states and 70 municipalities</a> in the U.S. The first state to ban the practice was <a href="https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2012/Bills/PL13/150_.PDF">New Jersey, in 2013</a>. In addition to the states with outright bans, three states – <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">Alabama, Florida and Georgia</a> – have passed legislation banning conversion therapy but have federal circuit court injunctions in place preventing the enforcement of a state prohibition.</p>
<p>The lack of state bans leaves around half of America’s adult LGBTQ population living in states and cities where conversion therapy is currently legal, according to the independent think tank <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps">Movement Advancement Project</a>. The Southern Policy Law Center estimates that there are <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/memphis-area-love-action-offers-residential-program-%E2%80%9Ccure%E2%80%9D-homosexuality">almost 200 intensive conversion therapy programs</a> for families and teens in these states.</p>
<p>In these “silent” states, as we call them, a legal loophole exists: Although professional bodies ban their members from conducting conversion therapy, the abusive practice continues. Often practitioners with no relevant degree, certification or license practice therapy and operate <a href="https://www.collegesoflaw.edu/blog/2020/05/27/the-constitutionality-of-conversion-therapy-bans/">outside of professional associations</a>. Many of them tend to cite religious reasons for engaging in the practice. Some even believe it to be unethical not to offer conversion therapy as a choice.</p>
<h2>The legal loophole</h2>
<p>State bans can do only so much and may not be present in the states where they are most needed. A <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">U.S. map</a> shows that most states lacking any law or policy banning conversion therapy are in traditionally Republican-leaning regions in the center of the country, while states restricting or banning the practice of conversion therapy are primarily in the Northeast or on the West Coast – places that tend to lean Democratic. In addition, the nine <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/?state=alabama">most religious states</a> in the U.S., including Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/10-most-religious-states-in-america?slide=11">have no laws prohibiting conversion therapy</a>.</p>
<p>Individuals or families in states with a ban can easily drive or be driven to another state to find places offering conversion therapy services.</p>
<p>States that have enacted bans have often done so in the face of legal challenges. Much of the opposition has come from fundamentalist Christian groups like <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/">Focus on the Family</a> and <a href="https://www.afa.net/">The American Family Association</a> – organizations that guide individuals and families toward conversion therapy. Under the belief that same-sex attraction may occur but does not need to be acted on, many Christian organizations promote their understanding of biblical principles that condemn any sexuality outside of binary, heterosexual relationships. Besides bringing legal challenges to any proposed ban, these groups <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/struggling-with-same-sex-attractions/">provide literature supporting conversion therapy</a> and <a href="https://www.restoredhopenetwork.org/recommended-resources">curricula for churches to use in providing such practices</a>.</p>
<p>Under the Trump administration, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/11/20/trump-judges-strike-down-bans-on-lgbtq-conversion-therapy/?sh=5ea7e6c43d7e">some bans</a> <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/11th-circuit-ban-on-therapy-to-change-sexual-orientation-in-minors-violates-the-first-amendment">were struck down</a>. There is also concern among LGBTQ rights advocates that challenging rulings that overturn bans could see the issue eventually reaching a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/nyregion/conversion-therapy-ban-nyc.html">conservative Supreme Court</a> that has tended to rule in favor of religious liberties.</p>
<h2>A full ban? Unlikely</h2>
<p>Even if a federal ban on the practice were to be established – or if all U.S. states enacted their own bans – there would still remain the potential for religious exemptions or exemptions for nonprofessionals to continue carrying out conversion therapy.</p>
<p>A full ban on conversion therapy would entail the prohibition of the practice for all – professionals, paraprofessionals, religious institutions and lay people. But given the ongoing legal battles over the discredited practice, it is not likely that the U.S. will see this level of a ban happening soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kentucky lawmakers are trying to make the state the 21st to enact a ban on conversion therapy. In states that are ‘silent’ on the issue, nonprofessionals are allowed to continue the harmful practice.Donna Sheperis, Professor of Counseling, Palo Alto UniversityCarl Sheperis, Professor of Mental Health Counseling, Texas A&M University-San AntonioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624072021-06-22T12:14:06Z2021-06-22T12:14:06ZWhite Gen X and millennial evangelicals are losing faith in the conservative culture wars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407077/original/file-20210617-19-fd3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C7%2C1010%2C717&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Younger evangelicals are openly questioning the religious and political traditions of their parents and grandparents.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ReligionPaulaWhite/d34a2fc5ce034461ac2a52c3d81efdcf">Julie Bennett/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the 1970s, white American evangelicals – a large subsection of Protestants who hold to a literal reading of the Bible – have often managed to get specific privileges through their political engagement primarily through supporting the Republican Party.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/22/reagan-tied-republicans-white-christians-now-party-is-trapped/">President Ronald Reagan symbolically consolidated the alliance</a> by bringing religious freedom and morality into public conversations that questioned the separation of church and state. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/evangelicals/bushand.html">Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act</a> into law. In October 2020, President Donald Trump <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-the-politicisation-of-the-us-supreme-court-could-lead-149025">appointed a conservative Christian, Amy Coney Barrett</a>, to the Supreme Court, and went on to win <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/324410/religious-group-voting-2020-election.aspx">80% of the white evangelical vote in the following month’s election</a>. </p>
<p>Trump went so far as to appoint a <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/key-evangelical-players-trumps-advisory-board">faith consultant board</a> composed of influential evangelical leaders. They included Paula White, a well-known pastor and televangelist; and James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a leading organization in evangelical efforts to embed “family values” into politics. These panel members heralded <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2020/october/of-course-evangelicals-should-vote-for-trump.html">gestures by Trump</a>, such as signing the “Presidential Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,” which targeted enforcement of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-does-the-johnson-amendment-curtail-church-freedom-73165">Johnson Amendment</a>, a 1954 tax law requiring houses of worship to stay out of politics in order to remain tax-exempt. </p>
<p>Although it’s debated what specifically <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/evangelical-christian/418236/">constitutes an evangelical</a>, many agree that they are conservatives who are highly motivated by culture war issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and sexuality. </p>
<p>But even though evangelicals are often presented as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/12/evangelicals-donald-trump-capitol-riot-voter-fraud/6644005002/">monolithic in the media</a>, current research signals <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7695/evangelicals.aspx">a more complex picture</a>. </p>
<p>Over the past six years, I have been working with an interdisciplinary team of scholars at the <a href="https://www.aarweb.org/">American Academy of Religion</a> to analyze generational shifts in evangelicalism and religion more broadly in the United States. We are finding that some of the younger evangelicals are openly questioning their religious and political traditions. In short, the majority of <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2018/01/29/the-graying-of-white-evangelicalism/">white evangelicals are aging</a> and a portion of younger evangelicals are engaging in both religion and politics differently. </p>
<h2>Leaving the faith versus reforming from within</h2>
<p>My research consists of hours of participant observation within younger evangelical faith communities, along with 50 in-depth, qualitative interviews with individuals who were raised in the politically charged evangelicalism in the southeastern United States, a region dominated by evangelicals. </p>
<p>Taken together, this research indicates increasing disaffection among white millennial and Gen X evangelicals with the cultural and political preoccupations that have strongly motivated their parents and grandparents. There is a growing number of “<a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2019/04/09/the-rise-of-exvangelical/">Exvangelicals</a>” who disavow their previous stances on same-sex marriage, race and sexuality. </p>
<p>Evangelicals, often citing the biblical text, typically maintain that marriage is <a href="https://www.prri.org/spotlight/americans-are-broadly-supportive-of-a-variety-of-lgbtq-rights/">between one man and one woman</a>. <a href="https://sites.duke.edu/ncsweb/files/2020/10/Racial-Diversity-in-U.S.-Congregations-1998-2019.pdf">Over 75% tend to worship in racially segregated congregations</a> and <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/08/29/which-religions-support-gun-control-in-the-us/">favor gun rights and ownership</a> more than other faith groups. </p>
<p>But my interviewees tend toward intense critiques of their previous religious tradition, as well as rejecting the evangelical faith completely.</p>
<p>This data parallels other scholarship unearthing racialized structures within white, American evangelicalism like the <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Too-Long/Robert-P-Jones/9781982122867">work of</a> sociologist <a href="https://www.prri.org/staff/robert-p-jones-ph-d/">Robert P. Jones</a> and religious studies scholar <a href="https://africana.sas.upenn.edu/people/anthea-butler">Anthea Butler</a>. Likewise, historian <a href="https://calvin.edu/directory/people/kristin-kobes-du-mez">Kristen Kobes Du Mez</a> <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469661179/white-evangelical-racism/">examines how hypermasculinity is</a> embedded in <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631495731">American evangelicalism</a>. </p>
<h2>Expanding religion and politics</h2>
<p>My research reveals communities of younger evangelicals who are expanding their religious boundaries and rethinking their stances on culture war issues, as well as questioning the merits of the culture war.</p>
<p>These younger evangelicals are trying to reform their communities from within the tradition as loyal but highly critical members. Sometimes these groups are called “emerging evangelicals” or “progressive Christians,” with some debating whether “evangelical” as a label is redeemable. </p>
<p>I observed several younger evangelicals working within their religious communities to encourage acceptance of those outside of the Christian tradition as co-religionists on similar faith paths. They herald interfaith interactions as positive. One interviewee proudly detailed to me how her church partnered with the local imam and Muslim community to educate each other on their religious practices and volunteered together at a local food bank. This kind of attitude typically is resisted by their older evangelical counterparts, as I learned in <a href="https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/view/237/203">previous research</a>. Many traditional evangelicals believe that their faith is the sole path to religious redemption, and interfaith cooperation might harm their followers. </p>
<p>Additionally, some younger evangelicals tend toward adopting spiritual resources outside of the Christian tradition. Whether incorporating meditation techniques or yoga, my interviewees highlighted the ways in which they are exploring their religious and spiritual beliefs. </p>
<p>This contrasts with older evangelicals who perceive their tradition as providing all necessary resources for spiritual growth and reject any outside or Eastern influences. One interviewee noted that she had to change evangelical churches after her evangelical church prohibited her from being both a church member and a local yoga instructor. </p>
<h2>Losing interest in the culture war</h2>
<p>Many of the younger evangelicals in my study stated that their stances on culture war issues were significantly different from the evangelical majority of the past 50 years, which aligns with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/04/though-still-conservative-young-evangelicals-are-more-liberal-than-their-elders-on-some-issues/">the findings of a 2017 Pew Research Center poll</a>. This survey found that younger generations of millennials are more liberal than older evangelicals on numerous political issues. </p>
<p>My interviewees cited an acceptance and welcoming of those who identify as LGBTQ into their communities as both members and leaders. They support and ally with the objectives of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In sum, they are actively dismantling many of the insider/outsider distinctions established by older white evangelicals and transforming what it means to be a politically engaged evangelical in America.</p>
<p>Furthermore, many of the people that I spoke with cited a culture war fatigue. Some believe that evangelicalism’s multi-decade investment in campaigning for these conservative stances and alliance with the Republican Party actually harmed the evangelical tradition instead of empowering it, while others are simply trying to opt out of the culture war and focus on their faith instead. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="President Donald Trump takes his seat next to National Rifle Associations (NRA) Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre, right, and Pastor Paula White, left, of the New Destiny Christian Center, at a 2017 White House meeting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407078/original/file-20210617-25-1ibr9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Influential figures like Paula White, left, helped rally evangelical support for Donald Trump, who in turn rewarded them with advisory and other roles in his administration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ReligionPaulaWhite/d34a2fc5ce034461ac2a52c3d81efdcf">Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interviewees also told me that often their views are creating <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050341">familial conflict</a>, since their parents and grandparents cannot understand why any evangelical would not be committed to the older generations’ conservative political causes. </p>
<h2>Political conversion</h2>
<p>Research to date, including my own, has yet to measure how widespread these shifts of attitude and belief among young white evangelicals may be. But there is other evidence of internal unraveling. </p>
<p>Take a recent announcement by Beth Moore, an influential evangelical speaker and author, that she <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/03/09/bible-teacher-beth-moore-ends-partnership-with-lifeway-i-am-no-longer-a-southern-baptist/">has decided to leave</a> the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest evangelical group in the U.S. – and end her relationship with a prominent evangelical publisher. </p>
<p>Or consider the <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/06/02/leaked-russell-moore-letter-blasts-sbc-conservatives-sheds-light-on-his-resignation/">recent departure</a> of pastor Russell Moore, the former president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who resigned from his position over the denomination’s handling of racial issues. These developments indicate a growing internal struggle over who can legitimately claim authority for the evangelical tradition. </p>
<p>The last several decades of American politics have been dominated by culture war issues, with white evangelicals in positions of national power. But as my research is documenting, a political transformation seems to be underway. With younger, white evangelicals rethinking their alliances and continued participation in the culture wars, it is possible that conservative politicians may not be able to count on white evangelical support for much longer. </p>
<p>This could have broader implications for the American political landscape. Without evangelical support and influence, the issues that are often at center stage could drastically change. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s faith as a conservative Christian and pastor Russell Moore’s title.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162407/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Shoemaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Growing numbers of young evangelicals and ‘Exvangelicals’ are pro-LGBTQ, support #BlackLivesMatter – or are fed up altogether with mixing faith and politics.Terry Shoemaker, Lecturer, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585412021-04-20T14:35:52Z2021-04-20T14:35:52ZSouth Africa has failed to champion human rights in the world. But that’s changing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395260/original/file-20210415-19-98zopa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nelson Mandela, first president of a democratic South Africa, wanted human rights to guide the country's foreign policy. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamish Blair/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The story of democratic South Africa and its approach to human rights in the rest of the world is a tale of woe. For two-and-a-half decades, its foreign policy mostly failed to defend internationally – and quite often contradicted – the human rights principles contained in its <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf">constitution</a>. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052702556.html">assessment</a> in the <em>Washington Post</em> more than a decade ago still rings true:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>South Africa remains an example of freedom while devaluing and undermining the freedom of others. It is the product of a conscience it does not display. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why has South Africa behaved this way? </p>
<p>Surprisingly, it is not the case of the country feeling compelled to make common cause with African states, many of which <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/FIW2021_World_02252021_FINAL-web-upload.pdf">have poor rights records</a>, as is often claimed. In fact, many African states weaker than South Africa are more committed to international human rights. A 2018 <a href="https://saiia.org.za/research/african-states-at-the-un-human-rights-council-in-2018/">report</a> on the voting records of the 13 African members of the UN Human Rights Council ranked South African eighth on this score in terms of international commitment to human rights.</p>
<p>A more convincing <a href="https://www.routledge.com/South-Africa-and-the-UN-Human-Rights-Council-The-Fate-of-the-Liberal-Order/Jordaan/p/book/9781138609945">explanation</a> of South Africa’s actions is that it sees the world in terms of a conflict between the West and the developing world. When this ‘anti-imperialist’ struggle and human rights conflict, the latter must be sacrificed. This has resulted in a foreign policy <em>The Economist</em> described as <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2015/09/03/clueless-and-immoral">‘clueless and immoral’</a>.</p>
<p>While the overall picture remains bleak, the good news is that there have recently been signs that South Africa is becoming more willing to stand up for human rights. Evidence for this comes from its <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/pages/sessions.aspx">recent final year</a> of a six-year term on the UN Human Rights Council.</p>
<h2>A disappointing record</h2>
<p>In 2006, the Human Rights Council <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/502/66/PDF/N0550266.pdf?OpenElement">replaced</a> the UN Commission on Human Rights. The commission had become, according to then secretary-general of the <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/kofi-annan">United Nations Kofi Annan</a>, so dysfunctional that it was damaging <a href="https://undocs.org/A/59/2005">the reputation of the entire UN</a>. The plan was that the council would retain the commission’s good parts and shed the bad. </p>
<p>It is hard to find proof that South Africa, during its 2006 to 2010 council membership, did anything to improve the new organisation. Rather, it voted to shield the <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/4/7">rights-abusing regime</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/PB_Darfur_Rice.pdf">genocidal one</a> in Sudan. It <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/144/09/PDF/G0914409.pdf?OpenElement">helped</a> the Sri Lankan government to evade international pressure to ensure accountability for war crimes committed during the final months of the country’s civil war. </p>
<p>South Africa tried to <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/13249393.pdf">curtail the independence</a> of the UN’s human rights investigators. It prominently attacked free speech by supporting the Islamic bloc’s demand that speech lacking in <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/sdpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/4/9">“respect for religions and beliefs”</a> be made illegal under international human rights law.</p>
<p>When South Africa <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/Group2014.aspx">returned</a> to the Human Rights Council in 2014 for a tenure that ended in 2019, it often made common cause with the authoritarian regimes in China and Russia. Perhaps most shocking was when South Africa <a href="http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/regular-sessions/watch/ahrc25l.20-vote-item3-56th-meeting-25th-regular-session-human-rights-council/3403776345001">represented</a> these states in attacking a 2014 resolution on the right to peaceful protest.</p>
<p>On the council, South Africa often <a href="http://webtv.un.org/watch/ahrc32l.2rev.1-vote-item3-41st-meeting-32nd-regular-session-of-human-rights-council/5009164455001">invokes</a> its democratic constitution and history. Yet, in a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/South-Africa-and-the-UN-Human-Rights-Council-The-Fate-of-the-Liberal-Order/Jordaan/p/book/9781138609945">recent book</a> and in <a href="https://saiia.org.za/research/african-states-at-the-un-human-rights-council-in-2018/">reports</a> for the South African Institute of International Affairs, I show that apart from a vote for a <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/083/21/PDF/G1608321.pdf?OpenElement">2016 resolution</a> on human rights defenders and <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/27/2">two votes</a> against hostile amendments on a <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/179/53/PDF/G1417953.pdf?OpenElement">2014 resolution</a> on civil society, South Africa not once, out of more than 100 such votes, voted to support human rights related to the democratic process.</p>
<h2>Rights violations in specific countries</h2>
<p>The Human Rights Council is notorious for singling out Israel. Frequent resolutions criticise Israel and support incisive investigations into its violations <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/40/23">against Palestinians</a>, its <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/40/24">settlement-building</a> in occupied Palestinian territory or its <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/S-2/1">international aggression</a>. South Africa has backed council resolutions on Israel without fail.</p>
<p>While South Africa has been willing to support hamstrung country-specific investigations, such as the African Group’s 2017 <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/36/2">resolution on Burundi</a>, it either <a href="https://www.universal-rights.org/country-voting-history-portal/country/?country=South_Africa">abstains or votes against</a> resolutions that authorise incisive investigations into the human rights problems of countries other than Israel. </p>
<h2>A welcome change</h2>
<p>In 2019, however, an improvement became detectable. South Africa, for the first time ever, supported imposing Human Rights Council investigations on countries that did not want them, Israel excluded.</p>
<p>It backed two resolutions on <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/40/29">Myanmar</a>, both of which urged criminal prosecution of alleged perpetrators of human rights <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/42/3">crimes</a>. Then, after an abstention on a similar <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/296/70/PDF/G1829670.pdf?OpenElement">resolution in 2018</a>, it supported extending an <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/42/2">investigation</a> into human rights violations related to the Yemeni Civil War.</p>
