Description
Religion and politics are never far from the headlines, but their relationship remains complex and often confusing. This book offers an engaging, accessible, and balanced treatment of religion in American politics. It explores the historical, cultural, and legal contexts that motivate religious political engagement and assesses the pragmatic and strategic political realities that religious organizations and people face. Incorporating the best and most current scholarship, the authors examine the evolving politics of Roman Catholics; evangelical and mainline Protestants; African-American and Latino traditions; Jews, Muslims, and other religious minorities; recent immigrants and religious "nones"; and other conventional and not-so-conventional American religious movements.
New to the Sixth Edition
• Covers the 2016 election and assesses the role of religion from Obama to Trump.
• Expands substantially on religion’s relationship to gender and sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class, and features the role of social media in religious mobilization.
• Adds discussion questions at the end of every chapter, to help students gain deeper understanding of the subject.
• Adds a new concluding chapter on the normative issues raised by religious political engagement, to stimulate lively discussions.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Religion and Political Culture in America: From the Historical Legacy to the Present Day
Chapter 2 Theories of Religion, Culture, and American Politics
Chapter 3 Christianity and Its Major Branches
Chapter 4 Judaism, Islam, and Other Expressions of Religious Pluralism
Chapter 5 Latino and African American Religion and Politics
Chapter 6 Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion, and Politics
Chapter 7 Voting and Religion in American Politics
Chapter 8 The Politics of Organized Religious Groups
Chapter 9 Religion and Political and Cultural Elites
Chapter 10 Religion, Civil Society, and Political Culture
Chapter 11 The Politics of Religion in the Legal System
Chapter 12 Church and State in the Courts
Chapter 13 Big Themes and Normative Concerns in Religion and Politics
