Religion and American Public Opinion: Social Issues

Editors

James L. Guth; Lyman A. Kellstedt; Corwin E. Smidt

Document Type

Chapter

Publication Date

8-2009

Publication Title

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics

Publisher

Oxford University Press

First page number:

217

Last page number:

242

Abstract

This article focuses on the attitudes toward sexual morality and educational policy, as well as their linkages to religion. Sexual morality, otherwise known as “pelvic politics”, is first discussed. It looks at gay rights and abortion before moving on to a discussion of the partisan connection between these two issues. The second half of the article focuses on the politics of education, specifically school prayer and teaching evolution and creationism. This article shows that empirical research on the attitudes toward social issues has been productive. It has provided a lot of information about how attitudes on personal morality or attitudes toward the role of religion in public education are affected by religious affiliation, beliefs, and practices.

Keywords

Abortion; Abortion--Religious aspects; Creationism--Study and teaching; Education; Educational policy; Ethics; Evolution (Biology)--Study and teaching; Gay rights; Gay rights--Religious aspects; Partisanship; Pelvic politics; Personal morality; Politics of education; Prayer in the public schools; Religion; Religion and politics; Sexual ethics; Sexual morality; Social issues

Disciplines

American Politics | Education | Political Science | Religion

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

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