<p>South Africa’s actions regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, an issue on which it has been inconsistent, offer further proof of change. In March 2011, it <a href="https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/16/L.27">tabled a resolution</a> to confine discussion of sexual orientation throughout the UN to a committee that would meet for only 10 days a year. </p>
<p>Opponents of LGBTI rights <a href="https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3336&context=soss_research">did not want to discuss </a> sexual orientation. Proponents of LGBTI rights <a href="https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3336&context=soss_research">wanted to discuss</a> worldwide violence and discrimination against LGBTI people. Isolated, <a href="https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3336&context=soss_research">South Africa withdrew </a> its draft resolution.</p>
<p>Three months later, South Africa went from skunk to saviour when it led the council to adopt the first ever <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/17/19">UN resolution</a> on sexual orientation. But the glow faded as the country, weighed down by African opposition and its own confusion, failed to lead on the issue.</p>
<p>As patience with South Africa ran out, Latin American states took over and in 2014 sponsored a new sexual orientation resolution. South Africa and others successfully <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/lgbt-rights-resolution-passes-united-nations-human-rights-co#.hyzp1aQ7R">lobbied to weaken the text</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016, Latin America tabled a follow-up resolution. South Africa <a href="http://webtv.un.org/watch/ahrc32l.2rev.1-vote-item3-41st-meeting-32nd-regular-session-of-human-rights-council/5009164455001">denounced</a> the resolution’s sponsors for being arrogant, reckless, confrontational, divisive and causing acrimony. More importantly, it refused to support a resolution authorising reports on violence and discrimination against LGBTI people for the subsequent three years.</p>
<p>But in 2019, the country came in from the cold. It wholeheartedly supported Latin America’s <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/41/18">resolution</a> asking for three more years of reporting on the persecution of LGBTI persons. It <a href="https://ilga.org/downloads/RenewIESOGI_report.pdf">countered numerous attempts</a> to distort or weaken the text.</p>
<h2>Uncertain future</h2>
<p>In recent decades, South Africa has continued to find creative ways to disappoint those who share its former president Nelson Mandela’s belief that human rights should <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-africa/1993-12-01/south-africas-future-foreign-policy">be a light that guides</a> the country’s foreign affairs. </p>
<p>It is too soon to become optimistic, but some of South Africa’s recent actions on the Human Rights Council are small but significant breaks from a dismal past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eduard Jordaan has received funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p>South Africa frequently invokes its celebrated constitution that is based on human rights, but has often failed to live up to its ideals.Eduard Jordaan, Associate Professor of Politics, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585092021-04-13T12:38:42Z2021-04-13T12:38:42ZHow the Supreme Court found its faith and put ‘religious liberty’ on a winning streak<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394632/original/file-20210412-19-11bzhan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C7784%2C5158&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have bolstered the conservative wing of the Supreme Court.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/supreme-court-justices-amy-coney-barrett-neil-gorsuch-elena-news-photo/1230704283?adppopup=true">Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court’s current term <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/2021TermCourtCalendar.pdf">is winding down</a>, but there are still several cases to be decided – and, as with most terms, a controversy over church-state matters looms.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/19-123">Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia</a> is among the cases still to be decided. It centers on a requirement that private agencies that receive city funding – in this case an adoption agency – do not discriminate against any community they serve, including members of the LGBTQ community. This nondiscrimination requirement applies to both religious and nonreligious organizations. But the adoption service at the heart of the case – Catholic Social Services – <a href="https://theconversation.com/amy-coney-barrett-sizes-up-30-year-old-precedent-balancing-religious-freedom-with-rule-of-law-149600">refused to comply</a>, asserting that not being allowed to discriminate against gay couples infringed upon its religious beliefs. </p>
<p>It would appear on first glance that the city’s position is strong – after all, it provides the money and has a legitimate interest in ensuring that funding does not perpetuate discrimination based on sexual orientation. </p>
<p>Yet, Catholic Social Services and its counsel, <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/religious-liberty-law-firm-praises-scotus-shadow-docket-in-bid-to-take-down-californias-covid-restrictions/">Becket Fund for Religious Liberty</a>, believe that they have the wind at their back regarding their claim. From my perspective as a <a href="https://willamette.edu/law/faculty/profiles/green/index.html">professor of law who has closely monitored such religious liberty cases</a>, they could be right. Religious claimants have been on a winning streak before the Supreme Court in recent years. They notched up their latest victory on April 9 when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/us/supreme-court-coronavirus-prayer-meetings.html">justices ruled that California could not impose</a> COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings at private homes.</p>
<h2>A noticeable shift</h2>
<p>The Supreme Court has become increasingly conservative over the past two decades, with <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx">five of the last seven justices appointed by Republicans</a>. As a result, it has become increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-identity-and-supreme-court-justices-a-brief-history-146999">sympathetic to claims by religious conservatives</a> that mandatory nondiscrimination laws violate their ability to practice their beliefs, as protected by the Constitution and federal law.</p>
<p>Two <a href="http://epstein.wustl.edu/research/ReligionInCourt.pdf">recent studies</a> have confirmed this trend. One <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3707248">found that since</a> the George W. Bush-appointed John Roberts assumed the role of chief justice in 2005, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of religious claimants 81% of the time. This compares with a rate of about 50% for the 20th century.</p>
<p>Some of the recent cases are familiar; others, less so. In 2014, the justices <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2013/13-354">relieved the craft store chain Hobby Lobby</a> from having to provide employees with health insurance that covers contraception, as mandated by the <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/">Affordable Care Act</a>. Hobby Lobby had objected to the requirement on religious grounds. </p>
<p>And in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-court-just-expanded-the-ministerial-exception-shielding-religious-employers-from-anti-bias-laws-142248">teachers employed by religious schools were not entitled to protection against age and disability discrimination</a> as a result of the “ministerial exception” – which allows religious entities to ignore anti-bias legislation if they can assert that staff perform even minimal religious duties. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in 2018, a majority of justices suggested that a small business – here, a baker – could <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html">refuse to serve gay customers</a> because of the owner’s religious objections to same-sex marriage. The court has also held that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-religion/u-s-supreme-court-endorses-taxpayer-funds-for-religious-schools-idUSKBN2412FX">states have to give the same grants and tax breaks</a> to churches and religious schools that they do to nonreligious entities.</p>
<p>This trend has extended into the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, a sharply divided court <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-reopening-churches-in-the-pandemic-supreme-court-says-grace-aint-groceries-135287">refused to overturn state restrictions</a> – which for the most part classified houses of worship alongside restaurants and movie theaters as “nonessential,” distinguishing them from “essential” services such as medical offices, pharmacies and grocery stores. But in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-courts-ruling-blocking-cuomos-covid-19-order-could-influence-other-cases-11606428800">late fall</a> and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/02/divided-court-allows-indoor-worship-services-to-resume-in-california/">again in February</a>, a majority including the newly appointed religiously conservative Justice Amy Barrett struck down such orders. In so doing, they ruled that states must treat houses of worship no worse than the most favored category of essential services.</p>
<h2>Redefining religious freedom</h2>
<p>In prioritizing religious liberty claims over health and anti-bias concerns, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has, to my mind, promoted a skewed conception of what religious freedom is. </p>
<p>Religious freedom has traditionally meant more than simply the ability to practice one’s beliefs unencumbered, free from state interference. It is a condition that lives alongside other important democratic values – such as equal rights and a separation of church and state.</p>
<p>But the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has come down on the side of a narrower interpretation of religious liberty to mean the right of individuals or groups to practice their faith as they see fit.</p>
<p>The court’s new emphasis on protecting religious liberty has redefined the conventional understanding of the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1_1_4_1/">free exercise clause</a>. Traditionally, that has meant the government could not impose a substantial burden on one’s ability to practice religion, but that lesser restrictions on that practice – such as adhering to health or safety regulations – were not unconstitutional.</p>
<p>But under the current Supreme Court, the degree of burden is less important than whether the state is treating religion differently from secular counterparts. Furthermore, in the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf">view of another Trump appointee, Justice Brett Kavanaugh</a>, religion deserves most-favored-nation status.</p>
<p>In this way, religious entities cannot be treated any differently in the pandemic from the most essential service – but they would be able to discriminate against customers or employees in a way the essential services cannot. It is, I believe the legal equivalent of having your cake and eating it, too.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven K. Green does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conservative justices are redefining religious freedom to mean the protection of individuals or groups to practice their faith as they see fit, argues a constitutional law expert.Steven K. Green, Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Religion, Law & Democracy, Willamette UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585132021-04-08T12:04:01Z2021-04-08T12:04:01ZFaith in numbers: Trump held steady among believers at the ballot – it was the nonreligious vote he lost in 2020<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393848/original/file-20210407-19-1mu1vfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3967%2C2430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">White evangelicals continued to back Trump in 2020 in significant numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/voter-fills-out-his-ballot-with-christ-on-the-crucifix-news-photo/1229449053?adppopup=true">Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For all <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/10/trump-religious-voters-411248">the predictions</a> and talk of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-loss-support-biden-evangelicals-election-polls-religion-2020-11">slump in support among evangelicals</a>, it appears Donald Trump’s election loss was not at the hands of religious voters.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.eiu.edu/polisci/faculty.php/hendrickson.php?id=rpburge&subcat=">analyst of religious data</a>, I’ve been crunching <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">data released in March 2021</a> that breaks down the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by faith. And by and large there was very little notable change in the vote choice of religious groups between 2016 and 2020 – in fact, for most faiths, support for Trump ticked up slightly. Instead, it was among those who do not identify with any religion that Trump saw a noticeable drop.</p>
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<p>Despite exit poll data initially pointing toward a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html">drop in white evangelical support</a> for Trump in 2020, the latest data shows this not to be the case. The data is based on the <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">Cooperative Election Study</a>, which has become the gold standard for assessing vote choice because of its sample size and its ability to accurately represent the voting population of the United States.</p>
<p>In fact, with 80% of white evangelicals backing Trump in 2020, support actually ticked up from the 78% who voted for him four years earlier.
Trump also saw two-point increases in the vote of nonwhite evangelicals, white Catholics, Black Protestants and Jews compared with four years ago.</p>
<p>These differences are not statistically significant, and as such it would be wrong to say it definitively shows Trump gained among religious groups. But it indicates that among the largest religious groups in the U.S., voting patterns in the November 2020 vote seemed to hold largely steady with four years earlier. Trump did not manage to win significantly larger shares, nor was winner Joe Biden able to peel away religious voters from the Trump coalition.</p>
<h2>Losing the nonreligious</h2>
<p>However, there are some interesting and statistically significant trends when you break down the data further. Nonwhite Catholics shifted four points toward Donald Trump. This fits with what we saw in places like the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/miamidadecountyflorida/PST045219">heavily Hispanic</a> and <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/metro-area/miami-metro-area/">Catholic</a> Miami-Dade County, Florida, where Trump’s <a href="https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/04/elections-compare-florida-vote-president-2016-2020/6156532002/">overall vote share improved</a> from 35% to 46% between 2016 and 2020.</p>
<p>Trump also managed to pick up 15 percentage points among the Mormon vote. On first glance this would appear a large jump. But it makes sense when you factor in that around <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2018/07/25/mormon-voting-patterns-in-the-2016-election-a-comprehensive-analysis/">15% of the Mormon vote</a> in 2016 <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/utah-mormon-vote-mcmullin">went to Utah native and fellow Mormon Evan McMullin</a>, who ran in that year’s election as a third-party candidate. Without McMullin in 2020, Trump picked up Mormon voters – as did Joe Biden, who did slightly better than Hillary Clinton had among Mormons.</p>
<p>There is also some weak evidence that the Republican candidate picked up some support among smaller religious groups in the U.S., like Hindus and Buddhists. Trump increased his share among these two groups by four percentage points each. But it is important to note that these two groups combined <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/">constitute only about 1.5% of the American population</a>. As such, a four-point increase translates to only a very small fraction of the overall popular vote.</p>
<p>What is clear is that Trump <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2021/04/06/the-2020-vote-for-president-by-religious-groups-the-nones/">lost a good amount of ground among the religious unaffiliated</a>. Trump’s share of the atheist vote declined from 14% in 2016 to just 11% in 2020; the decline among agnostics was slightly larger, from 23% to 18%. </p>
<p>Additionally, those who identify as “<a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/07/03/rise-of-the-nothing-in-particulars-may-be-sign-of-a-disjointed-disaffected-and-lonely-future/">nothing in particular</a>” – a group that represents 21% of the overall U.S. population – were not as supportive of Trump in his reelection bid. His vote share among this group dropped by three percentage points, while Biden’s rose by over seven points, with the Democrat managing to win over many of the “nothing in particulars” who had backed third-party candidates in the 2016 election.</p>
<p>Looked at broadly, Trump did slightly better among Christians and other smaller religious groups in the U.S. but lost ground among the religiously unaffiliated. What these results cannot account for, however, is record turnout. There were nearly <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections">22 million more votes</a> cast in 2020 than in 2016. So while vote shares may not have changed that much, the number of votes cast helped swing the election for the Democratic candidate. A more detailed breakdown of voter turnout is due to be released in July 2021 by the team that administers the Cooperative Election Study; that will bring the picture of religion and the 2020 vote into clearer focus.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump saw a decline in support among atheists, agnostics and voters not affiliated with any religion in the 2020 election.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1575432021-03-20T18:50:36Z2021-03-20T18:50:36Z‘Sex addiction’ isn’t a justification for killing, or really an addiction – it reflects a person’s own moral misgivings about sex<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390700/original/file-20210320-23-16gloky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C62%2C2298%2C1438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Feeling 'addicted to sex' has more to do with one's values than frequency of behavior.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sex-shop-signs-at-night-royalty-free-image/471048321">Terraxplorer/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A 21-year-old white man is alleged to have entered three different spas in the greater Atlanta area on March 16 and shot dead eight people, six of whom were Asian women. The following day, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials announced what the suspect blamed as a possible motive for the killings: sex addiction.</p>
<p>The alleged shooter has been described as a devoutly conservative <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-georgia-coronavirus-pandemic-84ea109933ce05dba5c61022f9b1d41f">evangelical Christian</a> who had, according to numerous reports, been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/18/sex-addiction-atlanta-shooting-long/#click=https://t.co/kEK5FmaDqr">struggling to control</a> his sexual behaviors. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/17/atlanta-spa-shootings-live-updates/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3">Law enforcement officials</a> said the suspect claimed to have been dealing with a sex addiction and ultimately killed as a way to “eliminate” the “temptation” he felt these women posed.</p>
<p>I am a researcher who specializes in <a href="https://www.joshuagrubbsphd.com">behavioral addictions</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gCnmj3kAAAAJ&hl=en">specifically sexual addictions</a>. A lot of my research has focused on how religion interacts with sexual behaviors and feelings of addiction. Over the past decade, my research has found that religion and sexual addiction are deeply intertwined.</p>
<h2>Clinicians don’t diagnose ‘sex addiction’</h2>
<p>Right now, there is no diagnosis of “sex addiction” in <a href="https://www.appi.org/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders_DSM-5_Fifth_Edition">any diagnostic manual</a> that psychologists consult when working with patients. It’s not a recognized disorder in the mental health community. This may come as a surprise to some, as many people do believe that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000228">sex can be addictive</a>.</p>
<p>Without terming the problem an addiction, mental health practitioners do, of course, recognize that out-of-control sexual behaviors can be a real problem for individuals. Recently, the <a href="https://www.thefix.com/compulsive-sexual-behavior-">World Health Organization announced</a> that the latest edition of its “<a href="https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/classification-of-diseases">International Classification of Diseases</a>” will include a new diagnosis of compulsive sexual behavior disorder.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="neon signs for a sex shop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390701/original/file-20210320-15-fszc79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whatever the label, compulsive sexual behavior can be a problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/neon-lights-pigalle-paris-royalty-free-image/157169264">Dutchy/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This new diagnosis is officially an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20499">impulse control disorder</a> rather than an addiction, but it does cover people with excessive or compulsive sexual behaviors that most members of the public would consider addiction. Any number of behaviors could qualify for this diagnosis, ranging from excessive pornography use and masturbation to cruising for casual sex to soliciting sex workers. The key feature of the diagnosis is not the specific sexual behavior itself, but how out of control it has become in a person’s life and how much difficulty or impairment it causes.</p>
<p>Compulsive sexual behavior disorder is the only diagnosis in over 55,000 total diagnoses in the WHO manual to include a special caveat. At the very end of the disorder’s description, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101925">there’s a note</a> cautioning that “distress that is entirely related to moral judgments and disapproval about sexual impulses, urges, or behaviors is not enough to meet this requirement.”</p>
<p>In other words, feeling distressed about behaving in sexual ways that you find morally wrong is not sufficient for a diagnosis of this new disorder. That’s a very important caveat because, based on my research, it’s moral distress about sex behaviors that commonly triggers people to believe they have a sex addiction. </p>
<h2>What feeds a self-diagnosis of ‘sex addiction’?</h2>
<p>In the U.S. in particular, many studies have clearly shown that more religious people, people from more strict religious backgrounds and people who morally disapprove of their own sexual behaviors are much more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1248-x">interpret those behaviors as an addiction</a>.</p>
<p>What’s surprising is there’s also a lot of evidence that these same people are actually less likely to do things like watch pornography or have sex outside of marital relationships. My colleagues and I have found that more religiously devout people simultaneously report <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702620922966">less use of pornography while also reporting greater addiction to pornography</a>. </p>
<p>It seems that conservative moral beliefs about sexuality, particularly those associated with conservative religiosity, lead some people to interpret behaviors like even occasionally watching porn as signs of an addiction.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I call this disconnect between beliefs and behavior “moral incongruence.” It turns out to be a powerful predictor of whether someone thinks they have a sex addiction.</p>
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<p>In fact, we’ve now shown in two studies that used nationally representative samples that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702620922966">religiosity</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000501">moral disapproval of pornography</a> amplify the links between pornography viewing and feelings of addiction to pornography. For people who do not find pornography morally objectionable or who are nonreligious, there is virtually no link between how much pornography they view and whether they believe themselves to be addicted to it. Yet, for people who are very religious or who find pornography viewing to be especially wrong, even small amounts of pornography use are linked to self-reported feelings of addiction.</p>
<h2>Internal turmoil doesn’t predict violence</h2>
<p>To be clear, the distress that people may feel when they fall short of their morals is undoubtedly real and profound. However, much of this distress is likely the result of guilt and shame rather than a true addiction.</p>
<p>In the case of the Georgia shooter, there is simply not yet enough information to determine whether he had an out-of-control pattern of sexual behavior, whether he was morally distressed over his behavior, or whether it was both. Frankly, those distinctions are not that important to understanding what happened.</p>
