“I Still Get to Call Myself a Christian”: Three Pathways for How Politics Shapes Religion

• In Event: 40469 - Religion and Politics

Abstract

There is growing empirical evidence that “politics shapes religion,” yet most of this work has been quantitative and macro-level. This paper contributes to this burgeoning literature by examining the narratives of progressive religious individuals who explicitly suggest that their current faith identity grew out of their politics. We find three “pathways” through which people’s politics shape their religion: (1) returning, where someone raised religious drifts away from faith as a young adult, then finds their way back via politics; (2) reorienting, where a religious individual radically changes their faith to align with their politics; and (3) becoming, where a previously irreligious person finds faith entirely through politics. We conclude with suggestions for future research based on these three pathways.

Authors

• Todd Nicholas Fuist, Illinois Wesleyan University

• Elizabeth A Johnson, Duke University