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David Smith on Episodic Religious Persecutions (Encore Presentation)

tonygill — Sun, 13 May 2018 08:00:57 +0000

Although the United States is often viewed as a beacon for religious freedom around the world, thanks in large part to the institutionalization of the First Amendment, the practice of religious toleration has often fallen well short of the ideals set for itself. Prof. David Smith, lecturer in the Department of Government & International Relations and a faculty member at the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney (Australia), discusses his explanation for episodic religious persecution in the United States. Using the Latter Day Saints in the 19th century and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the early 20th century as comparative case studies, he argues that religious minorities that are seen as threats to the established political order will quickly find themselves victims of state-sanctioned persecution.

We begin the discussion with Prof. Smith’s personal journey to this topic. For an Australian studying American politics, a field dominated by quantitative studies of contemporary political behavior, the choice of such a historical topic seems a bit unique. Nonetheless, David points out how the eyes of a foreigner can often uncover interesting behavioral patterns that often go unnoticed by natives. This leads us to a discussion of how “mythic ideals” within a nation often do not match with historical practice, particularly given that human beings are quite fallible when it comes to reaching noble goals.

David then jumps into a detailed elaboration of the persecuted path of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., Mormons) in the 19th century, from their early days in New York and Ohio, through an “extermination order” in Missouri, to the mob execution of their leader Joseph Smith, and finally through their travails into Utah territory and the struggles to become a state. Along the way, David drops hints at his explanation to come, including how the presence of the Mormons in different areas affected the political calculus among existing elites. David places the debates over polygamy and political partisanship into a context of broader struggles for political power that were affecting the nation in the pre- and post-Civil War era. We learn some interesting things about how Harriet Beecher Stowe, famed feminist crusader, changed her position on whether or not Mormon women should be given the right to vote, and how Reed Smoot (half of the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff act) was prevented from taking his seat in the US Senate because of ongoing concerns over polygamy.

We then jump into the early 20th century to discuss the rise of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a seemingly innocuous group of Christians who refused to salute the flag or have their children recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Such actions, combined with their visible proselytizing presence, provoked a number of local organizations such as the American Legion to consider them a serious threat to American nationalism. Combined with concern over the balance of political power at the local level and their stand against military service at a time war was on the horizon, a rash of physical harassment of Witnesses arose in the late 1930s and early 1940s, dissipating around 1941/42 when roughly half of the Witnesses young male missionaries were jailed. We further discuss the reasons why the Witnesses were targetted, but not groups such as the Mennonites and Amish, another religious group that resisted military service and spoke German!

Prof. Smith shows how both of these instances of religious persecution were theoretically linked by how each group — Mormons and Witnesses — were perceived as a political threat to the existing state power structure. We then discuss how his explanation played out in other historic instances of religious persecution (or lack thereof) including Catholics, Jews, and the Nation of Islam (a homegrown Muslim group). Interestingly, while the Nation of Islam was facing persecution (around the time of the Witnesses), political authorities were encouraging Muslim immigration from overseas. We also explore why Muslims over the past decade and a half (since September 11, 2001) have not seen the levels of persecution or harassment experienced by the Mormons and Witnesses. David closes with some thoughts on how future persecutions might be contained. Recorded: January 7, 2014.

Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States, by David Smith.

United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

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Quin Monson on Norms, Religion, and Politics

tonygill — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 09:00:11 +0000

How do people view other religions? Are there norms of tolerance (or intolerance) that Americans hold in common? If there are differences in these norms, do they cut across political affiliation? These are some of the questions that Prof. Quin Monson, associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University, sets out to answer in a paper that he co-authored with his BYU colleagues Christopher Karpowitz and Kelly Patterson. We discuss their recent findings published in the journal Politics & Religion entitled “Who’s In and Who’s Out: The Politics of Religious Norms.” Before that, though, we include a bit of banter about what it is like being a political science professor and having to answer questions about why we can’t seem to predict the outcome of recent elections. Prof. Monson shares some insights here and notes that scholars are trying to rectify some recent errors and are rediscovering some important research from the past.

We then jump into the world of norms and norm enforcement. Quin defines what norms are — the collective consciousness of a community — and provides a few examples of norms and how they operate. We talk about the norm of standing in line and “first come, first served” and how violations of this commonly known rule are enforced. Prof. Monson notes that the more that is at stake with respect to a norm, the more individuals will seek to sanction a norm violator. He also mentions Tony’s recent work on tipping (gratuities), allowing him to post a link to that conversation below! Quin further illustrates the role of norms in politics through an earlier study he conducted on how voters perceive privacy at the ballot box. A field experiment conducted at polling sites, wherein tape was placed around voting booths to signify a private space had an effect on how poll workers interacted with citizens. We then review the difficulty in measuring norms within a quantitative framework.