<p>Compulsive sexual behavior disorder and moral incongruence are both real problems that can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1295013">relationship conflict</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000114">depression, anxiety</a> and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1248-x">consequences</a>. But they are not excuses for violence, murder or hate crimes – nothing is. If <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.4468">recent estimates</a> are correct, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.134">millions of Americans</a> who are concerned that their sexual behaviors might be out of control. </p>
<p>Yet the Atlanta suspect chose to do something that these millions of other Americans have not, allegedly targeting and killing women he viewed as “a temptation.” This choice on his part is not in any way attributable to whether he had a sexual addiction, whether he felt moral incongruence about his sexual behaviors or whether he was having a bad day.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua B. Grubbs receives funding from the National Institute for Civil Discourse and the Charles Koch Foundation.</span></em></p>‘Sex addiction’ isn’t a diagnosable disorder, but the turmoil religious men feel over the disconnect between their sexual values and behavior can lead to real psychological distress.Joshua B. Grubbs, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Bowling Green State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526402021-01-26T13:26:08Z2021-01-26T13:26:08ZThink US evangelicals are dying out? Well, define evangelicalism …<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380524/original/file-20210125-17-6jd5w8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3494%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not flagging, merely changing stripes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/congregants-at-first-baptist-dallas-church-celebrate-news-photo/1161614870?adppopup=true"> The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The death spiral of evangelicalism has long been <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/03/15/why-white-evangelicals-are-at-odds-with-america/">written about in both the religious</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/the-decline-of-evangelical-america.html">mainstream press</a>.</p>
<p>The assumption is that evangelicalism has <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/03/14/americans-are-getting-more-secular-all-the-time-which-is-one-reason-why-trump-voters-are-so-angry/">weathered the storms of secularization</a> and <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-happened-to-evangelicals">politicization</a> poorly. Journalist Eliza Griswold, writing for <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/millennial-evangelicals-diverge-from-their-parents-beliefs">The New Yorker</a>, chalks this up to the theological rigidity of evangelicals: that they have been structurally incapable of changing course quickly enough to stem the tide.</p>
<p>Others have suggested that the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/07/08/former-evangelical-republican-warns-the-religious-rights-support-of-trump-will-harm-christianity_partner/">alliance between white evangelicalism and Republicanism</a> is largely to blame for the decline of evangelicals. They <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2020/11/01/evangelicals-embrace-trump-hurts-credibility-christians/6110934002/">believe that</a> becoming so intertwined with the polarizing figure of former President Donald Trump has marginalized evangelicals in the public arena, making it even less likely for them to win over new converts. </p>
<p>While the share of Americans who identify as evangelical by religious tradition does seem to <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/">be falling</a> – from 19% to 16% for white evangelicals, according to a recent Pew survey – that does, I believe, obscure a bigger and possibly more important story.</p>
<p>Looking at the data from a slightly different angle suggests that the share of Americans who self-identify as evangelicals has not changed in any meaningful way over the past decade. In fact, larger shares of Americans have said that they have had a born-again experience in 2018 than at any point since 1972, according to the General Social Survey. Moreover, as <a href="https://www.eiu.edu/polisci/faculty.php/hendrickson.php?id=rpburge&subcat=">someone who analyzes religious data</a>, I believe the link with politics may in fact be a central reason evangelicals are not declining significantly as a share of the U.S. population.</p>
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<h2>Evangelicalism is not toxic</h2>
<p>In both the <a href="https://gss.norc.org/">General Social Survey</a>, which has been asking questions about religion since 1972, and the <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">Cooperative Congressional Election Study</a>, which interviews tens of thousands of Americans every year, respondents are asked if they consider themselves “born-again” or “evangelical.” In 2008, 1 in 3 people who responded to the CCES said that they do see themselves as evangelical. In 2019, that number was 34.6%. In the GSS, the share who said that they had experienced a “<a href="https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/variables/1077/vshow">born-again experience</a>” has risen four percentage points during the same period.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>These self-identification measures are so important because they allow researchers a window into the mind of the average person. If the term “evangelical” has become as radioactive as <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/evangelical-christianitys-brand-used/">many people suggest</a>, then it would seem reasonable that smaller percentages of the public would willingly take on the label – but they are not. Just the opposite, in fact.</p>
<p>But just because the share of Americans who identify as an evangelical has not changed in a statistically meaningful way doesn’t mean that the composition of that group has not. A crucial part of this story is that the term “evangelical” has, I believe, become somewhat detached from its theological roots and morphed into a term that seems to capture political sensibilities as well.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/12/19/458058251/are-you-an-evangelical-are-you-sure">political scientist John Green notes</a>, “[evangelicals have] become very strongly associated with Republican and conservative politics, because since the days of Ronald Reagan up until today, that group of believers have moved in that direction politically.”</p>
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<p>There’s evidence of this move from the theological to the political. <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/14003">In 2008</a>, 59% of evangelicals said that they attended church at least once a week. Just 16% said that they attended services “seldom” or “never.” </p>
<p>By 2019, those percentages had shifted significantly. The share who were weekly attenders declined a full seven percentage points, to 52%. On the bottom end of the spectrum, nearly a quarter of self-identified evangelicals said that they attended church “seldom” or “never” (24.2%). The share who never attended nearly tripled from 2.7% in 2008 to 7.3% <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WOT7O8">in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>The implication is that for many of those who self-identified as “evangelical,” it is not just about devotion to a local church, but to a general orientation to the world. As Republicanism and the religious right have <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429494901">become more enmeshed</a>, it seems logical to assume that these less religiously devout people may consider their evangelicalism to be a question of political identity, rather than religious beliefs and customs. </p>
<p>And this is apparent from another angle, as well. Respondents were asked to describe how important religion is in their daily lives. <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/14003">In 2008</a>, over 80% of evangelicals said that religion was “very important” to them. But, as each year passed, that share began to decline. <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WOT7O8">By 2019</a>, 73.7% of evangelicals said that religion is “very important” – a decline of over seven percentage points in just 11 years.</p>
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<p>Religious evangelicals may look at these numbers and think, “This is not what the term evangelical means.” The assumption is that the term describes those who place high value on the teachings of the Bible and strive to evangelize other people into their faith. However, that understanding of the term seems to be fading, replaced with a more amorphous concept that <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691161303/the-politics-of-evangelical-identity">melds together religious doctrine and an affinity for conservative politics</a> that experts are only beginning to understand now. For instance, in her book “From Politics to Pews,” scholar <a href="https://www.polisci.upenn.edu/people/standing-faculty/michele-margolis">Michele Margolis</a> <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo28246146.html">argues</a> that people are choosing their religious affiliation based on their political partisanship with greater frequency now than in prior decades.</p>
<p>No one gets to claim ownership over a word – especially one that is so fraught as the term “evangelical.” The data offer some insight into how the definition might be evolving, not how it is defined in theological texts and social science manuscripts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of self-described evangelicals as a share of US population has held steady for the past decade. What is different is that they appear to identify less with church and more with politics.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1481612021-01-06T13:10:12Z2021-01-06T13:10:12ZIn Mike Pence, US evangelicals had their ‘24-karat-gold’ man in the White House<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377256/original/file-20210105-17-192gi86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C4997%2C3324&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Exit, stage religious right.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Pence/f18460461f6c42be8a897cdd50de6278/photo?Query=Mike%20Pence%20waving&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=525&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mike Pence has remained one of the only constants in the often chaotic Trump administration.</p>
<p>Variously described as “<a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-10-04/donald-trumps-vp-mike-pence-hides-extremism-behind-boring-facade">vanilla</a>,” “<a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/04/steady-devout-mike-pence-leads-coronavirus-fight-past-the-haters/">steady</a>” and loyal to the point of being “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/opinions/vice-president-sycophant-pence-trump-goldstein-opinion/index.html">sycophantic</a>,” he is, in the words of one profile, an “<a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">everyman’s man with Midwest humility and approachability</a>,” and in another, a “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54423497">61-year-old, soft-spoken, deeply religious man</a>.”</p>
<p>That humility and loyalty has been tested in recent days. “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/us/politics/pence-trump.html">told supporters at a rally</a> on Monday, seemingly under the mistaken belief that Pence could overturn the election result. But presiding over the Electoral College vote count at a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Pence <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/electoral-college-vote-count-biden-victory/">broke with Trump’s wishes and confirmed Joe Biden</a> as the next president, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2021/jan/06/trump-lashes-out-pence-mob-breaches-capitol-video">provoking the ire of Trump</a>.</p>
<h2>Balancing the ticket</h2>
<p>Throughout the past four years, the vice president has offered a striking contrast to the mercurial, abrasive temperament of his commander in chief. Indeed, in his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/20/in-accepting-vp-nod-mike-pence-uses-phrases-from-reagan-the-bible-and-bill-clinton/">Pence joked</a> that he’d been chosen because Trump, with his “large personality,” “colorful style,” and “lots of charisma,” was “looking for some balance on the ticket.” </p>
<p>Commentators have attributed Pence’s steadiness to his Hoosier roots and his “<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/16/vice-president-mike-pence-profile-feature-215257">savvy political operator</a>” skills. But it is his religious beliefs that perhaps inform his politics and style more than anything else; as Pence has <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/world/im-a-christian-conservative-and-republican-steadfast-in-his-outlook-pence-brings-calm-to-trumps-chaos-3031469.html">oft repeated</a>, he is “a Christian, conservative and Republican – in that order.” </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mike Pence meets with staff at his office in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/congressman-mike-pence-meets-with-staff-at-his-office-on-news-photo/576539032?adppopup=true">The Washington Post/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In a 2011 profile during Pence’s run for Indiana governor, noted state political columnist Brian Howey remarked, “Pence doesn’t just wear his faith on his sleeve, he wears the whole <a href="http://archive.courierpress.com/columnists/brian-howey-pences-career-has-centered-on-faith-and-finance-ep-445443749-327267462.html?page=1">Jesus jersey</a>.”</p>
<p>It isn’t a characterization that Pence has shied away from. “My Christian faith is at the very heart of who I am,” Pence said <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2016/10/04/kaine-and-pence-talk-faith-final-moments-vice-presidential-debate">during the 2016 vice presidential debate</a>.</p>
<p>Richard Land, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and current president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/gods-plan-for-mike-pence/546569/">told the Atlantic</a> in 2018, “Mike Pence is the 24-karat-gold model of what we want in an evangelical politician. I don’t know anyone who’s more consistent in bringing his evangelical Christian worldview to public policy.” </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/rlst/deborah-whitehead">a scholar of U.S. religion and culture</a>, I believe that Pence’s faith and political identities are more complex than these statements suggest. In fact, one can trace three distinct conversion experiences in his biography.</p>
<h2>Three-point conversion</h2>
<p>Growing up in an Irish Catholic family with five siblings, working-class roots and Democratic political commitments, Pence attended Catholic school, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/06/pence-shares-role-catholic-upbringing-says-catholics-have-ally-trump/102549294/">served as an altar boy at his family’s church</a>, idolized John F. Kennedy and was a youth coordinator for the local Democratic Party in his teens.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mike Pence’s 1977 yearbook photo at Columbus North High School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mike_Pence_in_1977_Log.jpg">Columbus North High School</a></span>
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<p>It was as a freshman at Hanover College in 1978 that Pence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/21/christian-music-festivals-mike-pence-politics-lifestyle-culture">experienced an evangelical conversion</a> while attending a music festival in Kentucky billed as the “Christian Woodstock.”</p>
<p>For some years afterward he remained active in the Catholic Church, attending Mass regularly, serving as a youth minister and seriously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/07/15/what-it-means-that-mike-pence-called-himself-an-evangelical-catholic/">considering joining the priesthood</a>. At the same time, he and his future wife Karen were part of a <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/chapter-2-religious-switching-and-intermarriage/">demographic shift</a> of Americans who “had grown up Catholic and still loved many things about the Catholic Church, but also really loved the concept of having a very personal relationship with Christ,” as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/mike-pence-religion.html">close friend</a> put it.</p>
<p>By the mid-1990s he was a married father of three who identified as a “born-again, evangelical Catholic,” an unusual term that has caused <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/07/15/what-it-means-that-mike-pence-called-himself-an-evangelical-catholic/">some consternation among both evangelicals and Catholics</a>.</p>
<p>In subsequent interviews, Pence <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">has spoken freely</a> about how his 1978 conversion gave him a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” that “changed everything.” But he has tended to avoid labeling his religious views when pressed, referring to himself as a “<a href="https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/longform/incoming-mike-pence">pretty ordinary Christian</a>” who “<a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">cherishes his Catholic upbringing</a>.” He has attended nondenominational evangelical churches with his family since at least 1995. </p>
<p>Pence’s political conversion was more clear cut. Though he voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, he quickly came to embrace Ronald Reagan’s economic and social conservatism and his populist appeal. In a <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2016/09/09/mike-pence-explains-how-ronald-reagan-made-him-a-republican/">2016 speech at the Reagan Library</a>, Pence credited Reagan with inspiring him to “leave the party of my youth and become a Republican like he did.” “His broad-shouldered leadership changed my life,” he said. Pence has frequently <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/08/12-times-mike-pence-praised-donald-trumps-shoulders.html">compared Trump to Reagan</a>, arguing that they have the same “broad shoulders.”</p>
<p>Pence ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990, and the second bruising loss precipitated a third conversion, this time in political style. In a <a href="https://craigfehrman.com/2013/01/06/mike-pences-confessions-of-a-negative-campaigner/">1991 published essay</a> titled “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” he described himself as a sinner and wrote of his “conversion” to the belief that “negative campaigning is wrong.” </p>
<p>Between 1992 and 1999, Pence honed his blend of family values and fiscal conservatism in an eponymous conservative talk show.</p>
<p>The show’s popularity provided a springboard to a successful run for Congress in 2000. During his six terms in the House, Pence acquired a reputation for “<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5110/10-best-members-congress-text/">unalloyed traditional conservatism</a>” and principled opposition to Republican Party leadership on issues like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/trump-vp-mike-pences-record-on-education.html">No Child Left Behind</a> and Medicare prescription drug expansion.</p>
<h2>Religious acts</h2>
<p>In addition to his “<a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2016/07/14/whos-mike-pence-and-why-has-trump-picked-him/">unsullied</a>” reputation as a “culture warrior,” he also attracted attention for following the “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/mike-pence-and-the-sexism-of-the-billy-graham-rule/521328/">Billy Graham Rule</a>” of avoiding meeting with women alone and avoiding events where alcohol was served when his wife was not present. </p>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/04/the-mike-pence-vs-tim-kaine-vice-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/">2016 vice presidential debate</a>, Pence said that his entire career in public service stems from a commitment to “live out” his religious beliefs, “however imperfectly.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mike Pence meeting Indiana constituents in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Pence2012/f6c01f6b59f845a8bac443e30110bdee/photo?Query=Michael%20AND%20Pence&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=788&currentItemNo=36">AP Photo/Michael Conroy</a></span>
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<p>One of those beliefs is his opposition to abortion, grounded <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/21/how-bible-helps-pence-navigate-his-role-trumps-vice-president/1044357001/">in his reading of particular biblical passages</a>. As a congressman in 2007, he was the first to sponsor legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, and did so repeatedly until the first defunding bill passed in 2011. “I long for the day when Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history,” he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/07/15/mike-pence-has-made-no-secret-about-his-views-on-abortion-will-this-help-or-hurt-trump/">said at the time</a>.</p>
<p>In 2016, over the objections of many Republican state representatives, he signed the most restrictive set of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/us/politics/mike-pence-conservative-abortion.html">anti-abortion measures</a> in the country into law, making him a conservative hero. Among other things, the bill prevented women from terminating pregnancies for reasons including fetal disability such as Down syndrome. Although opponents succeeded in getting the bill overturned in the courts, Indiana is still seen as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2019/05/15/abortion-law-map-interactive-roe-v-wade-heartbeat-bills-pro-life-pro-choice-alabama-ohio-georgia/3678225002/">one of the most anti-abortion states in America</a>.</p>
<p>As vice president, Pence also <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/30/vice-president-pence-breaking-tie-senate-moves-against-planned-parenthood/99820022/">cast the tie-breaking Senate vote</a> to allow states to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood in 2017.</p>
<p>Pence has also been an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/us/politics/09hate.html">opposed the inclusion of sexual orientation in hate crimes legislation</a> and the end of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He likewise supported both state and federal constitutional <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/04/what-we-know-gov-mike-pences-position-gay-rights/78257192/">amendments to ban same-sex marriage</a>, and <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/26/hoosiers-reacting-sex-marriage-ruling/29329915/">expressed disappointment</a> at the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556">2015 Obergefell decision</a>, which required all states to recognize such unions.</p>
<p>At the same time he has been a strong supporter of “religious freedom,” particularly for Christians.</p>
<p>In March 2015, as Indiana governor, he signed the state’s <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/04/25/rfra-indiana-why-law-signed-mike-pence-so-controversial/546411002/">Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a> “to ensure that religious liberty is fully protected.” The act ignited a firestorm of nationwide controversy: Critics alleged that it would allow for individuals and businesses to legally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. Under pressure from LGBTQ activists, liberals, business owners and moderate Republicans, Pence <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/01/indiana-rfra-deal-sets-limited-protections-for-lgbt/70766920/">signed an amendment a week later</a> stipulating that it did not authorize discrimination.</p>
<h2>Staked reputation</h2>
<p>Pence’s religious and political biography mirrors key political and religious shifts over the past 40 years, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551">the rise of the religious right</a> and its growing influence in the Republican Party to the <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133">conservative coalition of evangelicals and Catholics</a> across denominational lines, to the legacy of the “outsider” celebrity president.</p>
<p>These threads converge in Mike Pence, whose “24-karat,” “unalloyed” conservative credentials were instrumental in rallying evangelical voters behind Trump in the 2016 election and whose loyalty to Trump seems to have finally broken with the shocking events of Jan. 6 and whose political future is now uncertain.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on Jan. 7, 2021 to take in recent events in Congress</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Whitehead does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Mike Pence prepares for life after the vice presidency, a scholar of religion looks back at the political and religious conversions that informed the politician’s worldview.Deborah Whitehead, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1468162020-10-13T13:25:33Z2020-10-13T13:25:33ZAppealing to evangelicals, Trump uses religious words and references to God at a higher rate than previous presidents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362786/original/file-20201010-23-a8u26s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C3976%2C2622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reading material or preparing a speech?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-holds-up-a-bible-outside-of-st-johns-news-photo/1216826602?adppopup=true">Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Speaking from the hospital while undergoing treatment for COVID-19, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-physician-provide-details-about-president-s-covid-19-condition-n1241973">faced the camera and touted therapeutics</a> that “look like miracles coming down from God.”</p>
<p>The choice of words shouldn’t come as a surprise. President Trump has
