America's clergy are not just religious leaders. Their influence extends far beyond church doors. Houses of worship stand at the center of American civic life-one of the few spheres in which relatively diverse individuals gather together regularly. And the moral authority granted to pastors means that they are uniquely positioned to play a role in public debates. Based on data gathered through national surveys of clergy across four mainline Protestant (the Disciples of Christ; the Presbyte...

American Evangelicals Today assesses the contemporary social, religious, and political characteristics of evangelical Protestants today, and it does so in light of (1) whether these characteristics are similar to, or different from, the corresponding characteristics of adherents of other major faith traditions in American religious life, and (2) the extent which these particular characteristics among evangelicals may have changed over the past four decades. In addition, it analyzes the ext...

The role that race and religion play in American presidential elections is attracting national attention like never before. The 2008 presidential candidates reached out to an unprecedented number of racial and religious voting constituencies including African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, women, the non-religious, and more. Religion, Race, and the American Presidency focuses on the roles of these racial and religious groups in presidentia...

After the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004, the "God Gap" became a hotly debated political issue. Religious voters were seen as the key to Bush's victory, and Democrats began scrambling to reach out to them. Four years later, however, with the economy in a tailspin on election day, religion barely seemed to register on people's radar screens. In this book, a team of well-regarded scholars digs deeper to examine the role religion played in the 2008 campaign. They take a long view, placi...

New Day Begun presents the findings of the first major research project on black churches’ civic involvement since C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya’s landmark study The Black Church in the African American Experience. Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the scale and scope of African American churches’ civic involvement have changed significantly: the number of African American clergy serving in elective and appointive offi...

A New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller!An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically--up to the present day--worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirationa...

Through a nationwide telephone survey of 2,000 people and an additional 200 face-to-face interviews, Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith probed the grassroots of white evangelical America. They found that despite recent efforts by the movement's leaders to address the problem of racial discrimination, evangelicals themselves seem to be preserving America's racial chasm. In fact, most white evangelicals see no systematic discrimination against blacks. But the authors contend that it is n...

A bracing examination of a force that imperils American democracy Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation's Capital on January 6th, 2021. And many were bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; "Jesus saves" and "Don't Tread on Me;" Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus' name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble, Philip S. Gorski and...

Winner of the 2022 ECPA Christian Book Award for Faith & CultureHow do we effectively confront racial injustice? We need to move beyond talking about racism and start equipping ourselves to fight against it.In this follow-up to the New York Times Bestseller the Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism. How to Fight Racism introduces a simple framework—the A.R.C. Of Ra...

Forces are rapidly reshaping America's morals, social policies, and culture—but how do we stop it? Learn how to make your voice heard and reclaim America’s faith and values by reshaping our country’s current trajectory.Cultural elites in the media, academia, and politics are daily deceiving millions of Americans into passively supporting policies that are harmful to the nation and their own best interest. Although some Americans can see through the smokescreen, the...

Using an evidenced-based, social-scientific approach to religion, Kenneth D. Wald and Allison Calhoun-Brown challenge the perception that religious influence in American politics is a problem to be solved. Instead, they contend that religion is a form of social identification that not only shapes our ideas about politics, but it also shapes the behavior of political elites and ordinary citizens, the interpretation of public laws, and the development of government programs. Ultimately, the ...

Contemporary and controversial, Shannon Gilreath's Sexual Politics is an important update to the continuing debate over the place of gay people in American law, politics, and religion. Gilreath incisively navigates a number of complex issues, including the delicate balance between sexual privacy and public equality, the entwining of religion and U.S. law and politics, and gay marriage. He offers astute academic observation and depth of personal reflection to create an unmatched critique of...