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Religion and Politics in the United States, Sixth Edition, offers a comprehensive account of the role of religious ideas, institutions and communities in American life. This book examines the ways religion can both compel and constrain involvement in politics and policy. What facilitates political participation? What impedes it? What are the limits of religious mobilization and involvement? Are there benefits? Are there dangers? Religion and Politics in the United States addresses these questions by exploring how religion has influenced the structure of American government and law as well as how religious perspectives inform contemporary political issues including topics such as equal rights for women and gays. The book also explores the ways that religion has affected the orientation of partisan politics in the United States. Through a detailed review of the political attitudes and behaviors of major religious and minority faith traditions, the book establishes that religion continues to be a major part of the American cultural and political milieu while explaining that it must interact with many other factors to impact political outcomes in the United States. The sixth edition reviews the role of religion in the 2008 election, and includes fully up-to-date coverage of how religion informs the civil rights struggles of women and gay Americans.
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Religion and Politics in the United States 10_306_1FM.indd i 7/20/10 5:43 AM 10_306_1FM.indd ii 7/20/10 5:43 AM Religion and Politics in the United States Sixth Edition Kenneth D. Wald and Allison Calhoun-Brown ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 10_306_1FM.indd iii 7/20/10 5:43 AM Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wald, Kenneth D. Religion and politics in the United States / Kenneth D. Wald and Allison Calhoun-Brown. — 6th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-0151-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0152-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0153-8 (electronic) 1. Religion and politics—United States—History—21st century. 2. United States—Religion—1960– 3. United States—Politics and government—2001–2009. I. Calhoun-Brown, Allison, 1966– II. Title. BL2525.W35 2011 322'.10973—dc22 2010008839 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America. 10_306_1FM.indd iv 7/20/10 5:43 AM Contents List of Figures and Tables ix Preface xi 1 A Secular Society? The Puzzle of Religious Vitality The Persistence of Religion Stability or Change? Possible Explanations Why the United States? 1 4 8 13 16 18 2 Religion in the American Context Understanding Religion Patterns of Religious Affiliation Basic Political Tendencies 23 24 26 31 3 Religion and American Political Culture The Puritan Imprint on Colonial Thought