used religious language at a higher rate than any president from the last 100 years. I know this because <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484/2547">I have analyzed 448 major public addresses</a> by every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Trump for their use of both religious terms and explicit references to God. What I found was the current president uses them at much higher rates than any predecessor. Furthermore, his use of religious language has increased during his presidency.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cerihughes.com/">scholar of political communications</a>, I believe Trump’s evolving use of religion in speeches fits into a strategy to appeal to an important part of his voting base: religious conservatives.</p>
<h2>Evangelical support</h2>
<p>In the 2016 election, Trump won <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">overwhelming support from the white evangelical</a> community. This in itself was not a shock, as the constituency typically votes Republican. But perhaps more surprising was the fact that he received a higher percentage of the white evangelical vote than <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">any previous presidential candidate</a>. Meanwhile, despite his <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx">low overall approval ratings</a>, white evangelicals have <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/12/07/stark-partisan-divisions-over-russia-probe-including-its-importance-to-the-nation/">largely remained loyal in their level of support</a>.</p>
<p>Trump’s policy agenda is largely in line with many white evangelicals’ priorities, such as his support for <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-09-25/trump-supreme-court-pick-barrett-known-for-conservative-religious-views">installing conservative justices</a> on the Supreme Court and <a href="https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/president-trump-celebrates-traditional-values-with-conservatives-1.14453564">promoting the evangelical worldview</a> of the “traditional” family.</p>
<p>Yet, while his agenda in these areas no doubt accounts for much of this continued loyalty, his communications have also played an important role.</p>
<h2>Tweeting the God word</h2>
<p><a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484/2547">My research</a> suggests that President Trump seems to have developed a rhetorical style to appeal to this constituency.</p>
<p>To examine how Trump compares with his predecessors in terms of the language he uses, I looked at the frequency of 111 religious words and phrases established by <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0195326415/">previous researchers</a> to have, religious – specifically Christian – meaning. These included “pray,” “church” and “bless” and also variations of each term such as “prayer,” “praying” and “prayers.” </p>
<p>Within this list were specific “God” terms which consisted of nine explicit references to the Christian God: for example “God,” “Lord” and “Supreme Being.”</p>
<p>In the presidential speeches I examined, Trump used 7.3 religious terms per thousand words of speech – far higher than any other president from the last 100 years. In fact it was more than double the average rate of 3.5 terms per thousand used by presidents in general. Similarly, explicit mentions of “God” by Trump came at a rate of 1.4 per thousand words – almost three times the average of 0.55. </p>
<p>The average length of presidential speeches in the archive was around 3,000 words, with each speech containing on average 10 religious terms and one or two specific mentions of God. Trump’s speeches were similar in length but contained on average 22 religious terms and four mentions of God.</p>
<p><iframe id="EyfPJ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EyfPJ/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>President Trump also has the speech with the highest rate of use of religious terms: an address following a 2017 <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-shootings-las-vegas-nevada">Las Vegas mass shooting</a>. That national address contained 52 religious terms per thousand words – although I would note that it was a short speech, only 754 words long. Other presidential speeches following national tragedies – such as the 1986 Challenger disaster, Hurricane Katrina and the deaths of previous presidents – had a relatively high rate of nine religious terms per thousand words. Yet Trump’s Las Vegas speech is still over five times the average rate for these types of national addresses.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/12691/3220">also examined</a> Trump’s main form of campaign communications: rally speeches and tweets. Looking for the same religious terms and “God” variants, I reviewed 175 rally speeches from June 2016 up to the November 2018 midterms and more than 30,000 tweets from @realDonaldTrump dating from 2009 to November 2017, when Twitter changed the character limit allowed on its messages.</p>
<p>I found that in the 2016 primary campaign, there was almost no religious language in his speeches. Notably, for example, he did not use the almost obligatory presidential speech conclusion asking God to “bless America.” But once he became the official Republican nominee, he sharply increased his use of religious language, and has maintained that high frequency into his presidency.</p>
<p>Interestingly, in speeches in states <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/">with a more religious population</a> he used significantly more religious language than in more secular states. In the most religious states, such as Mississippi and Texas, Trump used on average 1.7 religious and 0.36 God terms per thousand words. In the least religious states, like New Hampshire and Maine, these figures were 1.2 and 0.24.</p>
<p><iframe id="YIJu8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/YIJu8/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Trump’s prolific tweeting yields some interesting insights. Prior to his inauguration, citizen Trump used just 1.2 religious terms and 0.19 God terms per thousand words in tweets. Yet, President Trump tweets at a rate of 3.2 religious terms and 0.60 God terms per thousand words of tweets – triple his previous rate.</p>
<p>It is unknown how much of Trump’s speeches are written by him personally and how much are simply ad-libbed. Similarly, we don’t know with certainty which tweets are written by Trump personally and which by his staff – a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739906562/u-s-appeals-court-rules-trump-violated-first-amendment-by-blocking-twitter-follo?t=1601302947323">2017 First Amendment case</a> confirmed that Trump writes most but not all of his tweets. Whatever the truth, both forms of communication are presented as coming from President Trump.</p>
<h2>Finding his faith?</h2>
<p>My data shows that President Trump has significantly changed how he uses religious language in communications.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Why this is the case is unclear. Some supporters, such as evangelical leader James Dobson, argue that Trump is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/us/politics/a-born-again-donald-trump-believe-it-evangelical-leader-says.html">finding his faith</a>. And it could be that these findings reflect an increasing importance of religion to Trump personally.</p>
<p>Cynics may argue that my data are more reflective of how politically important to him the religious right community is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ceri Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump uses more religious terms in his set-piece addresses than any other president in the last 100 years.Ceri Hughes, Knight Research Fellow of Communication and Civic Renewal, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1465582020-09-22T12:25:03Z2020-09-22T12:25:03Z3 ways a 6-3 Supreme Court would be different<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359070/original/file-20200921-18-4y35pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C4493%2C2957&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court building as news spread of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Sept. 18 death.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020-Ginsburg-TheRage/5dfdc36cccf4402d84bb21e432d8bcbe/photo">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is replaced this year, the Supreme Court will become something the country has not seen since the justices became a dominant force in American cultural life after World War II: a decidedly conservative court.</p>
<p>A court with a 6-3 conservative majority would be a dramatic shift from the court of recent years, which was more closely divided, with Ginsburg as the leader of the liberal wing of four justices and Chief Justice John Roberts as the frequent swing vote. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030538507">scholar of the court</a> and the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/one-nation-two-realities-9780190677176?cc=us&lang=en&">politics of belief</a>, I see three things likely to change in an era of a conservative majority: The court will accept a broader range of controversial cases for consideration; the court’s interpretation of constitutional rights will shift; and the future of rights in the era of a conservative court may be in the hands of local democracy rather than the Supreme Court.</p>
<h2>A broader docket</h2>
<p>The court takes only cases the justices choose to hear. Five votes on the nine-member court make a majority, but <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/supreme-1">four is the number required to take a case</a>. </p>
<p>If Roberts does not want to accept a controversial case, it now requires all four of the conservatives – Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas – to accept the case and risk the outcome. </p>
<p>If they are uncertain how Roberts will rule – <a href="https://www.idahostatejournal.com/opinion/columns/the-unpredictable-john-roberts/article_f9ce711c-70b2-541d-9d9c-2ad4777c85c7.html">as many people are</a> – then the conservatives may be not be willing to grant a hearing.</p>
<p>With six conservatives on the court, that would change. More certain of the outcome, the court would likely take up a broader range of divisive cases. These include many <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/17/supreme-court-eyes-more-gun-cases-that-could-expand-2nd-amendment.html">gun regulations</a> that have been challenged as a violation of the Second Amendment, and the <a href="https://firstliberty.org/category-media/first-liberty-in-the-news/">brewing conflicts</a> between gay rights and <a href="https://theconversation.com/christianity-at-the-supreme-court-from-majority-power-to-minority-rights-119718">religious rights</a> that the court <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-ltd-v-colorado-civil-rights-commn">has so far sidestepped</a>. They also include <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/08/27/489786/state-actions-undermining-abortion-rights-2020/">new abortion regulations</a> that states will implement in anticipation of legal challenges and a favorable hearing at the court.</p>
<p>The three liberal justices would no longer be able to insist that a case be heard without participation from at least one of the six conservatives, effectively limiting many controversies from consideration at the high court.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The U.S. Supreme Court chambers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359076/original/file-20200921-22-1y53eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The seat formerly occupied by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg is draped in black, as is the bench in front of her.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtGinsburg/732652e99b9a41a39289c27e025b8c21/photo">Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A rights reformation</h2>
<p>The rise of a 6-3 conservative court would also mean the end of the expansion of rights the court has overseen during the past half-century.</p>
<p>Conservatives believe constitutional rights such as freedom of religion and speech, bearing arms, and limits on police searches are immutable. But they question the expansive claims of rights that have emerged over time, such as privacy rights and reproductive liberty. These also include <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/obergefell-v-hodges/">LGBTQ rights</a>, <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shelby-county-v-holder/">voting rights</a>, <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/national-federation-of-independent-business-v-sebelius/">health care rights</a>, and any other rights not specifically protected in the text of the Constitution.</p>
<p>The court has grounded several expanded rights, especially the right to privacy, in the 14th Amendment’s <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/due_process">due process clause</a>: “…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This sounds like a matter of procedure: The government has to apply the same laws to everyone without arbitrary actions. From the conservative perspective, courts have expanded the meaning of “due process” and “liberty” <a href="https://billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/educator-resources/lessons-plans/landmark-supreme-court-cases-elessons/roe-v-wade-1973/">far beyond their legitimate borders</a>, taking decision-making away from democratic majorities.</p>
<p>Consequently, LGBTQ rights will not expand further. The <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-102">line of decisions</a> that made Justice Anthony Kennedy famous for his support of gay rights, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556">culminating in marriage equality in 2015</a>, will advance no further.</p>
<p>Cases that seek to outlaw capital punishment under the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment">cruel and unusual punishments</a>” will also cease to be successful. In 2019 the court ruled that <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/bucklew-v-precythe/">excessive pain caused by a rare medical condition</a> was not grounds for halting a death sentence. That execution went forward, and further claims against the constitutionality of the death penalty will not.</p>
<p>Challenges to voting restrictions will likely also fail. This was previewed in the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/husted-v-philip-randolph-institute/">5-4 decision in 2018</a> allowing Ohio to purge voting rolls of infrequent voters. The Bill of Rights <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-right-to-vote-is-not-in-the-constitution-144531">does not protect voting as a clear right</a>, leaving voting regulations to state legislatures. The conservative court will likely allow a broader range of restrictive election regulations, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/stripping-voting-rights-from-felons-is-about-politics-not-punishment-139651">barring felons from voting</a>. It may also limit the census enumeration to citizens, effectively <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-excluding-illegal-aliens-apportionment-base-following-2020-census/">reducing the congressional power of states that have large noncitizen immigrant populations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman waits to receive her ballot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359078/original/file-20200921-16-o9a8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early voting in the November election has already begun; voting rights may be restricted by a more conservative Supreme Court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020/0962848422434504af3ba76dccc8b0e3/photo">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-born-a-us-citizen-127403">Birthright citizenship</a>, which many believe is protected by the 14th Amendment, will likely not be formally recognized by the court. The court has never ruled that anyone born on U.S. soil is <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/breaking-down-the-birthright-citizenship-debate">automatically a citizen</a>. The closest it came was an 1898 ruling <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649">recognizing the citizenship of children of legal residents</a>, but the court has been silent on the divisive question of children born of unauthorized residents.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/citizenship-shouldnt-be-a-birthright/2018/07/18/7d0e2998-8912-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html">conservative understanding of the 14th Amendment</a> is that it had no intention of granting birthright citizenship to those who are in the country <a href="https://fedsoc.org/commentary/videos/does-the-fourteenth-amendment-guarantee-birthright-citizenship-policybrief">without legal authorization</a>.</p>
<p>Noncitizens may also find themselves with fewer rights: Many conservatives argue that the <a href="https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-14/">14th Amendment</a> requires <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-xiv/clauses/704#the-privileges-or-immunities-clause-americas-lost-clause-by-akhil-reed-amar">state governments to abide by the Bill of Rights</a> only when dealing with <a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/clarence-thomas-bill-of-rights-doesnt-apply-to-non-citizens-d02757866866/">U.S. citizens</a>. </p>
<p>In any case, individual rights will likely be less important than the government’s efforts to protect national security – whether fighting terrorism, conducting surveillance or dealing with emergencies. Conservatives argue that the public need for security often trumps private claims of rights. This was previewed in <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/trump-v-hawaii-3/">Trump v. Hawaii</a> in 2018, when the court upheld the travel ban imposed against several Muslim countries.</p>
<p>Not all rights will be restricted. Those protected by the original Bill of Rights will gain greater protections under a conservative court. Most notably this includes gun rights under the Second Amendment, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/christianity-at-the-supreme-court-from-majority-power-to-minority-rights-119718">religious rights under the First Amendment</a>. </p>
<p>Until recently, the court had viewed religious rights primarily through the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/establishment_clause">establishment clause</a>’s limits on government endorsement of religion. But in the past decade, that has shifted in favor of the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/free_exercise_clause">free exercise clause</a>’s ban on interference with the practice of religion. </p>
<p>The court has upheld claims to <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/espinoza-v-montana-department-of-revenue/">religious rights in education</a> and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/our-lady-of-guadalupe-school-v-morrissey-berru/">religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws</a>. That trend will continue.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man behind a counter waits on a customer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359080/original/file-20200921-14-6bgu54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, manages his Colorado business after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtWeddingCakeCase/b0915d3e4f9b48f0afc8991849704e4f/photo">AP Photo/David Zalubowski</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A return to local democracy</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most important ramification of a 6-3 conservative court is that it will return many policies to local control. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>For example, overturning Roe v. Wade – which is likely but not certain under a 6-3 court – would leave the legality of abortion up to each state. </p>
<p>This will make state-level elected officials the guardians of individual liberties, shifting power from courts to elections. How citizens and their elected officials respond to this new emphasis is perhaps the most important thing that will determine the influence of a conservative court.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Marietta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A 6-3 conservative court will hear a broader range of controversial cases, shift interpretations of individual rights and put more pressure on local democracy to make policy decisions.Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1443912020-09-04T12:26:05Z2020-09-04T12:26:05ZWhy masks are a religious issue<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355847/original/file-20200901-22-dytuaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C5108%2C2880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anti-mask protesters at a rally in Orem, Utah.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Utah/3f4cb6aa556e40ed8fd785631a41e3ba/71/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Seemingly everyone has an opinion on masks: when to wear them, how to wear them, which ones are best and even whether we should be wearing them at all.</p>
<p>For those in this last camp, a popular argument is that the coverings aren’t the problem, but <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/2020/07/27/anti-mask-protesters-indianapolis-claim-governmental-overreach/5520232002/">being forced by a government entity to wear one</a> is. It’s the mandate, not the mask, some might say.</p>
<p>Some anti-maskers have claimed that being forced to wear a face covering <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/1/forced-face-masking-civil-rights-offense/">violates their religious rights</a>. Back in May, Ohio State Rep. Nino Vitale, a Republican, publicly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-lawmaker-refuses-wear-mask-because-he-says-it-dishonors-n1201106">rejected</a> mask-wearing on the grounds that covering one’s face dishonors God. This view is echoed by some individual faith leaders, with churches <a href="https://khn.org/news/churches-mask-wearing-colorado-springs-congregations-flour-mask-orders/">flouting requirements</a> that congregants wear masks. Meanwhile, media-savvy pastors have put <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PastorLocke/videos/615824959335756/?v=615824959335756">anti-mask posts on Facebook</a> that have been viewed millions of times. </p>
<p>And a recent <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12677">study</a> revealed that the rejection of masks is higher in populations that associate with conservative politics and the idea that the United States is a divinely chosen nation.</p>
<p>Is it that masks are a religious matter, or is religion being used to suit people’s political agendas? Socially speaking, both things can be true.</p>
<h2>The function of religion</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.avila.edu/academics/schools-colleges/college-of-liberal-arts-social-sciences/humanities/religious-studies-and-philosophy/faculty-3/faculty-dr-leslie-dorrough-smith">scholar who studies Christian conservatism and its impact on culture</a>, I believe society often adopts an overly narrow understanding of how religion works. </p>
<p>Using religion to support one’s political interests is generally viewed as a negative thing that represents the hijacking or twisting of religion. Such a view is echoed in the words of preacher and activist Rev. William Barber, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/08/trump-religion-megachurch-american-tradition">who said</a> Donald Trump’s alliance with evangelical Christians was a “misuse of religion.” </p>
<p>From a scholarly perspective, though, all forms of religion affect society in some way – even if those outcomes are deemed undesirable or unethical by certain groups. Examining how religion operates in society can help us understand why the conversation over masks has recently turned religious.</p>
<p>In his landmark <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo4038430.html">analysis</a> of the social impact of religion, <a href="https://divinity.uchicago.edu/directory/bruce-lincoln">scholar Bruce Lincoln</a> argued that there is no realm of life that cannot somehow be made religious. This is not because there are topics that are specific or unique to religion, but because of what happens to the authority of a claim when religious language is used. In other words, when people use religious speech, their authority is often perceived to be heightened.</p>
<p>For example, if someone plans to marry a partner they don’t appear to like very much, their claim that “we’ve been together a long time” may not come across as a convincing argument for a wedding. But what if that same person says that “God has brought this other person into my life”? That reason may be more readily accepted if the public hearing these words is already open to religious ideas. </p>
<p>Taking this approach to religion doesn’t mean that all religious claims are factually true or ethical. It also doesn’t mean that the people who use religious language are insincere or even wrong. Rather, the function of religious speech is to amplify the authority of an idea through appeals to seemingly unquestionable authorities, like deities and “ultimate truths.” If a statement does this, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo4038430.html">Lincoln concludes</a>, then it is religious. </p>
<h2>Special authority</h2>
<p>These are important considerations for the debate over masks. Using religious language to justify an anti-mask position is a move intended to amplify the voices of those who make this claim. And public health issues have long been a concern of American religious groups.</p>
<p>For example, when it comes to childhood vaccinations, arguing for <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/school-immunization-exemption-state-laws.aspx">exemption on philosophical or moral grounds</a> will work in only 15 states. But arguing a religious objection will be <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/28/nearly-all-states-allow-religious-exemptions-for-vaccinations/">accepted in at least 44 of 50 states</a>. The difference is that, in the United States, religious claims are often granted a special type of authority.</p>
