Divided by Pluralism: How White Christian Nationalism Restructured American Religion and Politics
Date: Friday, November 8, 2024; 12:00-1:30 PM
Location:Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room)
Presenter: Special Guest: Ruth Braunstein, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut
Abstract: American religion and politics have always been intertwined, but a major restructuring of the religious field starting in the 1950s made them nearly inseparable. This restructuring, according to a classic book by the sociologist Robert Wuthnow, was driven by the rise of the Religious Right. The realignment of white conservative Protestants and Catholics into a political bloc led to a shift in many white Americans’ primary religious allegiance—from their denominational brethren to their political tribe. The religious field came to be defined by this deepening rift between religious liberals and religious conservatives. But starting in the 1990s, a new restructuring began, though few have yet recognized it as such. Where the post-1950s restructuring was driven by the rise of the Religious Right, I argue the post-1990s restructuring was driven by backlash to this same movement. An ensuing cycle of backlash and counter-backlash radically transformed the religious field, driving large swaths of Americans who came to associate “religion” with anti-pluralistic values to disaffiliate from organized religion or to resist the politicization of faith in other ways. Meanwhile, faced with this barrage of public backlash, conservative faith communities purged political moderates and deepened alliances with far-right groups based on a shared embrace of an anti-pluralistic ideology known as white Christian Nationalism. In the process, the right-left political divide that once ran through the religious field was replaced by a divide over the question of pluralism itself.
Registration and Requirements: This event has already occurred and registration is closed.
Time: Friday, November 8, 2024; 12:00-1:30 PM
Location:Pardee School of Global Studies, 154 Bay State Road, 2nd floor (Eilts Room)