This conversation on measuring norms leads us into Quin’s recent survey experiment on the religious attitudes people hold and whether they are willing to sanction people with respect to “inappropriate” statements against certain denominations. We briefly cover the history of religious discrimination in American that includes anti-Catholicism, anti-Mormonism, and anti-Semitism. Prof. Monson leads us then through an interesting survey experiment he conducted with the help of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, a research project involving some 50,000 subjects that can be broken down into 1,000 person modules for specific projects. Quin reviews the pre- and post-test design of the study and explains how he and his colleagues sought to measure religious intolerance and the willingness to chastise other individuals for holding such views. He reads a vignette that was given randomly to respondents which was based off of some comments that comedian and social commentator Bill Maher had made towards religion. They modified this statement to include the religious categories of Catholics, Mormons, Jews, evangelical Christians, Muslims, and Mitt Romney. The latter was added as an interesting control given the 2012 test surrounded the presidential election involving Mitt Romney, the first Mormon presidential candidate. The findings from this study indicated that the level of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism was relatively low, and that individual respondents were often upset at people holding such views. The largest effect, though, related towards whether or not individuals would sanction comments calling Muslims “weird.” Democrats were more likely to disapprove or sanction negative statements against Muslims, whereas Republicans were not. Quin mentioned that this may be have been a precursor of what happened in the political rhetoric of the 2016 election. We finish off the podcast with Quin’s thoughts on how norms may be changing in society and what things he has most learned throughout his career. Recorded: December 15, 2017.

“Who’s In and Who’s Out: The Politics of Religious Norms,” by Christopher Karpowitz, Quin Monson, and Kelly Patterson (requires subscription).

Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics, by David Campbell, John Green, and Quin Monson.

Cooperative Congressional Election Study.

Anthony Gill on Tipping (EconTalk podcast mentioned during discussion).

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David Campbell & Quin Monson on Mormons and Politics in America.

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David Smith on Episodic Religious Persecutions.

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Luis Bolce and the Media and Anti-Fundamentalism.

Bradley Wright on Religion, Race, and Discrimination.

Laura Olson on Attitudes toward Religious Free Exercise.

Jason Jewell on John Locke and Religious Toleration.

Corwin Smidt on Religion, Elections, and the God Gap.

Gerald De Maio on the Electoral God Gap.

Mark David Hall on Religious Accommodations and the Common Good

tonygill — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 08:00:19 +0000

The issue of special exemptions to laws based upon a person’s religious views has been a hot topic in the news lately (e.g., Hobby Lobby, Little Sisters of the Poor, and Arlene’s Flowers). Prof. Mark David Hall, the Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Politics at George Fox University and a senior research fellow at Baylor’s ISR, reviews the history of such religious accommodations to federal and state statutes. As an expert witness in the State of Washington vs. Arlene’s Flowers case, he began to study the depth and scope of exemptions to various laws based upon one’s conscience and published this as a separate paper entitled “Religious Accommodations and the Common Good” (Heritage Foundation’s Backgrounder). He explains the term “common good” and how it relates to religious accommodations, asserting that when we have “Americans at their best,” our nation is sensitive to the sincerely-held religious beliefs of religious majorities and minorities alike. Historically, America has grown more religiously free over time, leading to greater religious diversity. As federal and state government power has expanded, especially in the 20th century, the need for more religious accommodations has also grown, often in new areas. We step back in history to look at some of the policy areas where such accommodations have been made, including military service, the swearing of government oaths, mandatory school attendance, and vaccinations. Quakers, often (though not exclusively) known for their pacifism, have been at the forefront of many of these struggles for accommodations, and Mark reveals how various compromises were made to satisfy the “common good” and the specific religious interest. He notes that exemptions from combat service did not necessarily exempt one from military (or civil) service altogether, as many Quakers and other conscientious objectors were asked to take non-combatant roles (e.g., medics). Other religious groups such as the Amish, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Adventists have received similar accommodations on various statutes and the number of religious accommodations granted numbers over 2000 as of the mid-1990s. We briefly discuss whether and how such accommodations could be abused by individuals seeking to avoid various laws including military service and vaccinations, and whether this has been a major problem (which it appears not to be). Prof. Hall finishes with some observations on the contemporary legal landscape and where he thinks legislation and jurisprudence may be heading in the near future. Recorded: June 27, 2016.

“Religious Accommodations and the Common Good,” by Mark David Hall in The Heritage Foundation’s Backgrounder.

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic, edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall.

Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, by Mark David Hall.

America’s Forgotten Founders, by Gary L. Gregg and Mark David Hall.

The Sacred Rights of Conscience, edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall.

See Prof. Hall’s bio (above) for additional books.

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Matthew Franck on Hosanna-Tabor and Ministerial Exemptions.

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David Cortman on Religious Freedom Updates.

Eileen Kane on the Russian Hajj

tonygill — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 09:00:51 +0000

During the latter half of the 19th century, when industrialization led to the expansion of railroads and the increase in efficient steamships, travel to Mecca for the hajj became much more affordable for the sizable Muslim population living in Russian territory. Prof. Eileen Kane — an associate professor of history at Connecticut College — discusses the attempts by tsarist and Soviet Russia to manage this pilgrimage for both geopolitical and economic advantage, and how Russian Muslims responded to these efforts. While this is a little known aspect of Russian history, it has important ramifications for how migrations of religious individuals are viewed in our contemporary world.