<p>Consider also that Americans generally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/parenting/guides/circumcision-baby-boy.html">accept</a> the circumcision of infant boys on religious grounds. This is true despite the fact that some <a href="https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/for-parents/reasons-to-keep-your-son-whole/">medical authorities and activists</a> have questioned both the ethics and health impact of performing this specific surgery, which is otherwise elective and cosmetic, on a newborn. </p>
<p>This does not mean, however, that if religion is involved, then anything goes. As recently as 2014, a faith-healing couple was sentenced to <a href="https://time.com/8750/faith-healing-parents-jailed-after-second-childs-death/">jail time</a> after the preventable deaths of two of their children. The couple claimed that seeking medical care was against their religion. </p>
<p>These examples provide some clarity on when religious rhetoric is successful and when it is not. Groups, beliefs or practices that are already popular or commonplace often appear to get a boost of authority when religious language is used to describe them. If the claim is unpopular or the group is not considered mainstream, then religious language may have little impact.</p>
<h2>Barometer of public opinion</h2>
<p>Masks are a religious issue because some people have described them that way. But this does not mean that such religious claims have successfully granted them authority. Despite an existing <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/23/most-americans-say-they-regularly-wore-a-mask-in-stores-in-the-past-month-fewer-see-others-doing-it/">partisan divide</a> on the matter, there is still no widespread sentiment among Americans that a government mask mandate is religiously problematic.</p>
<p>This means that those who rail against masks for religious reasons may not gain a lot of traction right now among the wider American public, when more than <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html">6 million Americans</a> have so far been infected with the virus. There is simply too much fear presently to make that a popular line of reasoning. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>But if that number wanes, I believe it is entirely possible that religious rationales against masking could receive renewed, and even broader, support as the culture’s interests change. </p>
<p>This is a good reminder that whether religious ideas take hold is not so much a matter of “truth” or ethics. Rather, the issue at hand is often the barometer of public opinion.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that 6 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus to date.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Dorrough Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Are masks a religious matter, or is religion being used to suit people’s political agendas? A scholar of Christian conservatism and culture argues both can be true.Leslie Dorrough Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, Avila UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208782019-07-24T22:23:14Z2019-07-24T22:23:14ZThe Christian right’s efforts to transform society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285432/original/file-20190723-110195-zcc6hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C185%2C4000%2C2934&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer at the Calgary Stampede on July 6. Groups associated with the Christian right are expected to support his political party in the October elections.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/index.fwx">The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47940659">The battle now raging in several American states over women’s reproductive rights</a> is a direct result of the Christian right’s efforts to impose its religious values on the family and in politics. </p>
<p>The polarization around abortion in the United States is at such a level that some of the leaders of these conservative religious groups are promoting the idea of an impending <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/26/abortion-ban-rightwing-christian-figures-civil-war-predictions">second American Civil War.</a></p>
<p>We should not assume that the debates generated by the Christian right in the United States will not have any impact in Canada. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/unplanned-anti-abortion-movie-journey-to-56-theatres-1.5208979">Indeed, the recent release of the film <em>Unplanned</em></a> shows that this politico-religious coalition seeks to change attitudes in Canada too.</p>
<p>That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant about the fight being waged by some anti-abortion lobby groups in this country. The <a href="https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/">Campaign Life Coalition</a>, with its 200,000 members, and <a href="https://www.itstartsrightnow.ca/">RightNow</a> are tirelessly working to elect candidates who oppose abortion. They successfully supported the recently elected candidates of provincial Conservative parties in Ontario and Alberta. </p>
<p>These lobbies frame the abortion debate as a human rights issue. Like Sam Oosterhoff, a 21-year-old member of the Ontario legislature for Niagara West in Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government, <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/politics/how-canadas-growing-anti-abortion-movement-plans-to-swing-the-next-federal-election/">many want to make the very idea of having an abortion unthinkable in Canada </a> in the next 30 years or so. </p>
<p>While criminalizing abortion in Canada could be a challenge, it is nevertheless possible for a provincial government to eliminate funding for institutions that offer women the choice to terminate unwanted pregnancies.</p>
<h2>Evangelical support for Trump</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/evangelical-christians-face-deepening-crisis/593353/">The Christian right</a> had an impact on the 2016 U.S. election, securing Donald Trump’s presidency.</p>
<p>Indeed, part of Trump’s success stemmed from the fact <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-trump-emboldening-right-wing-extremism-in-canada-82635">that 81 per cent of white evangelicals voted for him.</a> <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/18/evangelical-approval-of-trump-remains-high-but-other-religious-groups-are-less-supportive/">According to Pew Research</a>, Trump still receives his highest support from white Christians heading into the 2020 election, with 69 per cent of evangelicals poised to endorse him along with white Protestants at 48 per cent and white Catholics at 44 per cent. </p>
<p>Comparatively, Trump only garners the support of 12 per cent of black Protestants and 26 per cent of non-white Catholics, according to the Pew poll. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285154/original/file-20190722-11370-p9jhcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump arrives at the White House in July 2019. His rise to power comes from the fact that 81 percent of the white evangelicals voted for him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-democrats-republicans/house-condemns-trump-over-racist-comments-tweeted-at-congresswomen-idUSKCN1UB1QO">The U.S. president’s racist comments on Twitter </a> recently have likely further contributed to the polarization of the religious electorate in the United States. But even if some evangelical leaders condemned the tone of Trump’s tweets, <a href="https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/in-the-line-of-fire/77179-were-president-trump-s-recent-tweets-racist?utm_source=Charisma%20News%20Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:5298752&utm_campaign=CNO%20daily%20-%202019-07-16">some have nonetheless denied the racist nature</a> of his comments. </p>
<p>Such Christian right leaders will still vote for Trump against any Democratic candidate. One, Michael Brown, has even <a href="https://stream.org/liberal-media-wont-shame-voting-trump/">clearly stated</a> why he will vote for Trump in 2020. It’s all about the agenda:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“In the same way, when it comes to the economy, if it’s Trump vs. a socialist, he has my vote. The same when it comes to religious liberties. Or standing with Israel. Or pushing back against radical LGBT activism. Trump gets my vote, and the liberal media won’t shame me out of it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Transforming society</h2>
<p>What exactly is <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/chr_rght.htm">the Christian right</a>? </p>
<p>It is a religious coalition with political aims that is mainly comprised of evangelicals and conservative Catholics and Protestants. It also sometimes attracts the support of politically conservative Mormons and Jewish groups. </p>
<p>The coalition unites around common causes such as anti-abortion activism, opposition to the rights of LGBTQ people and sex education classes. They also speak out in favour of the promotion of prayer in schools and the teaching of creationism (or intelligent design), the fight against euthanasia and the safeguarding of what they call religious freedom.</p>
<p>The agenda of the Christian right can be summed up essentially as promoting the idea of a Christian nationalism in which the establishment of Judeo-Christian “values” is the foundation of the country’s law. </p>
<p>To achieve its objectives, the Christian right has adopted what is called a “<a href="https://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/08/18/dominionism-rising-a-theocratic-movement-hiding-in-plain-sight#sthash.TCmOSUyU.oTPWTXkf.dpbs">dominionist</a>” strategy, where Christians are called to exercise power and dominate the world, according to their interpretation of a passage from the book of Genesis (1:26-28). </p>
<p>This idea is framed in terms of “social transformation” and presented as the <a href="https://www.charismamag.com/life/culture/25597-do-you-know-the-seven-mountains-mandate-for-every-christian">Seven Mountains Mandate</a> (also referred to as the seven moulders or spheres of culture).</p>
<p>According to their plan, a social “change of attitude” can be effected by influencing the seven “spheres” or “mountains” of culture: religion, education, economics, politics, arts and entertainment, media and the family. </p>
<p>But why the need for “social transformation?” The end goal is “dominion,” the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth. It is the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done <em>on Earth</em> as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)</p>
<p>For many Christian leaders who embrace dominionist ideas, social transformation will not be achieved through massive religious conversions. In fact, <a href="https://youtu.be/2RLHlXZMdhM">one key proponent of the Seven Mountains Mandate believes that</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The business of shifting culture or transforming nations does not require a majority of conversions… We need more disciples in the right places, the high places. Minorities of people can shape the agenda, if properly aligned and deployed… The world is a matrix of overlapping systems or spheres of influence. We are called to go into the entire matrix and invade every system with an influence that liberates that system’s fullest potential… The battle in each sphere is over the ideas that dominate that sphere and between the individuals who have the most power to advance those ideas.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Support for Scheer</h2>
<p>This all requires the mobilization of people belonging to groups rallied to the goals of the Christian right. For example, charismatic dominionist groups succeed in such mobilization by forming what they call “<a href="http://www.intheworkplace.com/apps/articles/?articleid=22896">apostles in the workplace</a>” — people who aim to penetrate the seven spheres of culture in order to effect the desired change.</p>
<p>As we approach the federal election in Canada, groups associated with the Christian right are also seeking to gradually insert themselves into the various “spheres of culture” and influence the political agenda. </p>
<p>Some Canadian evangelicals have formed coalitions aligned to Christian right ideas. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5511047/conversion-therapy-ban-3/">One recent initiative</a> is the <a href="https://oneaccord.one">West Coast Christian Accord</a>, a group of evangelical leaders seeking to mobilize Christians across Canada to vote for candidates they believe will safeguard their religious values in the upcoming federal election. </p>
<p>Clearly, the current political climate influenced by white evangelicals in the United States has also emboldened similar religious groups ahead of the Canadian election.</p>
<p>Such groups will likely give their support to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, the candidate who best represents their own socio-conservative values. </p>
<p>Even if Scheer says <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/andrew-scheer-trudeau-abortion-alabama-1.5140900">he has no plans to reopen the abortion debate</a> in Canada, is he speaking the truth? We may have the answer in the near future.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120878/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Gagné ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The current political climate influenced by white evangelicals in the United States has emboldened similar religious groups in Canada ahead of our own federal election.André Gagné, Associate Professor, Department of Theological Studies; Full Member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1092182019-07-09T22:10:20Z2019-07-09T22:10:20ZHow the conservative right hijacks religion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282735/original/file-20190704-51258-6ysmhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=419%2C0%2C3043%2C1264&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democrat Sen. Chris Coons, pictured right, says Democrats should talk more about faith. Here, Coons prays with U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. James Lankford (left) during the 2019 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Democrats are beginning to <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2019/07/02/democrats-continue-debate-role-faith-2020-campaign">challenge the Republican grip on the language of religion and faith</a> in the United States. Democrat Sen. Chris Coons, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, recently wrote an essay for <em>The Atlantic</em>, “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/2020-democrats-are-talking-about-religious-faith/592966/">Democrats Need to Talk About Their Faith</a>.” </p>
<p>This is a bold and necessary move. However, it may come up against scientific and progressive resistance. This resistance is based on the claim that <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-there-is-a-war-between-science-and-religion-108002">science and religion</a>, or religion and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/26/religion-philosophy">progressive politics</a>, are incompatible. </p>
<p>Scorn for religion can be seen both among some learned atheists or in popular culture. Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/23/scienceandnature.richarddawkins">dismissively discusses</a> religion in <em>The God Delusion</em>; comedian, political commentator and talk show host Bill Maher’s <a href="https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/28139/maher-s-religulous-poster-unleashed">documentary <em>Religulous</em></a> also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/04/comedy">took a smug and barbed approach</a> and has faced criticisms of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/26/us-liberal-islamophobia-rising-more-insidious">liberal Islamophobia</a>.</p>
<p>Arguments voiced by such figures often argue that science is empirical while religion is based on authority, is reactionary and expects you to believe things based on faith, dogma or charismatic authority.</p>
<p>True, some of the faithful eschew empirical reality in favour of blind faith. </p>
<p>But not all <a href="https://broadview.org/donna-strickland-is-a-church-lady-and-a-nobel-prize-winning-scientist/">scientists reject faith</a> and traditional forms of religion. And not all religion is about blind faith and authority, nor is all human spirituality beyond empirical investigation. </p>
<p>Science and human spirituality are not incompatible. Scientists can, and sometimes do, think about and explore human spirituality in a philosophical and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-c1-religion-brain-20150107-story.html">empirical manner</a>. </p>
<h2>Spiritual closet</h2>
<p>If some scientists seems to accept a relationship between science and human spirituality, they may still be <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Things_a_Computer_Scientist_Rarely_Talks.html?id=Nvh_QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">unwilling to discuss it openly</a>. They are, so to speak, in <a href="http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/zimmerman1.pdf">the spiritual closet</a>.</p>
<p>One study of scientists in U.S. universities found that although only a small subset was religious in a traditional sense, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srr003">many consider themselves spiritual</a> in some way. Their sense of spirituality was congruent with their views about science. </p>
<p>Some psychologists have sought to explore spirituality through empirical investigation. The observable aspect of human spirituality goes by different names. To some, like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-James">William James, pioneer of modern psychology and author of the 1880 <em>Principles of Psychology</em></a>, it is “<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/621">mystical experience</a>.” To <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/humanistic-psychology">Abraham Maslow</a>, founder of both the humanistic and existential schools of psychology, it is “<a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-peak-experiences-2795268">peak experience</a>.” Addictions specialist and community worker
<a href="https://www.recoveryanswers.org/team/william-white/">William White</a> calls it “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20001">transformational experience</a>.” In my research in the area of the sociology of religion and mystical exerperience, I call it, for agnostic simplicity, <a href="https://doaj.org/article/fbf826b9ba704e04aaf0e08cbf162a3c">connection experience</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282534/original/file-20190703-126355-mde0xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Psychologists have studied what may be called peak experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">polina podlesnaya NfzrJhnah/unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Connection’ experiences can help heal</h2>
<p>Psychologists who have studied connection experience agree it is an observable and consequential thing. </p>
<p>White reviews historical accounts to relay how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20001">transformational change</a> — a “process of psychological death and rebirth” — can lead to recovery from alcoholism. </p>
<p>William R. Miller, clinical psychologist and emeritus professor of psychology and psychiatry at University of New Mexico, has researched what he calls “quantum change” — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20000">“sudden, dramatic, and enduring transformations that affect a broad range of personal emotion, cognition and behaviour.”</a> </p>
<p>Big deal if some people have mystical experiences. Why is this relevant? </p>
<h2>Conservatives hijack the religious agenda</h2>
<p>Connection experiences are important for many reasons, but one in particular stands out. </p>
<p>The political colonization and exploitation of human spirituality is a strategy of conservative elites. Christina Forrester, founder and director of Christian Democrats of America, notes that in the 1980s, political conservatives <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-truth-about-christianity-and-abortion_b_58f52ed7e4b048372700dab5">used people’s authentic spiritual sentiment to create a moral majority of spiritual zealots</a> organized around an opposition to abortion that did not exist in the same way before. </p>
<p>When Donald Trump was campaigning for president, he claimed he loved the Bible but then <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/08/27/watch_donald_trump_refuse_to_name_any_verses_in_his_favorite_book_the_bible/">refused to elaborate when asked about his favourite verses</a>. His supposed love for the Bible may have helped him <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-manipulation-of-mass-consciousness-88435">fool the masses</a> and get him elected. Similarly, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio garners support from conservative Christians by sending out periodic Bible tweets. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1127162248286351360"}"></div></p>
<p>India’s Prime Minister <a href="https://theconversation.com/narendra-modis-victory-speech-delivers-visions-of-a-hindu-nationalist-ascetic-117802">Narendra Modi</a> regularly <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1137738730876260352">presents himself as a devotee</a>, despite his <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-and-modi-birds-of-the-same-feather-but-with-different-world-views-69090">clear economic conservatism</a> and <a href="https://scroll.in/article/715781/when-modi-mocks-nrega-he-ridicules-the-80-million-indians-contributing-to-the-nations-development">disdain for the poor</a>. </p>
<h2>The conservative right does not own spirituality</h2>
<p>Despite scientific evidence and ongoing political relevance, many intellectuals or people affiliated with progressive movements abdicate concern with human spirituality. The irony of the dismissal of spirituality is twofold. For one, it is a losing political strategy. </p>
<p>It allows people like Trump and Modi to exploit human spirituality and manipulate people’s spiritual sensibility, gaining support from the very constituency they will inevitably <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/04/the-trump-tax-cut-did-bubkes-for-the-working-class/">go on to eviscerate</a>. In addition, the dismissal is itself anti-science and based on a theoretical misunderstanding. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282535/original/file-20190703-126400-j5h1ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conservative politicians such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi don’t own human spiritual experience. Here, Modi arrives for the the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It doesn’t need to be this way. The conservative right has no exclusive claim to human spirituality. In its authentic form, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-a-rich-male-collective-101958">human spirituality is egalitarian, progressive</a> and transformative. For example, many of Jesus’s teachings resonate with socialism: in one story —<a href="http://www.galaxie.com/article/gtj03-2-06">told in three variants in three books of the Bible</a> — a rich man asks Jesus what he needs to do to be perfect. Jesus says, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A16-21&version=NIV">sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor</a>. We can imagine the impact on people like Trump, Rubio and other economic elites to being confronted with a message like that. </p>
<p>Human spirituality cannot be owned by any one political ideology, nor should it be. It is often <a href="https://theconversation.com/star-wars-is-a-religion-that-primes-us-for-war-and-violence-89443">exploited</a> by conservative actors, but there is healing and progressive potential as well. As long as progressive actors abjure studying religion, reactionary ones will have free hand to misrepresent and exploit it. </p>
<p>Therefore, overcome what University of California at Los Angeles sociologist Linda Brookover Bourque calls a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3710269">stylized and simplistic understanding of religion</a>. The next time Trump claims he loves the Bible, his hypocritical claims can be silenced by the roar of a truly enlightened progressive collective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Sosteric does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Spirituality may not align with scientific values, but even psychologists say ‘peak’ experiences can change people. Will society allow the entire language of religion to be owned by conservatives?Mike Sosteric, Associate Professor, Sociology, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1177112019-05-26T13:52:27Z2019-05-26T13:52:27ZClashing rights: Behind the Québec hijab debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276145/original/file-20190523-187179-18aba1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People hold up signs as they march during a demonstration in Montreal, April 7, 2019, in opposition to the Quebec government's newly tabled Bill 21.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has introduced Bill 21, a law that would supposedly <a href="http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-21-42-1.html?appelant=MC">entrench religious neutrality in the province.</a> It would do so by prohibiting providers of government services in positions of authority such as judges, police and teachers from wearing religious symbols, including hijabs (headscarves for female Muslims), turbans (for male Sikhs), kippas (skullcaps for male Jews) and visible Christian crosses. </p>
<p>Bill 21 also prohibits providing or seeking a government service with one’s face covered. This principle is relatively uncontroversial in Québec, though some worry that it might discriminate against the very few Muslim women who cover their faces.</p>
