Representing the Faithful in Legal Advocacy? Evaluating the Congruence in Baptist Church‐State Advocacy

Abstract

Religious denominational advocacy groups present opportunities for grassroots representation, but it is necessary to understand the relationship between members' preferences and the advocacy decisions made by the organization. Previous research suggests that organizational characteristics and internal and external contexts may affect congruence, but this has not been thoroughly analyzed for denominational groups. I perform a comparative case study of two related denominational groups—the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC)—that are active participants in church‐state advocacy but take divergent Establishment Clause views. I use survey data to compare the members' preferences with the group's position statements and amicus brief filings, finding that neither of the organizations mirror its members, though the ERLC is more congruent than the BJC. I argue that internal politics, external context, group structure, and membership characteristics impact the congruence between grassroots members and advocacy decisions. Los grupos religiosos mediáticos presentan una oportunidad para la representación comunitaria, pero es necesario entender la relación entre las preferencias de sus miembros y las decisiones tomadas por su organización. Investigaciones previas sugieren que las características organizacionales, así como el contexto interno y externo puede afectar la congruencia, pero esto no ha sido meticulosamente analizado en los grupos mediáticos. Yo realizo un análisis de caso comparativo de dos grupos mediáticos relacionados—la Comisión de Ética y Libertad Religiosa de la Convención Bautista del Sur (CERL) y el Comité Conjunto Bautista para la Libertad Religiosa (CCB)—que son participantes activos en la defensa de la iglesia‐estado pero que sostienen opiniones divergentes acerca de la Primera Enmienda a la Constitución de los Estados Unidos. Para este estudio utilizo datos de encuestas para comparar las preferencias de los miembros con la posición oficial de sus grupos y de una perspectiva imparcial, mostrando que ninguna de las organizaciones concuerda con sus miembros, aunque el CERL es más congruente que el CCB. Yo argumento que las políticas internas, el contexto exterior, la estructura grupal, y las características de afiliación tienen un impacto en la congruencia entre miembros comunitarios y las decisiones de apoyo.

Learning the Value of Rights: Abortion Politics and the Liberalization of Evangelical Free Speech Advocacy

“… 7. The BJC is an umbrella group based in Washington, DC that advocated for the SBC and other Baptist groups on religious liberty and other public affairs issues. After conservatives gained control of the SBC in the 1980s, the denomination ended its partnership with the BJC (see Lewis 2011; 2014). …”

Abortion Politics and the Decline of the Separation of Church and State: The Southern Baptist Case

“… 6. These findings about SBC clergy are consistent with General Social Survey responses of rank-and-file Southern Baptists. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Southern Baptists were more likely than all others to oppose the Supreme Court's school prayer rulings and favor increased prayer in school (see Lewis 2011). …”

“…Many scholars have debated the historical merits of both the separation and accommodation positions (see Drakeman 2010 for a review), whereas others have analyzed public opinion on church-state matters (Jelen 2000; Jelen and Wilcox 1995) and the activity of religious groups involved in church-state litigation (Hacker 2005). Those focusing on Southern Baptists have given some attention to their declining support for church-state separation, within a broader discussion of the SBC's recent denominational divide (Farnsley 1994; Hankins 2002; Lewis 2011; McDaniel 2008). In doing so, these scholars identified the rise of conservative evangelicalism as promoting the theological, political, demographic, and organizational factors that contributed to the Southern Baptist shift in church-state politics.…”