Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper contributes to the existing literature on the political role and influence of Evangelical Protestants in the United States by comparing them alongside Canadian Evangelicals using both quantitative and qualitative data. Our findings contrast with those of previous studies in several ways: First, we find, using survey data, that American Evangelical Protestants are not necessarily as fiscally conservative or anti-government as previously thought; Second, our interview data show that, in some ways, Canadian Evangelicals are actually more devout, more committed to their religious identity than their American counterparts, contrary, again, to common belief. In sum, we find surprising similarities in the political/moral values of Canadian and American Evangelicals but also surprising dissimilarities in their professed political affiliations and goals. Theoretically, these results are reminiscent of Gorski’s (2000) observations about the changing relationship between the religious sphere and other social spheres in post-Reformation Europe: Amidst an increasingly secular Canadian society, Canadian Evangelicals have become both more religiously devout and more politically mainstream. In the US, by contrast, Evangelicalism is rather mainstream, while, at the same time, Evangelicals have used matters of faith as rallying cries for political upheaval and electoral mobilization. These trends are a result, we believe, of the small numbers and marginal social profile of Evangelicals in Canada, in contrast to their widespread presence and influence in the United States. The different construction of political parties and federal-local jurisdiction in these two polities has also influenced the role of Evangelical religious networks in the political sphere.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper presents mounting evidence that evangelical Protestant organizations are becoming more active in providing needed human services than are mainline Protestant organizations, and explores the public policy implications of this trend.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Abstract: In an age of changing demographics in America, sociologists should consider studying the interplay of religion and culture in the lives of the religious young adults in America. Ecklund (2006) posits that Korean-American evangelicals in fact could serve as a model for civic involvement in their generation, carrying with them a strong background in church attendance as well as strong work ethic principles from their parents, among other qualities as young religious adults. In this study, I propose after the review of the literature a causal model tracing the combined effects of religious values and cultural normatives in religious young adults, and the resulting form of evangelicalism they hold, which in turn leads them toward certain types of civic activity. I propose studying particular Korean-American evangelicals and non-evangelicals (non-religious) young adults in America, with a sample of roughly 15-20 young adults, predicting that first-generation cultural influences are strong in effects on second-generation religious young adults and non-religious young adults, such that the Protestant work ethic predominates their thinking, even overshadowing altruistic motives within their consciousness when making major decisions, such as choosing whether to serve in social work settings through their churches or area civic groups.

Publication Type: Internal Paper
Abstract: The notoriety of the religious right has obscured the evangelical left. From politically progressive Reformed scholars of the early 1960s to former SDSers and radical Anabaptists in the early 1970s, the young evangelicals, as they were called, belied the politically conservative reputation of postwar evangelicalism. Participating in civil rights work, antiwar protests, and communal living arrangements, the young evangelicals sparked a short-lived united progressive evangelical front. Despite its failure as a political movement, the young evangelical story offers insight into the world of twentieth-century evangelicalism and American politics. First, the young evangelical story suggests that boundaries separating the evangelical subculture from “the world” are more permeable than many have assumed. Many young evangelicals, shaped by powerful cultural and political forces, traveled a parallel journey with their secular counterparts through the civil rights movement, antiwar protests, New Left politics, identity politics, and the nation’s turn to the right in the 1980s. Second, young evangelical activity suggests that boundaries established by scholars of the New Left might require expansion. The young evangelicals, though not all white, male, and elite university students, also questioned what they called an “unholy alliance” of capitalism, democracy, technology, and government bureaucracy. Third, the young evangelicals contributed to the politicization of evangelicalism in the postwar era. The Manichean rhetoric, activistic methods, and attention to political structures practiced by young evangelicals, learned in part from the New Left, catalyzed evangelical politics as it emerged in the 1970s and 1980s.

If the overarching narrative of young evangelicalism and of evangelicalism more broadly from 1965 to 1985 is growing politicization, the story of the young evangelicals also points to the limits of evangelical success in politics. The caricature of evangelicalism as a monolithic bloc gripped by just a few moral and political issues was, and is, inaccurate. This cultural and political ambivalence was evident even in 1980, after the hopes of a united evangelical progressive front had been dashed in the midst of the Reagan Revolution. Polls showed that 30-40% of evangelicals voted Democratic—a significant minority, even considering both black and southern white Democrats. Since 1980 evangelicalism has only rarely enjoyed political spoils. Political lobbying by the religious right resulted in only limited achievements in policy change, and even the most robust religious right organizations fell apart within several years. Evangelicalism’s constituency of thousands of large and small congregations, colleges, denominations, and social service agencies—not to mention grass-roots movements such as the young evangelicals—shows how inherently fragmented the movement is. Given its disordered ecclesiology, its many non-political churchly priorities, and its racial, theological, and political diversities, evangelicalism’s political prospects have been, and are likely to remain, exaggerated. From a historical perspective, then, there is opportunity for evangelical defection to the Democratic Party, especially as it learns to speak in a more religious idiom, but likely only movement in limited numbers.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Several Republican presidential hopefuls for 2008 are well outside Evangelicals’ ideal choice including pro-choice, pro-gay Rudolph Giuliani and Mormon Mitt Romney. Interestingly, these candidates appear viable in a party in which almost 40% are Evangelicals. Whether this signifies a new era of partisanship among Evangelicals is an open question. The roots of this possible transformation may be found in the second generation thesis. Over a decade ago scholars noted a significant shift in strategy among new religious right organizations in the late 1980s. Motivated by the lack of progress of their predecessors, these organizations advocated issues beyond social ones, adopted more pragmatic approaches to policy change and built closer ties within the Republican party. Most studies into this phenomenon have been at the elite level. To date, no study has shown if these organizations effectively changed the nature of Evangelicals’ partisanship.

Consistent with the second generation thesis, this study will analyze three aspects of partisanship: attachment, issue domains, and candidate positions. Using 1992-2006 National Election Studies (NES), I assess Evangelicals’ connection toward each party to see if feelings have intensified. To test the role of issues, I regress several issue domains on presidential vote to determine if non-social issues rose in importance. Finally, this study examines Evangelicals’ selection of Congressional incumbents using the National Right to Life percentile ratings from 1998-2006 and the NES to detect whether Evangelicals chose more moderate candidates on the basis of secondary issues in abortion, which would suggest a more practical view of politics.