<p>The principle behind Bill 21 is laicity, or secularism. Québécois are currently debating the human rights implications of Bill 21, just as they debated earlier versions proposed by the Parti Québecois government <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/952478/read-full-text-of-bill-60-quebecs-charter-of-values/">in 2013</a> and the Liberal government <a href="http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-62-41-1.html">in 2014.</a></p>
<p>I wrote a detailed analysis of these debates in an academic article <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/685700">“The ‘Quebec Values’ Debate of 2013: Minority vs. Collective Rights” for <em>the Human Rights Quarterly</em>, published in 2018.</a></p>
<h2>Three types of rights clashes are involved</h2>
<p>The first clash is about whether public servants in positions of authority, while at work, should be permitted to exhibit their religious beliefs through their dress.</p>
<p>The CAQ considers wearing religious dress to be a violation of state religious neutrality. In the CAQ’s view, wearing religious dress is a form of passive or silent proselytism, trying to convert others to your own religion. </p>
<p>For the CAQ, prohibition of government servants’ wearing of religious symbols is necessary to preserve the secular character of Québec society. The prohibition is a relatively minor violation of freedom of religion, if indeed it is a violation at all.</p>
<p>Yet the 1975 Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms includes the right to openly profess religious beliefs <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/ShowDoc/cs/C-12">without fear of reprisal</a>. International law protects this right too, in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx">Article 18</a>, as does a <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/page/R-v-Big-M-Drug-Mart-Ltd">1985 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada</a>. </p>
<p>From this point of view, while the state has to demonstrate its religious neutrality, its individual employees do not have the same obligation.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276142/original/file-20190523-187172-ydctyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man wears a Kippah during a demonstration opposing the Quebec government’s newly tabled Bill 21 in Montreal, Sunday, April 14, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second clash is about women’s rights. Bill 21 states that the Québec nation “attaches importance to the equality of women and men.” This equality takes precedence over religious customs that imply discrimination against women.</p>
<p>Some Québec feminists, including some of Muslim background, maintain that men have always used religion to oppress women. Even if Muslim women wear the <em>hijab</em> voluntarily, many feminists believe, they have been taught to believe that the sexes are unequal. </p>
<p>Some of the older women who support Bill 21 remember when the Catholic Church dominated Québec. During the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quiet-revolution">1960s Quiet Revolution</a>, Québécois freed themselves from the church’s control over marriage, divorce, contraception and abortion. These older women believe Bill 21 will similarly help Muslim women <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bill-21-quebec-feminists-on-opposite-sides-of-religious-symbols-ban-1.5139422">free themselves from religious control.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276143/original/file-20190523-187185-yqdzbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People hold up signs during a demonstration in Montreal in opposition to the Quebec government’s newly tabled Bill 21.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those who oppose Bill 21 argue that it is discriminatory to refuse the opportunity of state employment to women who choose to wear religious symbols. They believe the ban on religious clothing and accessories will undermine some minority women’s right to employment, as in the case of Muslim women teachers.</p>
<p>Opponents also maintain that women who enjoy equality should be permitted to make independent individual decisions about whether to wear the hijab. If women are being forced to wear religious clothing, then the people forcing them should be punished, not the women themselves.</p>
<p>The third debate is about collective versus individual rights. Bill 21 states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Laicity should be affirmed in a manner that ensures a balance between the collective rights of the Québec nation and human rights and freedoms.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to Bill 21, these include the collective right to maintain Québec’s religious cultural heritage, even if the state is formally secular. Thus for example, religious place names can still exist. </p>
<p>People favouring the new law believe in the right of the community to a certain level of social integration or cohesion. It is important for all to live together in harmony, emphasizing sameness rather than difference. People who speak French at home are more likely to believe this than people who speak other languages.</p>
<p>Many critics of this view assume that anyone who defends it is afraid of residents of Québec not descended from the original French Catholic settlers. The law appears to be directed primarily against Montreal and Québec City and reflects a fear of strangers in Québec’s more homogeneous regions. </p>
<p>Critics argue that it’s not necessary for more recent immigrant groups — or for long-standing Québecers like Jews — to remove their religious symbols in order to be part of Québec society.</p>
<p>If Bill 21 is passed, it’s likely that many Québec Muslims, Jews and Sikhs will migrate to other parts of Canada so that they can freely manifest their religions at work. The rest of Canada will gain from this migration, and Québec will lose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann received funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program that supported her scholarly research on Quebec until June 20, 2016. </span></em></p>The proposed secular law (Bill 21) in the province of Québec appears to be directed primarily against Montreal and Québec City, and reflects a fear of strangers in Québec’s more homogeneous regions.Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1150242019-04-12T10:41:56Z2019-04-12T10:41:56ZThe Mormon Church still doesn’t accept same-sex couples – even if it no longer bars their children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268856/original/file-20190411-44773-128bak5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Russell M. Nelson, center, during the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conference on April 6, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mormon-Conference/5bc7fc62c6ec48938486b748fe5f7dd2/15/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/04/us/mormon-lgbt-policy/index.html">reversed a policy</a> that prevented minor children of same-sex married couples from joining the church and participating in its sacred rituals since 2015.</p>
<p>Many conservative churches oppose same-sex relationships and have done so with <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469624112/reforming-sodom/">increased intensity</a> since the second half of the 20th century. In the case of Latter-day Saints, the reasons for opposing same-sex marriage are based in their <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng&old=true">theology of a “real family,”</a> as willed by God.</p>
<p>However, as a <a href="https://kzoo.academia.edu/TaylorPetrey">scholar</a> of gender and sexuality in Mormonism, I argue that the 2015 decision to bar children of same-sex parents from the church was tied to the conservative fight against same-sex marriage that was finding an increasing acceptance at the time in courts and elsewhere. </p>
<h2>Mormon theology</h2>
<p>Mormon theology is based on a divine heterosexual archetype that sets the pattern for all intimate human relationships. </p>
<p>Latter-day Saints hold an ideal that heaven is a domestic paradise where families will live together in eternal harmony. In Latter-day Saints’ view of God, there is a divine Father in Heaven, but also a <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/mother-in-heaven?lang=eng">Mother in Heaven</a>, who are believed to be the heterosexual parents of human spirits.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268853/original/file-20190411-44810-1h5aqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mormons protest over the 2015 rule change by church officials that bars children of same-sex couple from being baptized.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mormons-Gays/a71a9c7d22f54479ad325fa0477bde14/30/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the policy was adopted in 2015, the church deemed same-sex married Latter-day Saints as “apostate” and excommunicated them. This involved removing their names from the records of the church and nullifying any previous rituals. </p>
<h2>‘Protecting children’</h2>
<p>In order to explain why the children were also deserving of official sanction, the church said it was an effort to “<a href="https://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-christofferson-says-handbook-changes-regarding-same-sex-marriages-help-protect-children?lang=eng">protect”</a> them. </p>
<p>One senior church leader claimed that it was an act of “love” and “kindness” to prevent the children of same-sex families from participating and joining the church. One church leader, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, <a href="https://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-christofferson-says-handbook-changes-regarding-same-sex-marriages-help-protect-children?lang=eng">said</a>, “We don’t want the child to have to deal with issues that might arise where the parents feel one way and the expectations of the Church are very different.”</p>
<p>In the religious practice of Latter-day Saints, a child’s name on church records initiates visits to their home and an expectation of attending church-sponsored activities. Christofferson claimed, that it would not be “an appropriate thing” for a child living with a same-sex couple.</p>
<p>The church even issued an official statement about not wanting to subject children to teachings that their same-sex married parents were “apostates.” </p>
<h2>Mormons and politics</h2>
<p>What I argue is that the roots of rhetoric of the focus on family goes back to the emergence of the anti-gay politics of religious conservatives starting in the 1970s.</p>
<p>At the time, several preachers and anti-gay activists such as Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye and others increasingly <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15416.html">spoke out</a> against the gay rights movement as a threat to “family values” that would undermine society. Latter-day Saints joined this opposition.</p>
<p>These conservatives, advocating for “family values,” opposed same-sex marriage. These efforts often relied on claims that same-sex marriage would <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080817025036/http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage">harm children</a> belonging to same-sex families as well as those children who interacted with them.</p>
<p>In 1977, evangelical activist Anita Bryant launched a national campaign against the gay rights movement, specifically to keep gays and lesbians out of schools, and successfully rallied conservatives to this cause.</p>
<p>Bryant’s campaign was a simple slogan, “<a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781403980694">Save Our Children</a>,” which depicted gay men and lesbians as pedophiles recruiting young people into “perversion.” Her campaign also suggested that “our children” belonged only to heterosexual people. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268852/original/file-20190411-44814-1jdv3ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gay rights activists protest against the Mormon Church’s alleged heavy support of the anti-gay marriage initiative in 2008,</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Gay-Marriage-Protest/86b6cd5877414c89973345fad0057f36/102/0">AP Photo/Reed Saxon</a></span>
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<p>In the 1990s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints <a href="https://www.deseretnews.com/article/415259/3-LDS-OFFICIALS-SEEK-TO-JOIN-HAWAII-SUIT.html?pg=all">backed campaigns</a> and mobilized members and <a href="https://www.deseretnews.com/article/655422/LDS-Church-joins-gay-marriage-fight.html">money</a> to deny same-sex couples the right to create legally protected families. </p>
<p>The policy on children <a href="https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/handbook-changes-same-sex-marriages-elder-christofferson">was a response to</a> a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier that year that legalized same-sex marriage. </p>
<h2>What’s not changed</h2>
<p>When it was first announced, the policy was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/us/mormons-set-to-quit-church-over-policy-on-gay-couples-and-their-children.html">deeply unpopular</a> among the rank and file. The truth is that many members of the church increasingly <a href="https://religionnews.com/2017/06/27/mormons-are-changing-their-tune-on-same-sex-marriage/">support</a> same-sex marriage. </p>
<p>A Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 55% of Mormons <a href="https://religionnews.com/2017/06/27/mormons-are-changing-their-tune-on-same-sex-marriage/">opposed same-sex marriage</a> in 2016. But this number was rapidly declining. In 2015, the same survey had found 66% of Mormons opposing same sex marriages. In one year, it noted, there was an 11-point drop in opposition, with a corresponding 11-point increase in support. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268855/original/file-20190411-44773-a6c37g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People holding placards at an annual conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mormon-Conference/4478704c01754a82aa19a6faabba6fed/65/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span>
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<p>In light of this trend, it was no surprise to see the unpopular policy reversed. </p>
<p>The reversal of the 2015 policy, however, does not change the status of same-sex relationships in the church. These relationships are still forbidden and subject couples to potential excommunication. Only their children can once again participate fully in the church without sanction. </p>
<p>In my view, the church faces a real conceptual problem when it comes to imagining same-sex families as “real families” that may include children. How can it support the children of same-sex families when its teachings claim that they are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/04/mormon-leaders-same-sex-marriage">“counterfeit and alternative lifestyles”</a> and not part of the family organization willed by God?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115024/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Petrey has received funding from the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School.</span></em></p>In 2015, the Mormon Church barred children from same-sex marriage from the church. An expert explains why this policy was tied to a larger conservative battle against gay rights.Taylor Petrey, Associate Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/963042018-05-09T13:00:30Z2018-05-09T13:00:30ZWhy does the American right hate Iran so much?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218262/original/file-20180509-34006-1c8wxrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An American protester makes his feelings plain during the Iranian hostage crisis, 1979.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Man_holding_sign_during_Iranian_hostage_crisis_protest,_1979.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now Donald Trump has finally <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-backs-out-of-iran-nuclear-deal-now-what-96317">backed out of the Iranian nuclear deal</a>, the rest of the world is trying to understand the thinking that went into his decision. High up the list of factors is a longstanding American unease about Iran in general. But while <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/116236/iran.aspx">most Americans don’t like the Islamic Republic of Iran</a>, some dislike it much more virulently than others. Why?</p>
<p>The broad American antipathy towards the Iranian government can be traced back to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and in particular to the <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=iran+hostage+crisis&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS685US685&oq=iran+hostage+&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.1574j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">Iranian hostage crisis</a>, which saw 52 American citizens held hostage in Tehran for months on end. That event, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uIdTOWLr-gIC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=%22one+of+the+most+devastating+non-war+related+events+to+have+ever+occurred+between+two+nations%22&source=bl&ots=OEdZJfxEG1&sig=K_eFziQ5rV7N4EM6Hj8x_a4UC3Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi15LHVpfjaAhVlAsAKHYfeDnsQ6AEwAHoECAAQLQ#v=onepage&q=%22one%20of%20the%20most%20devastating%20non-war%20related%20events%20to%20have%20ever%20occurred%20between%20two%20nations%22&f=false">described by one scholar</a> as “one of the most devastating non-war related events to have ever occurred between two nations”, baffled and traumatised the American people in equal measure.</p>
<p>The sight of US diplomats held hostage while baying crowds chanted “death to America” were incomprehensible to most Americans. Few were aware of their country’s past involvement in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup">1953 coup</a> that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh, or of the oppression meted out by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2015/jun/17/iran-nostalgia-shah-pahlavis-dynasty-haunts">Shah</a> whom the US supported instead. Most simply assumed that the American presence in Iran was fundamentally benevolent. Accordingly, they looked to explain the sudden explosion of hatred by looking at those who expressed it, not by reflecting on the legacy of American foreign policy.</p>
<p>That recourse was made easier by the nature of those who damned the US. As far as the average American was concerned, the Muslim clerics who led the revolution were about as alien as could be. As such, they were easily reduced to a crude caricature of religious fanatics who hated America merely because they were in thrall to a crazed and bigoted ideology.</p>
<p>Although nearly 40 years have passed since the hostage crisis, the American image of Iran as a country of Muslim fanatics who hate the US for no good reason has proved remarkably resilient, and Iran still regularly features at the <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/228293/americans-canada-north-korea-least.aspx?g_source=link_NEWSV9&g_medium=tile_5&g_campaign=item_1624&g_content=Americans%2520Like%2520Canada%2520Most%2c%2520North%2520Korea%2520Least">very bottom of the list</a> of America’s favourite foreign countries most disliked by Americans. That said, not all Americans dislike the Islamic Republic equally.</p>
<p>It seems right-wing Americans are more disgusted at Iran than liberal ones. <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/189272/after-nuclear-deal-views-iran-remain-dismal.aspx">In one 2016 poll</a>, a mere 18% of Democrats held a favourable view of Iran but among Republicans the number fell to 4%. The explanation for this lies not in the nature of Iran (the same split appears if the “other” in question is Cuba or North Korea) but in the politics of the American right and how it views the world.</p>
<h2>Fear and loathing</h2>
<p>Many on the conservative wing of American politics tend to see the world in stark Manichean terms of good versus evil. To paraphrase George W. Bush, you are either with them or you are against them, and if you’re against them, no compromise is possible. </p>
<p>In a world divided into good guys and bad guys, any kind of accommodation with the bad guys amounts to an unacceptable surrender. The notion that the US might choose to tolerate the existence of a hostile regime because the alternative would be far worse is fundamentally alien to this mindset.</p>
<p>Another reason why conservatives are less willing to live with Iran than liberals is that they are simply more scared of it. Extensive psychological research has demonstrated that American conservatives consider the world <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/02/why-fake-news-targeted-trump-supporters/515433/?utm_source=atlfb">more dangerous</a> than liberals do. Various similarly fearful and suspicious ideological and cognitive biases <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/why-conservatives-are-so-obsessed-with-guns.html">appear to shape American conservatives’ views on policy</a> – their opposition to gun control, for example, may be powerfully shaped by the fact that they have a higher expectation of needing to defend themselves from crime than liberals do.</p>
<p>The same holds true for the American right’s hostility to Iran, and to the 2015 nuclear agreement. It’s clear that many on the right are simply more intensely fearful of the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran than those who do not share their worldview.</p>
<h2>Israel first</h2>
<p>There’s another factor besides that’s helped turn the American right against Iran since the revolution: the rise of politically engaged evangelical Christians. </p>
<p>Evangelicals have been a pillar of the Republican electoral coalition since the rise of Ronald Reagan, and as the 2016 election proved, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-is-an-avowed-sinner-so-why-did-american-evangelicals-vote-for-him-68528">they still are</a>. Their influence explains a lot about the way American conservatism has changed over the decades – not just its general rightward shift, but specifically its increasingly unconditional support for Israel. </p>
<p>Since they fundamentally believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews, most Christian evangelicals take an uncompromisingly “pro-Israeli” stance. That stance has in turn become the default position of the Republican party. The upshot is that the Israeli government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-israel-and-iran-about-to-clash-head-on-over-syria-95958">profound and growing hostility</a> towards Iran, which it sees as the primary threat to its security, has been mirrored on the American right in general.</p>
<p>Taken together, this heady mix of historical grievance and deeply held ideology explains why American conservatives’ hatred of the Islamic Republic is quite so vitriolic. And so long as the Republican party’s base subscribes to a fearful, black and white worldview, it will never revise its opinion of what it still considers the US’s most dangerous enemy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Hurst receives funding from the British Academy</span></em></p>Ever since the shocking spectacle of the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis, American conservatives have reserved a special disdain for the Islamic Republic.Steven Hurst, Reader in Politics, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/937352018-04-12T19:54:05Z2018-04-12T19:54:05ZWhy the Australian Christian right has weak political appeal<p><em>This article is the fourth in a five-part series on the battle for conservative hearts and minds in Australian politics. Read part one <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-liberal-party-hold-its-broad-church-of-liberals-and-conservatives-together-93575">here</a>, part two <a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-abbott-and-the-revenge-of-the-delcons-94531">here</a> and part three <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-australians-ready-to-embrace-libertarianism-93576">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>The Christian right has been a forceful presence in American political life since the 1970s. Conservative Christians in Australia have attempted to mobilise religion in similar ways, but have not been able to gain a permanent foothold in our mainstream political culture.</p>
<p>Religion is never just religion; it can mean at least three different things. First, propositions about the world: Does God exist? Is Jesus his son? Second, an expression of shared identity: “we are Christians/Muslims/Jews”. A third approach understands religion as a “technology of self-governance”. That is, we reflect on our conduct and thoughts and try to live according to a moral code. </p>
<p>In the lives of the politically religious, these concepts are entangled. Australian political religion began as an expression of identity, but today draws much of its appeal on notions of self-governance. Yet this appeal has limited political potential.</p>
<h2>Catholics and Protestants</h2>
<p>For the first half of the 20th century, religious identity was a major faultline in Australian politics: Protestants tended to support conservative parties; Catholics generally favoured Labor. </p>
<p>Popular Protestantism emerged as a technology of self-governance associated with crusades for moral reform. Among Catholics, disproportionately less educated, religion was still understood as a form of group identity rather than a way of living. Australia, like other countries of European settlement, saw an alliance between Catholics and the left, despite the illiberalism of the Catholic hierarchy. </p>
<p>It was only in the 1930s that a new generation of Catholics (exemplified by <a href="http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/santamaria/">B.A. Santamaria</a>) adopted the style and rhetoric of Protestant politics. Santamaria called on Catholics to live their faith and let it specifically shape public policy.</p>
<p>A new generation of educated Catholics was enthralled. They defied the Labor and Catholic establishment to form the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) after the 1955 <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-labor-party-split-74149">Labor Party split</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-labor-party-split-74149">Australian politics explainer: the Labor Party split</a>
