The Deliberative Pulpit? The Democratic Norms and Practices of the PCUSA

Abstract

In contrast to typical approaches that view religion as problematic or benign, thicker conceptions of religion's place in promoting and sustaining democratic politics are possible. This includes religious organizations modeling democratic practices and engaging in debate on common terms. We initiate this program of inquiry with data from a survey of Presbyterian Church, USA clergy gathered during the late summer and fall of 2009. We asked explicitly about clergy commitment to democratic norms and practices as reflected in their public speech and small group activities in their congregations. We use this article to explain variance in the results, looking especially to see if democratic commitments fall at the expense of religious competition, organizational maintenance, and personal preference and increased conservatism.

American Muslim Investment in Civil Society

“…We suspect attendance fuels intolerance by failing to broaden awareness of competing views through political communication in houses of worship since such an awareness is a critical force fueling tolerance (Mutz 2002a). Supporting this view, see also Djupe and Calfano 2010) find that clergy tend to communicate about four arguments in favor of their position for every one against it. Thus, the consistent imbalance in argumentation from clergy may promote intolerance consistently.…”

Religion, Cultural Clash, and Muslim American Attitudes About Politically Motivated Violence

“…Available studies of Muslim Americans, though few in number, produce results similar to those among non-U.S. Muslims. In studies that include statistical controls for religiosity, high levels of education and income tend to foster more secular, progressive attitudes (Baker and Jamal 2009:155-56), greater religious tolerance (Djupe and Calfano 2012a), and even declining fertility rates (Kulczycki and Lobo 2001), while also channeling energy toward greater political participation (Jalalzai 2009).…”

“…Second, the dependent variable measures support for PMV in a specific context that allows us to consider the dynamics of in‐group versus out‐group prejudices. By asking about the extent to which PMV is justifiable “in order to defend Islam from its enemies,” we have measured levels of support for PMV based on a perceived concern that the Muslim faith is in peril (Djupe and Calfano ). Consequently, one might expect this perceived threat to be impacted by religious factors, particularly at a time of U.S. military engagement in predominantly Muslim countries.…”

Truly Inclusive or Uniformly Liberal? An Analysis of the Politics of the Emerging Church

“…We have one more test available to assess how to view ideology in the emergent church. The Cooperative Clergy Study (CCS) included a short battery of questions about the norms governing adult education that have been used to measure commitment to inclusiveness in a deliberative setting (Djupe and Calfano ; Djupe and Olson ). Commitment to these practices is high across the board but not uniform and there is variation to explain.…”