Rough Country

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
Evangelical Protestants ◽  
Public Executions

Tracing the intersection of religion, race, and power in Texas from Reconstruction through the rise of the Religious Right and the failed presidential bid of Governor Rick Perry, this book illuminates American history since the Civil War in new ways, demonstrating that Texas's story is also America's. In particular, the book shows how distinctions between “us” and “them” are perpetuated and why they are so often shaped by religion and politics. Early settlers called Texas a rough country. Surviving there necessitated defining evil, fighting it, and building institutions in the hope of advancing civilization. Religion played a decisive role. Today, more evangelical Protestants live in Texas than in any other state. They have influenced every presidential election for fifty years, mobilized powerful efforts against abortion and same-sex marriage, and been a driving force in the Tea Party movement. And religion has always been complicated by race and ethnicity. The book tells the stories of ordinary men and women who struggled with the conditions they faced, conformed to the customs they knew, and on occasion emerged as powerful national leaders. We see the lasting imprint of slavery, public executions, Jim Crow segregation, and resentment against the federal government. We also observe courageous efforts to care for the sick, combat lynching, provide for the poor, welcome new immigrants, and uphold liberty of conscience.

Interaction Rituals and Religious Culture in the Tea Party

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Stacy M. K. George
Keyword(s):  
Political Influence ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Group Solidarity ◽  
Conservative Christianity ◽  
Interaction Rituals ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
Religious Perspectives

Scholars have noted the variety of ideological and religious perspectives present in the Tea Party movement. This study addresses why both religious and nonreligious individuals may be involved in the Tea Party despite its cultural connection to ‘traditional’ conservative Christianity. The article explores Tea Party participation and commitment, arguing that group membership is sustained by the party’s ability to create interaction rituals reflective of Christian culture as an acknowledgement of American Christian values. The Tea Party frames its ideology as sacred, thereby establishing group commitment and cohesion. As a result, it is capable of attracting constituents from inside and outside of the Religious Right. By validating the experiences of others and creating a system of interdependency, the Tea Party has the potential to create group solidarity leading to collective action and exceptional political influence.

Faith and the Free Market: Evangelicals, the Tea Party, and Economic Attitudes

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Deckman ◽  
Dan Cox ◽  
Robert Jones ◽  
Betsy Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
Economic Attitudes ◽  
Evangelical Protestants

AbstractWe argue that concerted efforts by Tea Party leaders, Republican politicians, and leading Christian Right figures to establish and promote a connection between Christian faith and the free-market system has helped shift the economic attitudes of white evangelical Protestants in a more conservative direction. Our analysis of Public Religion Research Institute survey data finds that white evangelical Protestants express greater skepticism about an active role of government in society and believe economic growth is more likely to be spurred by a reduction in taxes rather than in public investments. Moreover, we find that identifying with the Tea Party has a conservatizing influence on their economic issue positions. While we find that partisanship, class, and in some cases, age, serve to modify the views of some evangelicals, by and large, evangelicals have come to embrace the conservative fiscal message promoted by both the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement.

The Religious Right

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Board Of Education ◽  
Science Standards ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Religious Conservatism ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
State Board Of Education ◽  
Roman Catholics

This chapter examines the emergence of the Religious Right in Kansas. On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was murdered at the Reformation Lutheran Church in suburban Wichita. As one of the region's few providers of legal late-term abortions, Tiller had earned the ire of antiabortion activists. No issue brought churches as directly into the political arena during the late 1980s and 1990s as abortion. The Religious Right in Kansas gained national attention because of its role in encouraging the Kansas State Board of Education to approve science standards that downplayed the teaching of evolution. The decision raised questions such as: why Kansas was such a hotbed of religious conservatism; or why it mattered that independent evangelical Protestant churches were now on the same side of many issues as conservative Roman Catholics. The chapter explores the implications of the debate over evolution for Kansas religion and politics.

Let Us Grow Strong by Organization and Earnest Cooperation

2018 ◽  
pp. 135-157
Author(s):  
Millington W. Bergeson-Lockwood
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Civil Rights Organizations ◽  
National Leaders

This chapter focuses on the formation of national civil rights organizations in Boston and how they confronted the rising tide of Jim Crow in the final decade of the nineteenth century. Through these organizations, black men and women merged local political concerns with a broader movement for racial equality. This chapter pays particular attention to the Boston black community’s response to the rise in southern lynching. In doing so, it expands the historical narrative that has focused on anti-lynching during the 1890s as a product of the actions of central national leaders.

The Mainstreaming of Racism in American Politics

Hard White ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Fording ◽  
Sanford F. Schram
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
White House ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Key Terms

This chapter frames the book’s analysis and provides an overview of the subsequent chapters. It explains how racism today is manifested most significantly in white “outgroup hostility” toward Latinos and Muslims as well as African Americans. It highlights the importance of race-baiting elites in exploiting a transformed media landscape to stoke white outgroup hostility and thereby mainstream racism in American politics today. The chapter introduces and defines a number of key terms, including “racialized political narratives” that operate to racialize selected groups of people to be constructed as threatening “outgroups” in opposition to whites as the “ingroup.” It emphasizes that the “political opportunity structure” for white racial extremists became more open, especially with the rise of the Tea Party movement, leading to their increased participation in conventional politics. The chapter argues that these factors had already converged prior to 2016 for Donald Trump to exploit in winning the presidency, thereby accelerating the mainstreaming of racism in American politics by putting it at the center of public policymaking in the White House.

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