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<p>This period represents the high point of Australian political religion. The DLP was a distinctively religious party, overwhelmingly supported by Catholics, while the suburban Protestantism of Sunday schools and Freemasonry shaped Liberal politics.</p>
<h2>Traditional divisions dissolve</h2>
<p>Yet, the edifice of old Australian political religion began to dissolve in the 1960s. Social upheavals undercut the power of religion as a set of unchallenged norms. For some, modern liberalism provided an effective substitute. For others, it offered only social disintegration and meaninglessness.</p>
<p>Established churches acquiesced in the rebellion against the old morality. Catholic certainties were shattered by the liberal reforms of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/opinion/vatican-ii-opened-the-church-to-the-world.html">Vatican II</a>. Protestant certainties of sin and damnation seemed absurd in the age of post-ideological prosperity, and Protestant church attendance fell rapidly.</p>
<p>For a time, the DLP defied the trend, but it’s very cohesion as an anti-Labor force undercut its own rationale. After the DLP’s electoral collapse in the mid-1970s, it was logical for sympathisers (such as <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dlp-lives-on-in-coalition-abbott/2007/01/29/1169919275247.html">Tony Abbott</a> and <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/bob-santamaria-a-most-unusual-man-by-gerard-henderson/news-story/36c1d43e26aa9c52bf21916376bdb050">Kevin Andrews</a>) to transition to the Liberal Party. For these Liberals, Catholicism was a faith of group identity, persecution fears and clerical heroes (such as, in more recent times, George Pell).</p>
<h2>Rise of the evangelical Christian right</h2>
<p>But at the very time that political religion seemed doomed, it began to revive. Religious conservatives fought back and activated previously passive church membership in defence of traditional morality. In the United States, the 1970s was the decade of faith. Australia provided only a faint echo, but for ambitious evangelicals, the American Christian right was a model. </p>
<p>Fred Nile’s Call to Australia (later renamed the <a href="https://www.cdp.org.au/">Christian Democratic Party</a>) polled 9% at the 1981 New South Wales state election. Political religion offered a new way for its voters to have lives of self-fulfilment and purpose, lifting them from the suburban routines of empty churches to participation in a wider world.</p>
<p>Two years later, the Hills Christian Life Centre (later <a href="https://hillsong.com/">Hillsong</a>) was established in explicit emulation of the American mega-church model. </p>
<p>Evangelical Christians pushed into politics even more explicitly in the 2000s. In 2001, the obscure Australian Christian Coalition rebadged itself as the <a href="https://www.acl.org.au/">Australian Christian Lobby</a> and rapidly developed a high profile, as it sought to bring a Christian influence to politics. In 2002, former Assemblies of God pastor Andrew Evans established the political party <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/15/1097784045621.html">Family First</a>, and was elected to the South Australian upper house.</p>
<p>At the 2004 federal election, this kind of politics burst onto the national stage with the election of a Family First senator from Victoria and the Hillsong-affiliated Liberal Louise Markus in the western Sydney seat of Greenway. Markus’s Muslim opponent, Labor’s Ed Husic, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/religion-was-used-as-a-weapon/2005/10/19/1129401314365.html">believed</a> religion was used against him during the campaign.</p>
<h2>Dwindling appeal</h2>
<p>In May 2004, the Howard government legislated to prevent same-sex couples from marrying, and by the end of the year, the devout Christian George W. Bush had been re-elected to the US presidency. Secular liberals feared the worst about the increasing political influence of the Christian right.</p>
<p>But this moral panic misjudged the appeal of religion. Political entrepreneurs like Evans successfully corralled religious voters, but for many of them the appeal of religion was as a technology of self-governance.</p>
<p>This fact underlay the failure of the religious right in the 2017 same-sex marriage debate. The driving force of opposition was a belief that religion made truth claims: a moral law that homosexuality was wrong. Yet even in the United States, younger evangelicals have become <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/young-white-evangelicals-are-increasingly-showing-support-for-marriage-equality_us_5953b488e4b0da2c7320163d">more sympathetic</a> to same-sex marriage. The project of marriage equality with its emphasis on authenticity within limits is compatible with evangelical religion. </p>
<p>Yet the response to this failure on the religious right has been to pursue new “truths”, such as the <a href="https://www.conservatives.org.au/our_principles">natural rights economic liberalism</a> of Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives, which <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cory-bernardis-australian-conservatives-to-swallow-up-family-first-20170425-gvsbx6.html">absorbed Family First</a> last year.</p>
<p>This position contradicted the economic centrism of many Family First voters and probably contributed to the Conservatives’ electoral failure at the recent <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/">SA state election</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian Christian right never managed to scale the heights of its American counterpart, but it has still fallen a long way. Its rare and fleeting political successes are but fond memories for its adherents, even as evangelical faith continues to shape the lives of many outside politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite attempts to import its ideas, evangelical Christianity has never held the same political appeal in Australia as it does in the United States.Geoffrey Robinson, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814912017-07-27T14:40:35Z2017-07-27T14:40:35ZWhy the South African state needs to lose its fight against marijuana policy reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179611/original/file-20170725-28293-1defi3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of South Africans are calling for the legalisation of marijuana. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is among many countries facing challenges to their drug control policies, particularly around marijuana, known locally as dagga. The <a href="http://www.sanctr.gov.za/YourRights/TheMedicinesControlCouncil/tabid/176/Default.aspx">Medicines Control Council</a> is developing <a href="http://www.mccza.com/documents/5933cac110.14_Media_Release_Cannabis_Nov16_v1.pdf">guidelines</a> for production for medicinal use and the country’s highest <a href="http://www.cda.gov.za/">drug policy guardian</a> has <a href="http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/10863%3C/u">recommended</a> broader decriminalisation. </p>
<p>The key battle ground, however, is in the courts. </p>
<p>A new trial the state is likely to expend considerable energy trying to prove that marijuana use is seriously harmful. If this is indeed the substance of its argument, it should lose. The point isn’t whether marijuana causes harm, but whether criminal prohibition is the best way to address those harms.</p>
<p>South African Police Service statistics suggest that most anti-drug activity is against those in possession of small quantities. These are people who are unlikely to play any strategic role in drug supply, and whose deterrence or removal from the market has little prospect of having any impact overall.</p>
<h2>The legal wrangle to date</h2>
<p>The first recent knock to prohibition came in 2016 with a ruling by the Constitutional Court. The court <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZACC/2016/21.html">held</a> that the constitutional right to privacy was unjustly violated by parts of the country’s <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/a140_1992.pdf">drugs and drug trafficking act</a> that allowed a law enforcement officer to stop and search any person, property or vehicle on the grounds of “reasonable suspicion” of violation of the Act. The ruling <a href="http://www.groundup.org.za/article/when-can-police-search-your-home/">meant</a> that police would no longer be able to enter and search private properties without a warrant. </p>
<p>A bigger challenge came from the Western Cape High Court. This case was brought <em>inter alia</em> by <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/rastafarian-lawyer-in-the-dock-over-dagga-1315010">Gareth Prince</a>. Prince lost a <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2002/1.html">case</a> in the Constitutional Court in 2002 that sought exemption from the laws on the basis of his Rastafari religion. </p>
<p>Prince’s more recent case sought not just an exemption based on religious freedom, but to challenge marijuana prohibition overall on various grounds – including that it was based on an irrational distinction from alcohol. Ras Prince brought the case with Jeremy Acton, leader of the <a href="https://www.daggaparty.org.za/index-2.html">Dagga Party</a>.</p>
<p>Judge Dennis Davis, for a full bench, <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2017/30.html">found</a> that the criminalisation of marijuana within the home unjustifiably limited the right to privacy. He concluded that the state had failed to show that criminal prohibition was the least restrictive way to deal with the problems caused by marijuana. The order was suspended for 24 months to allow parliament to amend the relevant laws.</p>
<p>The state quickly indicated its intention to appeal and to continue enforcement without any change. But it seems that several people charged with marijuana crimes have received stays of prosecution pending the outcome of the legal process.</p>
<p>A separate case is about to kick off in Pretoria. Myrtle Clarke and Julian Stobbs, known as the <a href="http://citizen.co.za/news/1581689/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-dagga-couple/">“The Dagga Couple”</a>, have turned their arrest for possession into a decriminalisation crusade. Their team has raised funds for local and international <a href="https://fieldsofgreenforall.org.za/expert-witnesses/">expert witnesses</a> to help them make their <a href="https://www.fieldsofgreenforall.org.za/images/legal/DC_LEGAL_SUMMARY.pdf">argument</a> that the criminal prohibition of marijuana is irrational, wasteful, and unjustifiably infringes numerous constitutional rights. </p>
<p>This is the first time that the issues will have the chance to be properly aired in court. </p>
<p>It’s long overdue.</p>
<h2>Pattern of arrests</h2>
<p>According to the South African Police Service’s annual <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/about/stratframework/annual_report/2015_2016/saps_annual_report_2015_2016.pdf">report</a>, there were 259,165 recorded counts of illegal drug possession or dealing in 2015/16. These charges resulted in 253,735 arrests, accounting for almost a sixth of all arrests. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179610/original/file-20170725-31338-1xvauvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Rastafarian lights up during a march for the legalisation of marijuana in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most drug arrests are made through stop-and-search or roadblock operations. National figures aren’t available but those from two of the nine provinces suggest that a vanishingly small proportion of drug charges (2%-4%) are for dealing as opposed to possession of drugs. Very few drug arrests are made at ports of entry, through special operations, or through the Serious Organised Crime Investigation Units. </p>
<p>Between 65% and 70% of drug charges are for possession of marijuana. The presumption is that possession of over 115 grams (about 4 ounces) constitutes dealing. This means that every year police seek out and charge about one in every 300 people for possession of an amount of marijuana that weighs no more than an apple. </p>
<h2>Criminal prohibition</h2>
<p>It isn’t clear whether criminal prohibition is an effective way to dissuade or help drug users. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26515984">Evidence</a> from other countries suggests that, generally, the greater the perception of risk, the lower the prevalence of use. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179614/original/file-20170725-12396-1ibb8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>But the strength of this effect is <a href="http://cssdp.org/uploads/2016/09/State_of_the_Evidence_Cannabis_Use_and_Regulation_Sept_7.pdf">debatable</a> to say the least, and it remains far from clear whether a liberalisation in marijuana policy results in a significant increase in its use or in associated harms. The effects of the recent wave of marijuana policy changes in various US states, for example, are still being closely <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/13/heres-how-legal-pot-changed-colorado-and-washington/?utm_term=.a17c9d60429f">observed</a> and debated. </p>
<p>For people who have highly problematic drug use patterns, there is even <a href="http://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/briefing-paper-incarceration-of-drug-offenders-costs-and-impacts">less</a> consensus that the threat or reality of imprisonment is an appropriate or effective tool for either dissuading or helping them. Other approaches may well do significantly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Caitlin_Hughes/publication/249284847_What_Can_We_Learn_From_The_Portuguese_Decriminalization_of_Illicit_Drugs/links/54d406e90cf24647580553bb.pdf">better</a>.</p>
<h2>Decriminalisation</h2>
<p>There are many <a href="http://decrim.idpc.net/">models</a> of decriminalisation. Policies that work in the Netherlands or Colorado might not work in a developing country like South Africa given differences in drug use, drug market and price structures, regulatory capacity and political climates.</p>
<p>The goal must be to find a broadly acceptable balance of a complex range of harms, benefits, and rights in the context of limited resources. </p>
<p>For example, South Africa needs to consider what impact decriminalisation would have on small-scale, informal farmers who <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0376835032000149252">depend</a> on the crop for their livelihood. Legalising marijuana could mean that they are forced out of the market by large agribusinesses, or falling prices. </p>
<p>On the other hand, prohibition arguably does more to harm the current producers and distributors than consumers. </p>
<p>The right balance won’t be found if marijuana is simply cast as a devastating alien threat to the nation’s children and communities. Instead it needs to be understood as a socially and economically ingrained pastime for which there is clearly considerable popular demand.</p>
<h2>Harm is not enough</h2>
<p>Justifying the criminal prohibition of marijuana is not a matter of proving that it causes harm. Evidence of major harm has not been enough to lead to the criminal prohibition of, for example, alcohol, nicotine, sugar, firearms and unprotected sex. </p>
<p>The case that needs to be made is whether criminal prohibition is effective, proportionate, and the minimally invasive way to address those harms. The state will struggle to prove this. An <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ann-fordham/drug-policy_b_9819900.html">increasing</a> number of countries have concluded that it is not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anine Kriegler receives funding from the National Research Foundation and the David and Elaine Potter Foundation. She contributed as amicus curiae to the Western Cape High Court case mentioned in the article.</span></em></p>If South Africa’s argument in court is that marijuana causes harm, it deserves to lose. The real question it should ask is whether criminal prohibition is the effective way forward.Anine Kriegler, Researcher and Doctoral Candidate in Criminology, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/779322017-06-07T01:32:16Z2017-06-07T01:32:16ZHow a growing number of Muslim women clerics are challenging traditional narratives<p>Recent terrorist attacks <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/05/london-bridge-attack-latest-gunshots-heard-police-launch-fresh/">such as the one in London</a> inevitably lead to coverage of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/04/theresa-may-says-enough-enough-fight-against-terror-confirms/">Islamist ideology</a>, Muslim culture and Muslim women’s rights. What is often missing, however, in my view is the fact that within Islam there are many diverse views – change is afoot and not least among women. </p>
<p>Indonesia <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/04/26/indonesias-first-female-muslim-clerics-congress-aims-to-strengthen-womens-roles.html">recently hosted</a> an unusual conference of <a href="https://kupi-cirebon.net/international-forum-women-ulama/">Muslim women religious scholars</a> that attracted hundreds of participants from across Indonesia as well as from countries such as Kenya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. This International Forum of Women Ulamas (Muslim religious scholars) concluded by <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39741891">issuing fatwas</a>, or nonbinding religious edicts, against child marriage, sexual abuse and environmental destruction. </p>
<p>It is believed to be the first-ever such gathering of Muslim women ulamas. Women have <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/focus/essay1107_women.html">long been sidelined</a> from the teaching and interpretation of Islam. But today, in many countries, women ulamas are emerging and acquiring more significant roles. </p>
<h2>Indonesia’s women ulamas</h2>
<p>In researching my book, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/mobilizing-piety-9780199948123?lang=en&cc=us">“Mobilizing Piety,”</a> which looked at Islam and feminism in Indonesia, I met many Muslim women who are scholars, teachers and leaders of their religion. They are not alone. There are a growing number of women ulamas around the globe. But Indonesia, with the world’s largest Muslim population, has an unusually long tradition of women ulamas. </p>
<p>Different from the Christian idea of priest or minister, the word ulama simply means a person who is learned in Islam. This can be a religious teacher or theologian, a judge in a religious court, a professor or a government religious official.</p>
<p>By this broad definition, women ulamas in Indonesia go back to the 17th century. Queen Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah <a href="https://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/publication/408">ruled over the Islamic kingdom of Aceh</a> (now Indonesia’s northernmost province) for 35 years and commissioned several important books of Islamic commentaries and theology. At a time when female rulers anywhere in the world were unusual, she was the primary upholder of religious authority in what was then a prosperous and peaceful kingdom. </p>
<p>A more recent example is that of <a href="https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/women-in-southeast-asian-nationalist-movements">Rasuna Said</a>, who started as a teacher in 1923 at one of the first Islamic girls’ schools in West Sumatra. By the 1930s, she had become an important figure in the independence movement against the Dutch. After Indonesia achieved independence in 1945, Rasuna represented women’s groups in the new government. Later she served as a member of an advisory council to then-President Sukarno. </p>
<p>Today in Indonesia, women ulamas are helping to change how Islam is understood and practiced. Over the last three decades <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/87crw4fz9780252030772.html">a new generation of women religious leaders</a> has emerged in Indonesia, though it is not known just how many there are. </p>
<p>As I found in my research, Indonesian women’s rights activists are <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/mobilizing-piety-9780199948123?cc=us&lang=en&">working together</a> with women ulamas as well as progressive male ulamas who popularize alternative interpretations of the Quran that are empowering for women. For example, while some Muslims believe that the Quran allows husbands to strike wives who are disobedient, many activists counter this interpretation and point to other equally important verses that stress mutual respect and kindness between spouses. </p>
<p>Such a strategy has also been used by Muslim women activists in Iran and Malaysia, and is a focus of a <a href="http://www.musawah.org/">global Muslim women’s network</a>, which works for Muslim women’s equality. In many Muslim countries, women’s rights activists lack religious credentials. Indonesian women ulamas are more accepted as they are trained in Muslim schools and Islamic universities. </p>
<h2>Increasing number of women ulamas</h2>
<p>Aside from Indonesia, there are many other countries where women have begun to play a role as ulamas. Women prayer leaders (imams), however, remain rare. Many Muslims in Indonesia and elsewhere believe that women <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1228605">can be prayer leaders</a> only to all-female congregations. Women-only mosques are still unusual, as in most Muslim societies, women pray at home or in a special section of the mosque. The only place with a long tradition of Muslim women who lead prayers is China. </p>
<p>Among China’s 21 million Muslims, women-led mosques and Quranic schools <a href="http://www.brill.com/women-leadership-and-mosques">go back to at least the 19th century</a>. The phenomenon has apparently spread in recent years as the government has <a href="http://www.npr.org/2010/07/21/128628514/female-imams-blaze-trail-amid-chinas-muslims">loosened</a> some restrictions on religion. </p>
<p>In other countries, governments have established programs to train women ulamas – and imams – as a strategy to counter the growth of extremism. </p>
<p>For example, in Egypt, the Religious Endowments Ministry <a href="http://www.thearabweekly.com/News-&-Analysis/7961/Egypt-appoints-female-imams-to-help-fight-extremism">plans to appoint 144 female imams</a> for the first time so as to teach women about Islam and stop them from being radicalized. And in 2006, Morocco <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2016.1158110">introduced the “murshidat”</a> – Muslim women religious leaders – who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/20/morocco-islamic-women-preachers_n_7310894.html">now number over 400</a>. In Turkey, as part of its effort to spread Islam more widely, the government has <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2016.1204168">increased the number</a> of official Muslim female preachers, who currently number over 700. </p>
<p>In Europe and North America, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/women-lead-friday-prayers-denmark-first-female-run-mosque-mariam">women</a> have recently begun to lead prayers at several mosques. Most of these mosques are for women, but more controversially, Muslim feminist and scholar <a href="https://www.ciis.edu/academics/graduate-programs/womens-spirituality/amina-wadud">Amina Wadud</a> has led prayer services <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/inside-the-gender-jihad-pb.html">for mixed congregations</a>. in New York City and London. </p>
<h2>Struggles over women’s religious authority</h2>
<p>These are major changes, and not all Muslims agree with them. </p>
<p>As scholar <a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/robinson-km">Kathryn Robinson</a> points out, some conservatives argue that <a href="http://www.newmandala.org/female-ulama-voice-vision-indonesias-future/">only men should be religious leaders</a>. Indeed, some of the attendees at the Indonesian conference were reluctant to consider themselves ulama because they see it as a <a href="http://magdalene.co/news-1206-inaugural-indonesian-women-ulema-congress-targets-gender-injustice-.html">masculine role</a>. Also the issuing of fatwas by the conference of women clerics is <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/gathering-female-muslim-clerics-issue-fatwa-against-child-marriage-rape-591442">unusual</a>. </p>
<p>The conference comes at an important time, when the voices of religious conservatives and extremists, whose adherents also include women, <a href="https://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/publication/1806">seem to be dominant</a> in many Muslim societies. For example, since Indonesia democratized after 1998, conservative interpretations of Islamic law <a href="http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session13/ID/Komnas_Perempuan_UPR_IDN_S13_2012_KomnasPerempuan_Annex12_E.pdf">have placed restrictions</a> <a href="http://michaelbuehler.asia/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/South-East-Asia-Research-2016-Buehler-261-82.pdf">on women’s mobility and autonomy</a> in some regions of the country. The recent conference’s fatwa against child marriage is especially significant because the percentage of women married before age 18 <a href="http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/indonesia/">remains stubbornly high in Indonesia</a>, with some religious leaders supporting early marriage. The same is true in other Muslim majority countries such as Egypt, where an estimated <a href="http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/egypt/">17 percent of girls are married</a> before their 18th birthdays. </p>
<p>Against such trends, the meeting of women ulamas shows a multifaceted Islam in which Muslim women clerics are <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-muslim-women-engage-with-feminism-78424">asserting their rights</a>
and promoting social justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Rinaldo has studied two of the organizations mentioned in this article -- Rahima and Fatayat -- and written about them in her book.
