Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:23:57.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religious Conservatives and the Requirements of Citizenship: Political Autonomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2008

Kimberly H. Conger  and
Bryan T. McGraw
Kimberly H. Conger
Affiliation:
Iowa State University. E-mail: conger@iastate.edu
Bryan T. McGraw
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. E-mail: btmcgraw@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many scholars have viewed the rise and political influence of religious conservatives in the U.S. with some alarm, arguing that their commitments are so illiberal and undemocratic as to be a substantial threat to the creation and maintenance of a just and stable democratic polity. In particular, many worry that religious conservatives lack the requisite civic virtues necessary to making pluralist democracies work. After attending to what sorts of virtues a good citizen ought to possess, we present evidence drawn from interviews with state-level religious conservative activists suggesting that political mobilization and integration into institutions of deliberation and electoral contestation actually works to make them better citizens, at least with respect to one important virtue, political autonomy. If such engagement can temporize the dangers politicized religion can sometimes pose, those concerned about religion's public influence might have their fears eased. Religious conservative activists can make for good citizens, fellow participants in the project of constructing a common political order that is durable, decent, and democratic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 253 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aminrazavi, Mehdi, and Ambuel, David. 1997. Philosophy, Religion, and the Question of Intolerance. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Beiner, Ronald, ed. 1995. Theorizing Citizenship. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Bendyna, Mary E., and Wilcox, Clyde. 1997. The Christian Right old and new: A comparison of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition. In Sojourners in the Wilderness: The Christian Right in Comparative Perspective, ed. Smidt, Corwin E. and Penning, James M.. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, Peter. 1999. Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Berns, Walter. 2001. Making Patriots. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brighouse, Harry. 1998. Civic education and liberal legitimacy. Ethics 108: 719–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burtt, Shelley. 1993. The politics of virtue today: A critique and a proposal. American Political Science Review 87 (2): 360–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callan, Eamonn. 1997. Creating Citizens: Political Education and Liberal Democracy. New York: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callan, Eamonn. 1998. Political liberalism and political education. Review of Politics 58 (1): 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callan, Eamonn. 2000. Discrimination and religious schooling. In Citizenship in Diverse Societies, ed. Kymlicka, W. and Norman, W.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chapman, John William, and Galston, William A.. 1992. Virtue. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Conger, Kimberly H., and Green, John C.. 2002. The Christian right in the states: 2000. Campaigns and Elections 23 (1): 58–60.Google Scholar
Dagger, Richard. 1997. Civic Virtues: Rights, Citizenship, and Republican Liberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 1995. Trust: Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Galston, William A. 1988. Liberal virtues. American Political Science Review 82 (4): 1277–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galston, William A. 1999. Value pluralism and liberal political theory. American Political Science Review 93 (4): 769–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, Emily R. 2001. Becoming Free: Autonomy and Diversity in the Liberal Polity. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Glendon, Mary Ann, and Blankenhorn, David. 1995. Seedbeds of Virtue: Sources of Competence, Character, and Citizenship. Lanham, MD: Madison Books.Google Scholar
Green, John C., Rozell, Mark J., and Wilcox, Clyde. 2000. Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections. Washington DC: Georgetown University.Google Scholar
Green, John C., Rozell, Mark J., and Wilcox, Clyde. 2003. The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching toward the Millenium. Washington DC: Georgetown University.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy. 1995. Civic education and social diversity. Ethics 105: 557–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertzke, Allen D. 1993. Echoes of Discontent: Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, and the Resurgence of Populism. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Heyd, David, ed. 1996. Toleration: An Elusive Virtue. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1997. Citizenship, discipleship, and democracy: Evaluating the impact of the Christian Right. In Sojourners in the Wilderness: The Christian Right in Comparative Perspective, ed. Smidt, Corwin E. and Penning, James M.. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Klosko, George. 2000. Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kraynak, Robert P. 2001. Christian Faith and Modern Democracy : God and Politics in the Fallen World. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Larmore, Charles. 1990. Political liberalism. Political Theory 18 (3): 361–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lienesch, Michael. 1993. Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Lomasky, Loren. 1999. Toward a liberal theory of vice (and virtue). In Civil Society, Democracy and Civic Renewal, ed. Fullinwinder, R. K.. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Macedo, Stephen. 1990. Liberal Virtues. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macedo, Stephen. 1992. Charting liberal virtues. In Virtue, ed. Chapman, J. W. and Galston, W. A.. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Macedo, Stephen, and Tamir, Yael, eds. 2002. Moral and Political Education. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan. 1988. Justifying Toleration: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendus, Susan. 1989. Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1989 [1859]. On Liberty; with the Subjection of Women; and Chapters on Socialism. Ed. S. Collini. Cambridge,UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moen, Matthew C. 1992. The Transformation of the Christian Right. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Moen, Matthew C. 1994. From revolution to evolution: The changing nature of the Christian Right. Sociology of Religion 55 (3): 345–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moen, Matthew C. 1996. The evolving politics of the Christian Right. PS: Political Science and Politics 29 (3): 461–64.Google Scholar
Oldfield, Duane Murphy. 1996. The Right and the Righteous: The Christian Right Confronts the Republican Party. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Persinos, John F. 1994. Has the Christian Right taken over the Republican Party? Campaigns and Elections 15 (9): 20–24.Google Scholar
Pocock, J.G.A. 1975. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1996. Political Liberalism, 2d ed.New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1999a. Justice as fairness: Political not metaphysical. In John Rawls: Collected Papers, ed. Freeman, S.. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1999b. A Theory of Justice. Rev. ed.Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 1986. The Morality of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rosin, Hanna. 2005. “Beyond Belief.” Atlantic Monthly (January/February): 117–20.Google Scholar
Rozell, Mark J., and Wilcox, Clyde. 1995. God at the Grass Roots: The Christian Right in the 1994 Elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Rozell, Mark J., and Wilcox, Clyde, eds. 1996. Second Coming: The New Christian Right in American Politics. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Rozell, Mark J., and Wilcox, Clyde 1997. God at the Grass Roots, 1996: The Christian Right in the American Elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Sandel, Michael J. 1996. Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shields, Jon. 2007. Between passion and deliberation: The Christian Right and democratic ideals. Political Science Quarterly 122 (1): 89–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shklar, Judith. 1984. Ordinary Vices. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Christian. 2000. Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spragens, Thomas A. 1999. Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Sullivan, John Lawrence, Piereson, James, and Marcus, George E.. 1982. Political Tolerance and American Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tomasi, John. 2001. Liberalism beyond Justice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wald, Kenneth D., and Corey, Jeffrey C.. 2002. The Christian Right and public policy: Social movement elites as institutional activists. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 2 (2): 99–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Justin. 1997. The Christian Coalition: Dreams of Restoration, Demands for Recognition. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde. 1996. Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde. 1987. America's radical right revisited. A comparison of the activists in Christian Right organizations from the 1960s and the 1980s. Sociological Analysis 48 (1): 46–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde, Jelen, Ted G., and Linzey, Sharon. 1995. “Rethinking the reasonableness of the religious right. Review of Religious Research 36 (6): 263–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, James Q. 1966. The Amateur Democrat. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Yamane, David. 2005. The Catholic Church in State Politics. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar