Religion, Partisanship, and Attitudes Towards Science Policy

We examine issues involving science which have been contested in recent public debate. These “contested science” issues include human evolution, stem-cell research, and climate change. We find that few respondents evince consistently skeptical attitudes toward science issues, and that religious variables are generally strong predictors of attitudes toward individual issues. Furthermore, and contrary to analyses of elite discourse, partisan identification is not generally predictive of attitudes toward contested scientific issues

Islam and Roman Catholicism as Transnational Political Phenomena: Notes for a Comparative Research Agenda

In this paper, we offer some preliminary insights into a comparison of Islam and Roman Catholicism as transnational or “transcivilizational” political phenomena. We note that both traditions are monotheistic, offer universalist theologies, and have played important political roles both historically and in contemporary national and international politics. The comparison provides some additional insights into the role of „the sacred‟ in politics at various levels, and presents the possibility of an intermediate level of analysis in comparative politics

God or Country? Debating Religion in Public Life

One of the more salient features of American politics in the post-World War Ii era is the frequency with which religious beliefs and values have been voiced in the making of public policy. Religiously motivated activists have played key roles in political struggles over civil rights, foreign policy, welfare, abortion, feminism, and gay rights, to name but a few issues. The relevance of religious values to political debate has, of course, been a recurring feature of American politics, but the political articulation of religious values appears to have become more visible in the past two decades

Respect for Life, Sexual Morality, and Opposition to Abortion

The relative importance of respect for human life and sexual conservatism in explaining opposition to abortion is examined. Catholics, people with at least a high school education, and frequent church attenders are most likely to oppose abortion on right to life grounds. Fundamentalists, people who did not finish high school, and infrequent church attenders are most likely to oppose abortion because easily available abortions seem to render sexual promiscuity less costly or risky

The Clergy and Abortion

In this study, the results of in-depth interviews with 17 clergy from a rural midwestern community are examined with respect to abortion. Although there are few differences between clergy in the content of abortion attitudes, Evangelical clergy are considerably more likely to communicate a pro-life position to their congregations than are Mainline ministers. A survey of lay members of these congregations suggests that ministerial socialization on the abortion issue is quite effective

Culture Wars and the Party System: Religion and Realignment

Recent headlines trumpet stories of protest, conflict, and even violence: abortion clinics are firebombed in Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma; Planned Parenthood workers are murdered in Kansas and Massachusetts; a Cincinnati art gallery owner is arrested for exhibiting Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs; a rap group is arrested on obscenity charges; the civil rights—or “special privileges”—of gays and lesbians become electoral issues in Colorado and Oregon; and issues of multiculturalism, freedom of expression, and “political correctness” divide many of the nation’s college campuses. To many Americans this does not seem like “politics as usual.” These stories and others like them seem to indicate that a new and different type of political conflict has swept the nation

Walter Dean Burnham

This dictionary offers the only comprehensive collection of profiles of American political scientists, each of whom contributed significantly to the intellectual development of American political science from its beginnings in the late-19th century to the present. This second edition includes 22 new and 110 revised entries, reflecting new scholarship that emerged during the 1990s. Numerous experts helped the editors develop this consensus group of the 193 political scientists who have made the most important theoretical contributions over the years, with attention to varied approaches and the different subfields. Alphabetically arranged entries focus on the main ideas and major works by each scholar, listing list the most important publications by and about the individual. There are numerous cross-references to show how the work of one scholar has influenced another in the discipline. Appendices list the political scientists by degree-granting institutions and by major fields. A short bibliography points to important general readings about the profession. A general index makes this major reference easily accessible for broad interdisciplinary research

Politics

Intermittently throughout American history, religious belief and practice have been an important source of political conflict. The occasional, and occasionally intense, nature of religious politics in the United States may be attributable to the unique role that religion plays in the life of the American nation. On one hand, religious belief and observance are quite widespread in the United States; relative to other industrialized nations, the U.S. population is highly religious. On the other hand, as a constitutional principle, religion is regarded as a separate sphere of activity from politics and government. Although the exact nature of church-state separation is a frequent topic of debate, few would dispute the principle itself