Religion in America:Putnam & Campbell

“It is difficult to damn those you know and love.”

• Essay prompts are posted on the course website– As are guidelines for writing a good argumentative

essay

• Due at end of class Wednesday, 2/29. • Prompts will be discussed in class Wed. 2/22

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– 13.11

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– 13.13, note polarization

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• Increasing tolerance appears to be driven by generational succession

• Secular Americans more tolerant of all points of view• Secular Americans also more robust defenders of civil

rights• Religious Americans more inclined to respect authority

and tend to be more ready to shun dissent (479-489)– Given what we know from Durkheim re: strongly coherent

societies, this makes sense when combined with higher levels of civic activity among the religious

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Diversity & Toleration• America has high levels of both religious belief and religious

diversity, yet has somehow managed not to collapse into religious conflict– Why?

• 72% Americans agree that the country is divided by religion– 46% strongly agree

• But there is a broad consensus that religion is beneficial for American society– People who are only mildly religious say so to the almost the

same extent as do the intensely religious– 85% of moderately religious Americans say right & wrong

should be based on God’s law (493-498)

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– 14.1

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Diversity & Toleration• Religious & secular Americans tend to see each other as selfish &

intolerant– Both see selves as generous & intolerant (499-500)

• Further, there exist inter-religious conflicts• Example: Romney 2008:

– Trouble capturing evangelical support• This despite majority of Mormons & evangelicals sharing nearly identical political

agendas – 54% of evangelicals said that they would be bothered by a Mormon president,

compared to 18% of non-evangelicals– Importance of theological differences

• Mormonism frequently called a ‘cult’ in evangelical circles– LDS church & evangelical Christianity both aggressively proselytizing faiths,

may be in direct competition (500-502)• Not much on this note seems to have changed since 2008• “Feeling thermometer”

– 100 = extremely positive, 0 extremely negative. 55 average score

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– Pew poll

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– 14.5

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– 14.6

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Diversity & Toleration• Anti-Semitism in America has declined continuously

since WWII– As has anti-Catholic bias

• Three groups notable for unpopularity: Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists. Why?– Minority status?

• But Jews are a small minority, and the most popular religious group nation wide

– Negative images?• Polygamous cultists, jihadist fanatics• But there is no corresponding negative image for Buddhists

– Othered? (506-507)

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– Table 14.1

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Diversity & Toleration• Almost everyone likes mainstream Protestants and Jews• Almost everyone likes Catholics, more than Catholics like everyone

else.• Evangelicals like almost everyone else more than they are liked in

return.• Catholics and Evangelicals rate each other warmly (despite past

animosities).• Mormons like everyone else, while almost everyone else dislikes

Mormons.– Except Jews, who give them a net positive rating. Sympathy for

minority religion?• Muslims & Buddhists disliked more than almost any other group.

– But Jews are warm to Buddhists and cool toward Muslims. – Too few Muslims or Buddhists in sample (though reflective of national

population) to say anything about their feeling about other faiths (509)

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Diversity & Toleration• By contrast, the average rating by people who describe themselves

as “very liberal” for conservatives is 36, while “very conservative” people rate liberals at 38.– Political resentment much stronger than religious

• 6% of Americans have “often” heard negative remarks about their religious beliefs, 23% have “occasionally.” 46% never.

• Could this reflect homogenous environments?– 24% of “nones” often or occasionally here negative remarks about

their religious beliefs– About a third of evangelicals– 60% of Mormons– About the same share of “others”– 38% of Jews (510-511)

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– 14.7

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Not So Divided• 72% Americans say country is divided along religious lines

– But: 93% say divided along racial lines, 96% economic, 97% political

• Civil religion– References to God and special destiny of the United States

deployed to mobilize, persuade Americans– Spoken by liberals & conservatives, Republicans & Democrats– The God of America, Thanksgiving (516-519)

• Religious diversity means that it is highly likely that the individuals knows someone of another faith, or of none in particular

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– 15.1

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» 15.3

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– 15.4

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Religious Bridging

• If diverse groups interact and– Have equal status– Share common goals– Have intergroup cooperation– Have the support of authorities, law, or custom• Social bridging may result.– Friendship, work, marriage, military

• For example, gaining a friend from a particular groups tends to result in a more positive evaluation of that group (526-530)

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• As more complex & diverse bridging develops– A person gains an evangelical, Muslim, & nonreligious

friend) • “Feeling thermometer” evaluations rise across the

board, even for groups that are not directly bridged– For example, that person likely feels modestly more

positively toward Mormons – Thus, those groups viewed most coldly (Mormons,

Muslims, Buddhists) are those with whom most Americans have limited exposure (526-534)

• This results in Americans even endorsing the validity of each other’s religious beliefs (526-537)

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– 15.5

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– 15.6

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– 15.7

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– 15.8

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• But not all faiths thought equally likely to achieve salvation– 35% of evangelicals say Muslims can go to heaven– 58% of Black Protestants say so

• Indicates presence of bridging– A major disagreement between clergy and parishioners (537-540)

• A minority of Americans (11%) says that their religion is the only one with any truth, and tend to be less tolerant of those with other beliefs– These people tend to be from homogenous social environments– This rate seems to be stable across time, from 1998 to 2008 (545-47)

• Exposure, equality, and interaction seem to shield the United States from the religious tensions that would be expected in a devout and diverse nation

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