The research for my book (linked to in the article) was funded by a Fulbright-Hays fellowship and a Dissertation Improvement grant from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>There isn’t just one single narrative in Islam. Indonesia and China have a long tradition of women religious leaders – a trend that is catching up in other Muslim majority countries as well.Rachel Rinaldo, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/737192017-03-30T14:18:12Z2017-03-30T14:18:12ZAmerica’s evangelical Christian right isn’t the political force it once was<p>Anyone who has been <a href="http://time.com/4565010/donald-trump-evangelicals-win/">reading</a> about how evangelical Christians were “crucial” to Donald Trump’s victory in November 2016 would probably be forgiven for assuming that the US’s religious right still wields enormous clout, whether as a political bloc or as a bulwark against secularisation. </p>
<p>They would be mistaken. It seems that, after nearly 40 years of religious conservatives leading the right, the parishioners they depended upon so heavily have accidentally raised a generation of sceptics and progressives. And there are plenty of other signs all pointing in one direction: the religious right is in decline.</p>
<p>For starters, we know that Americans as a whole routinely over-report their religious activities. While Gallup polls <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx">regularly report</a> that around 40% of Americans claim to attend church every week, more robust studies show the actual proportion to be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3590599?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">closer to 22%</a>. If over-reporting church attendance comes so naturally to so many Americans, it’s not much of a leap to presume that a substantial portion of poll respondents are overstating their piety.</p>
<p>Studies also show that some Americans are starting to become braver about describing themselves as unaffiliated to any church or faith. In 2008, the <a href="http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf">American Religious Identification Survey</a> found that the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation (often called “nones”) had almost doubled since 1990, from 8.2% to 15%. It was no temporary dip, either. The <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/">Pew Religious Landscape Study</a>, which tracked changes between 2007 and 2014, found that the number had increased to almost 23%. The losses weren’t evenly distributed: declines were steepest among Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations, while evangelicals showed only slight losses. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the word “evangelical” has now grown to encompass wings of several mainline Protestant denominations and even, to a smaller extent, some Catholics. As the term has become harder to define, tracking where those losses come from may prove to be increasingly difficult. The fact still remains, however, that the “nones” (the vast majority of which are first-generation) have been on the rise and <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/26619711/American-Nones-The-Profile-of-the-No-Religion-Population">tend to be progressive</a>. While the relative youth of the group on average meant <a href="http://religionnews.com/2016/09/22/nones-religiously-unaffiliated-study-nones-prri-voting-polls/">low voter turnout in 2016</a>, they represent a demographic that could soon match the religious right vote-for-vote as participation rates increase with age.</p>
<h2>Past prime</h2>
<p>The oft-cited statistic that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/09/exit-polls-show-white-evangelicals-voted-overwhelmingly-for-donald-trump/">80% of white evangelicals voted for Trump</a> certainly appears to indicate the continued vitality of the religious right – but look closer and the data tell a different story. </p>
<p>Firstly, that statistic relies upon exit polls, which carry the same self-reporting problems as the polls mentioned above. Secondly, let’s not forget that around 42% of the American electorate <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/no-voter-turnout-wasnt-way-down-from-2012/">didn’t vote</a> in the election. If roughly the same proportion of self-identifying evangelicals joined those staying home, and only 80% of those that voted did so for Trump, then that would mean fewer than half of evangelicals voted for him. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163169/original/image-20170329-8553-1580nps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Squeezed out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asheville-north-carolina-usa-july-26-169418261?src=I5VAHjJa8zX_FW-kusi37g-1-11">J.Bicking/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>If that seems outlandish, note that the word “evangelical” doesn’t describe a homogeneous conservative bloc. The liberal wing of evangelicalism (yes, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/25/they-have-faith-their-church-will-change.html">it exists</a>), whose voice was drowned out by the hard-right <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/122716/can-evangelical-left-rise-again">Moral Majority</a> in the 1980s, has recently began to reassert itself in front-line politics. </p>
<p>Progressive evangelicals even published an <a href="https://www.change.org/p/donald-trump-a-declaration-by-american-evangelicals-concerning-donald-trump">open letter</a> condemning Donald Trump’s “racial, religious and gender bigotry”, during the election, seeking to distinguish themselves from “the media’s continued identification of ‘evangelical’ with mostly white, conservative, older men”. </p>
<p>Give these progressives a little time, and the phrase “evangelicals in politics” may one day evoke <a href="https://theconversation.com/pussyhat-power-the-feminist-protesters-crafting-resistance-to-trump-and-his-supporters-72221">pink knitted hats</a> and income inequality protests.</p>
<h2>The new resistance</h2>
<p>Leaving the data aside, the starkest evidence that organised conservative religious politics is losing its vigour has been the response to several religiously motivated policies. </p>
<p>One of the more infamous is Indiana’s <a href="http://time.com/3764347/indiana-religious-freedom-discrimination-act/">Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a>, which was passed in March 2015. Presided over by Trump’s vice-president, Mike Pence (then governor) and touted by religious conservatives, the act drew fierce opposition from critics across the US, who pointed out that it would allow private businesses to discriminate against LGBT citizens. It proved so unpopular that the state of Indiana <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2016/01/31/indianas-religious-freedom-act-cost-indianapolis-60-million-in-lost-revenue/#4416db682e2a">lost US$60m</a> in revenue from businesses that withdrew or cancelled expansions in the state. </p>
<p>But the ultimate example of recent years is surely North Carolina’s notorious “bathroom bill”, introduced and passed by <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2016/06/exclusive-inside-hb-2-authors-legislative-emails.html">religiously motivated conservative legislators</a>. That policy, which paints transgender individuals as bathroom predators, has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/corinnejurney/2016/11/03/north-carolinas-bathroom-bill-flushes-away-nearly-1-billion-in-business-and-governor-mccrorys-re-election-hopes/#33980b9d682a">cost North Carolina $630m</a>, not least from businesses boycotting the state while the bill remains in place. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163172/original/image-20170329-8557-17eejth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">North Carolina’s legislators are getting more than they bargained for.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asheville-north-carolina-usa-april-2-405337726?src=qaMPo7kmXr33D71Eg2xfGw-1-32">J.Bicking/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These backlashes are not just Change.org petitions circulating in progressive Facebook groups. They are real, tangible consequences, spoken in a language Republicans can understand.</p>
<p>Various Trump administration policies have already met with the sort of opposition that a strong religious right could have helped fend off. Top of the list is the recent “Muslim ban”, which <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/27/politics/trump-christian-refugees/">originally favoured Christian immigrants</a> – the poorly implemented order almost brought some airports to a grinding halt as they <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/28/1000-flood-sfo-protest-immigration-ban/97200022/">filled to the brim with protesters</a>. </p>
<p>And while the Christian foot-soldiers Trump might have been counting on have failed to materialise, progressive people of faith are reportedly <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/sanctuary-churches-v-trump-deportation-mandate?bffbmain&ref=bffbmain&utm_term=.nwgzPAzx6k#.qf3oBJo4kL">building a national network</a> to hide undocumented immigrants from the administration’s harsh crackdowns. </p>
<p>These are not the actions of a pious public respectfully nodding from the back pew. Enough Americans have reached a consensus on what fair play looks like, and this new resistance is willing to take to the streets to fight for it. </p>
<p>Of course, the ideologies of the religious right will always appeal to at least some of the American electorate. But, at the end of the day, this is a game of coalition politics – and this particular team simply doesn’t have enough friends to keep playing for much longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Huskinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The religious right’s leaders are old men, and the generation coming up behind them is something quite different.Benjamin Huskinson, PhD Candidate, History, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/714972017-01-26T16:28:33Z2017-01-26T16:28:33ZHow the US’s Christian conservatives got back in the political game<p>The demise of the Christian right has been prophesied on numerous occasions, but it’s never come to pass. Far from it: with the Trump administration taking shape, the movement is prepared to take power and exert influence at the top of government as never before.</p>
<p>This was not preordained. In one of the biggest gambles they’ve taken in years, the Christian right’s ageing leaders turned away from presidential candidates more aligned with their politics to strike a Faustian pact with the all-too-worldly Donald Trump. The bet threatened to split the movement, but in the end, it paid off, and Trump now owes Christian conservatives big for turning out and backing his campaign. And if his cabinet appointees are anything to go by, his administration is preparing to pursue an agenda the Christian right has been pushing for years. </p>
<p>Mainly but not exclusively comprised of <a href="http://www.e-ir.info/2010/04/14/the-christian-right-and-us-foreign-policy-today/">white conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants</a>, the movement’s stated aims are to defend and advance values threatened by a rapidly transforming society, among them the “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RP_GCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16&lpg=PT16&dq=%22traditional+family%22+evangelical&source=bl&ots=NN2bQcBjM9&sig=NV8GoofQg77Nv0n1K8CM3Oy-nWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVjsHa2N3RAhVmLMAKHY23BesQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q&f=false">traditional family</a>”, prayer in schools, small government, and fiscal conservatism. It stands opposed to pornography, promiscuity, abortion, LGBT rights, and the long-mooted equal rights amendment, designed to guarantee equal rights for women.</p>
<p>Rather than pursue its ends as an outside pressure group, the movement organised itself into a political force, getting behind the Republican Party in particular. Its leaders and footsoldiers helped secure Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential victory, and its agenda has played a key role in American politics ever since. Around 26% of the US electorate <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2016/01/27/faith-and-the-2016-campaign/">self-identify as white evangelicals</a>, and their votes are now a crucial part of the Republicans’ electoral coalition. </p>
<p>In recent election cycles, though, the connection between the movement and the party has frayed. While the presidency of conservative evangelical George W. Bush was a high point for the Christian right, no bona fide conservative Christian Republican candidate has attracted overwhelming support from the movement, which has no single recognised leadership or formal structure. </p>
<p>Instead, white evangelical Republicans have ultimately backed the candidate they felt had the greatest potential of defeating a Democrat. In 2008, <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm">Mike Huckabee</a> was rejected for John McCain; in 2012, Catholic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-is-santorum-losing-the-catholic-vote/2012/03/09/gIQAyDud1R_story.html?utm_term=.33eb7f434ed7">Rick Santorum</a> and Conservative evangelicals <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxzONeK1OwQ">Rick Perry</a> and <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/27/michele-bachmann-as-evangelical-feminist/">Michele Bachmann</a> were rejected for Mitt Romney, a Mormon. Both nominees were defeated by Barack Obama.</p>
<p>The same dilema was presented in 2016. Conservative Christian voters had to get behind a candidate who could defeat their longtime bête noire, Hillary Clinton, while remaining at least sympathetic to their views. As in previous races there were strong conservative evangelical candidates on offer, in particular Ted Cruz, who had a <a href="https://www.frcaction.org/scorecard">100% voting record on values issues</a> in the Senate and who won the straw polls taken at the <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/ted-cruz-wins-values-voter-summit-straw-poll">Values Voter Summit</a> three years in a row. </p>
<p>But for all his impeccable evangelical credentials, Cruz was and still is <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/why-dc-hates-ted-cruz/426915/">enormously disliked</a> even by most Republicans for his perceived cynicism and grandstanding; John Boehner, former speaker of the House of Representatives, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/28/politics/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-stanford/index.html">described</a> him as “Lucifer made flesh”.</p>
<p>This left an opening for Trump, at least at the top of the movement. Despite his flamboyant lifestyle, dubious business background and predatory misogyny, he was nonetheless backed by key figures within the Christian right who identified his potential surprisingly early on.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.liberty.edu/media/1617/2016/january/PresidentFalwell-DonaldTrump-Introduction-00.pdf">Jerry Falwell Jr</a>, a key movement figure, summed up their rationale:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For decades, conservatives and evangelicals have chosen the political candidates who have told us what we wanted to hear on social, religious, and political issues only to be betrayed by those same candidates after they were elected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Realising this would be a two-way street, Trump courted the movement from the outset. </p>
<h2>A relationship with Him</h2>
<p>He positioned himself as a Christian, albeit one who had never found the need to ask God’s forgiveness. In his 2015 book <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Crippled-America/Donald-J-Trump/9781501137969">Crippled America</a>, he wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think people, are shocked when they find out that I am a Christian, that I am a religious person. They see me with all the surroundings of wealth so that they sometimes don’t associate that with being religious. That’s not accurate. I go to church. I love God, and I love having a relationship with Him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Trump made all the right promises: to restore, cherish and protect the nation’s Christian heritage, to appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court, and to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/how-trump-is-trying-to-put-more-money-in-politics/493823/">repeal the Johnson Amendment</a> which prohibits tax-exempt organisations from endorsing political candidates. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/full-text-trump-values-voter-summit-remarks-227977">He told Values Voters</a> at their 2016 summit that: “There are no more decent, devoted, or selfless people than our Christian brothers and sisters here in the United States.”</p>
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<p>Trump also brought Christian right leaders formally into his campaign, setting up an <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/trump-campaign-announces-evangelical-executive-advisory-board">evangelical</a> and <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/trump-campaign-announces-catholic-advisory-group">Catholic</a> advisory bodies and filling them with movement stalwarts. Above all, he chose as his running mate Indiana Governor <a href="http://religionandpolitics.org/2016/10/10/the-christian-worldview-of-mike-pence/">Mike Pence</a>, a leading campaigner for value issues who describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order”.</p>
<p>Not everyone was pleased. A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/10/09/donald-trump-has-created-an-excruciating-moment-for-evangelicals/?utm_term=.7939dbc98532">number of prominent evangelicals</a> worried that dallying with Trump would fatally damage the movement’s credibility, given his chequered past and his attitudes towards Mexicans, Muslims and women. This opposition grew with the release of the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/the-trump-tapes/503417/">Trump Tapes</a> revealing his predatory attitude and actions towards women. But none of this seriously diminished the resolve of Trump’s evangelical backers, who were content to <a href="http://time.com/4560074/religious-right-donald-trump-election/">stay the course</a> in pursuit of worldly power. </p>
<p>In the end, white evangelicals came out to vote in greater numbers than ever before, and <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">81% of them backed Trump</a> on November 9.</p>
<p>Trump clearly intends to return the favour, and is already appointing <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/6-interesting-facts-about-ben-carsons-christian-faith-138786/">leading</a> <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-education-trump-religion-232150">religious</a> <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/23/trump-s-epa-pick-blends-conservative-christianity-with-anti-environmental-activism.html">conservatives</a> to key cabinet posts. As far as the organised Christian right is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than this. Their movement is back, bigger and bolder than ever. In <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/full-text-trump-values-voter-summit-remarks-227977">Trump’s own words</a>: “And you believe it. And you know it. You know it.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Marsden receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>Christian conservative leaders gambled on Donald Trump, and it paid off in spades.Lee Marsden, Professor of International Relations, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.