Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This project examined potential relationships between religious orientation and forms of political participation. The hypotheses were rooted in the cultural defense theory, a social-psychological perspective which argues that identification with a particular religious perspective can lead to behaviors that defend its culture when there is a perception that it is under attack (McVeigh and Sikkink 2001). Evangelical Protestants were hypothesized to engage in more public forms of politics to accomplish these goals than Mainline Protestants. Those who scored higher on an index of religiosity were expected to participate in public forms of politics more so than those who scored lower because of mediating effects of religiosity.
Using data collected for the 2002 National Election Study, maximum likelihood estimation and a structural equation model created in Amos 5.0, findings suggest that the hypotheses were not supported. No significant direct relationship was found between religious orientation and form of political activity. The cultural defense theory was not supported by this study. While these findings also suggest that Evangelicals are more religious than Mainline Protestants, those who were more religious participated in private forms of politics more so than public forms. Further studies might examine why this appears to be so.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: This essay reports initial findings of an ethnographic study of the National Christian Forensics & Communications Association (NCFCA), the largest debate league for home-schooled students. Through interviews as well as analysis of particular debate rounds we inquire into the role that religious conviction plays in the formation of moral and political reasoning and advocacy skills.

Traditionally academic debate has been justified inasmuch as it cultivates critical thinking and advocacy skills and promotes such dispositions as intellectual curiosity, tolerance, and open-mindedness. These dispositions flow from the long-standing practice of having students debate both sides of the topic.

While the expectation of debating both sides is taken for granted by most high-school debaters, this is not the case with the NCFCA. The association’s stated mission is that debate is “a means for home schooled students to learn and exercise analytical and oratorical skills, addressing life issues from a Biblical world view in a manner that glorifies God.” Students are required to, through both formal sanctions and informal manipulations of the format, to use only those arguments which manifestly promote a biblical world view in relation to the topic.

Of course it is easy to see contradictions between the mission of the NCFCA and the values and dispositions traditionally justifying academic debate. But highlighting those contractions is not the purpose of this study. Our interest, on the one hand, lies in how a “technology” such as academic debate is modified to serve the purposes of the NCFCA. We believe that the answer to this question will give insight to how the norms of public debate in general are viewed by those in Christian communities and how they might be altered within the argumentation of the Christian counter-public. On the other hand, we are interested in discovering what effects the “technology” of debate has on the formation of conviction among Christian home-schooled students. Will the tendency of debate to foster moral distanciation and reflexivity be evident in these students? How do they manage the tension between debate and their convictions and what effect does it have on the student and their community membership?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Many attribute Bush’s strong campaign performance to increased turnout among Evangelicals. However, systematic attempts to assess longitudinal change in participation rates among religious groups have not been forthcoming. Hence a major part of the conventional wisdom about why the Bush campaign was so successful remains largely unexplored. Instead the scholarly postmortem of the 2004 presidential election has focused primarily on whether the election turned on moral issues, such as gay marriage (Campbell and Monson 2007; Lewis 2005). And these studies are part of a larger literature that addresses changes among religious groups in vote choice, party identification, and issue divisions (Brooks and Manza 1997, 2004; Hunter 1991; Layman 1997, 2001). We add to this literature by comparing the long-term trends in participation among Evangelicals to those of other major religious denominations. We find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the increase in Evangelical turnout appears to have been driven by social and demographic changes among Evangelicals rather than by a political strategy. In fact, controlling for social and demographic changes, we find more impressive turnout gains among black Protestants and the non-religious.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years, growing numbers of Mainland Chinese elders are participating in Christian congregations during short visits or extended stays in the U.S. This paper explores social and cultural factors that explain these immigrant elders’ involvement with Christianity while in the U.S. Based on face-to-face interviews with 20 Mainland Chinese elders living in Atlanta as well as participant observation at a Chinese Christian church and with a Bible study group, this study finds that loneliness and social isolation in a foreign land are the main reasons for Mainland Chinese elders’ participation in Christian activities. Besides religious services, social service functions of churches and opportunities for fellowship are other factors explaining church involvement. In conclusion, we argue, in light of modernization theory, that Chinese immigrant elders’ changing social status in the society as well as at home may jointly contributes to their religious participation in America.