When Church Teachings and Policy Commitments Collide: Perspectives on Catholics in the U.S. House of Representatives

This article investigates the influence of religious values on domestic social policy-making, with a particular focus on Catholics. We analyze roll call votes in the 109th Congress and find that Catholic identification is associated with support for Catholic Social Teaching, but both younger Catholics and Republican Catholics are found less supportive. In followup interviews with a small sample of Catholic Republicans, we find that they justify voting contrary to Church teaching by seeing its application to domestic social issues as less authoritative than Church moral teachings on issues like abortion

Replication Data for: Discourse and Dissonance: Religious Agendas in the 104th Congress

One minute speech data, U.S. House of Representative

University Scholars Day

Presentation for the 2009 University Scholars Day at the University of North Texas discussing research on how religious identity influences Senatorial decision making on foreign policy issues

Political rhetoric and institutional structures: religious advocacy in the US Congress

No abstract available

When Church Teachings and Policy Commitments Collide: Perspectives on Catholics in the U.S. House of Representatives

This article investigates the influence of religious values on domestic social policy-making, with a particular focus on Catholics. We analyze roll call votes in the 109th Congress and find that Catholic identification is associated with support for Catholic Social Teaching, but both younger Catholics and Republican Catholics are found less supportive. In followup interviews with a small sample of Catholic Republicans, we find that they justify voting contrary to Church teaching by seeing its application to domestic social issues as less authoritative than Church moral teachings on issues like abortion

Discourse and dissonance: religious agendas in the 104th Congress

This article investigates the religious dimension of Republican legislators' participation in one-minute speeches during the 104th Congress (1995-1996)

Political rhetoric and institutional structures: religious advocacy in the US Congress

No abstract available

Who and What Affects the First Estate? An Analysis of Clergy Attitudes on Cultural and Economic Issues

Since the 1980s, scholars have come to appreciate the role clergy have in shaping the political attitudes and behaviour of the faithful. Through their leadership in self-selecting religious contexts, they are well positioned to translate religious values into political values. Given their potential as opinion leaders, this study investigates the dynamics of clergy opinions. Focusing on clergy in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, it assesses the influence of psychological factors on economic and cultural attitudes, while controlling for the influence of contextual and personal characteristics. This is done using a question-order experiment embedded in an original survey. There are three key findings: (1) clergy attitudes are sensitive to cognitive primes that elevate the salience of interpersonal and institutional concerns; (2) clergy are sensitive to the perceived preferences of their institutional superiors; and (3) social-psychological factors affect how clergy report their political opinions. This means that the social-psychological dimension should be considered important alongside existing frameworks for understanding clergy politics