454 - Thematic Session. Religion and Hard Times

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

In economic recession, does religion motivate support for greater public and private assistance to the poor and higher taxes on the wealthy or does it bolster the belief that unbridled capitalism will lift people out of poverty? Some Evangelical organizations, such as Sojourners, support greater government aid to the poor, while the Tea Party, often with the support of religious traditionalists, seeks reductions in social spending. Polls during the recession indicate that the religiously orthodox are more likely than modernists to still believe in the American Dream, while other research finds that the orthodox are more supportive than modernists of state aid to the poor. Because women have been hardest hit by the recession, we must take into account the perspective of poor women on religion as this affects their beliefs on receiving government assistance and the American Dream. These paradoxes and their implications for the post-recession period will be discussed.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizers

• Nancy J. Davis, DePauw University

• Robert V. Robinson, Indiana University

Presiders

• Nancy J. Davis, DePauw University

• Robert V. Robinson, Indiana University

Individual Presentations

• Poor Mothers, Religion, and the American Dream - Susan Crawford Sullivan, College of the Holy Cross

• Faith-based Social Justice: Building a More Grounded Progressive Politics - Richard L. Wood, University of New Mexico

• Hard Times, Religion, and Conservative Politics - Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University