Conscientious Objectors in the Culture War?: A Typology of Attitudes toward Church-State Relations

Authors

Ted G. Jelen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1997

Publication Title

Sociology of Religion

Volume

58

Issue

3

First page number:

277

Last page number:

287

Abstract

In this study we investigate the various types of church-state positions taken by members of the mass public. We propose a typology of attitudes on church-state issues, and test that typology with a cluster analysis of a survey of residents of the Washington, D.C. area. We confirm that there are four main positions on free exercise and establishment issues. Attitudes toward questions of religious establishment and free exercise ate substantially independent, and attitudes toward religious free exercise are not directly related to religiosity or religious orthodoxy. These findings suggest that the "culture wars" thesis may be empirically inadequate as a description of contemporary American politics.

Keywords

Church and state; Freedom of religion; Political science

Disciplines

American Politics | Political Science | Religion

Language

English

Repository Citation

Jelen, T. G., Wilcox, C. (1997). Conscientious Objectors in the Culture War?: A Typology of Attitudes toward Church-State Relations. Sociology of Religion, 58(3), 277-287.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3712217