We begin with Prof. Kane discussing how she came upon such a relatively esoteric topic. She notes that she was in college during the breakup of the Soviet Union and this opened up a door to historians who had previously focused on the Slavic history of Russia to realize that there were substantial ethnic and religious minorities (often of sizable proportion) living within the borders of the USSR. This then became fertile ground for historians seeking to discover new things about old countries, and Eileen reminds us that although we think Slavs are in Russia and Muslims are in the Middle East, there are actually a very large number of Muslims outside the Arab world, including in former Russian territories. Of the 15 nation-states that resulted from the break up of the USSR, six of them have majority Muslim populations.

We then take a journey back to the middle of the 19th century and Prof. Kane explains why she chose to bookend her study from roughly 1840 to 1930. It was during this era that industrialization was making it more cost effective to travel via railroad and steamship, thus making the hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are asked to perform once in their life) a reality for religious individuals living in “far away” lands. Her study concludes in 1930 when the Great Global Depression (followed soon by World War II) created significant hardships in travel. She briefly reviews what the hajj is and how efforts to convert and pacify Muslims during the middle part of the 1800s met with resistance and wasn’t all that effective of a strategy for tsarist Russia. We also note the importance that European imperial expansion played during this time period, as the Middle East was becoming an area ripe for foreign influence given the decay of the Ottoman Empire. Russians certainly wanted to play an important role in the politics of this region given its strategic significance.

The next portion of our discussion examines how the tsarist regime attempted to control the seasonal migration of Muslims to the Holy Land. Prof. Kane lists several things that the Russians tried to do to facilitate travel including subsidizing train and ship transit, issuing special passports, and opening consulates in Jeddah and other areas to help travelers who were experiencing difficulties. It was reasoned that if this pilgrimage was going to be made, the Russians should have some say in directing it given that there was also a fear that travelers abroad would bring back diseases and radical ideas to Russia. Eileen details the presence of “disinfection facilities” on the journey home in an attempt by Russians to weed out cholera and other diseases. Prof. Kane notes that there was a great deal of “trial and error” learning in how to manage the pilgrimage routes based upon the experience of local officials in various villages along the way.

Prof. Kane then explains the two primary motivations for the Russians to manage the hajj routes. First, since Russia had lost a lot of revenue as people moved to North America in the late 1800s, there was a strong incentive to use these pilgrims as a source of tsarist revenue, albeit it was much less than was hoped. Second, with Europe expanding in the Middle East as the Ottoman Empire began to falter, the Russians also wanted to stake their presence in the region and facilitating migration routes was one way they believed they could do this. We also discuss how Muslims reacted to the overtures of the Orthodox Russians. While some in the elite saw it as a benevolent action on the part of the tsar, many intellectuals and non-elite Muslims viewed it as manipulative and often had problems with some of the tactics used such as the “disinfection facilities” there were sometimes staffed by women, an affront to some Muslim men. Our conversation also includes a section on the Soviet strategy, which was relatively similar to what the previous tsars did with the exception being that the Bolsheviks were atheists and thought religion would inevitably fade away. With the disruptions caused by the 1905 and 1917 Revolutions and the global depression causing problems in travel, concern over managing the hajj faded in policy importance. We close with some of Eileen’s thoughts on what surprised her during the course of her research, and how what happened in the past can inform our policy towards immigrants today. Recorded: January 22, 2106.

Russian Hajj: Empire and the Pilgrimage to Mecca, by Eileen Kane.

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Claire Adida on Discrimination Towards Muslims in France

tonygill — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 09:00:18 +0000

France has one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe and issues of how this population has integrated into French national life has been a major topic in political debate. Prof. Claire Adida, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California – San Diego, discusses a large research project she conducted with David Laitin (Stanford) and Marie-Anne Valfort (Paris School of Economics). This project, published recently in the book Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-Heritage Societies (see below), examines the extent of labor force discrimination towards Muslims on religious (as opposed to racial or ethnic) grounds, and why such discrimination tends to be self-reinforcing.

Claire first talks about her general research agenda that looks at conflict and cooperation among different ethnic groups in Africa and how she came to be included in a research team examining Muslims in France. Prof. Adida provides us with a general overview of her study noting how the research team sought to sort out religious discrimination from other potential points of conflict, such as race or ethnicity. The presence of a Senegalese population that had both Muslim and Christian members, and which entered the country in roughly the same era, provided a unique opportunity to undertake a series of comparative experiments to gain explanatory leverage on this topic. Claire further lays out the religious demography of France noting how immigration from North Africa in the post-WWII era started to reshape the religious and ethnic landscape.

We spend significant portions of our conversation detailing the research methodology. While this may appear to be a mundane detail, how social scientists explore their topics can have an impact on what they find, thus the conversation is both worthwhile and enlightening. To determine whether labor force discrimination existed in France on a religious dimension, Prof. Adida and her collaborators sent vitas (résumés) to employers that were identical in all respects except for “religious markers,” which included Muslim or Christian sounding names and notations about volunteering for specific religious (or secular) organizations. Later, we also talk about a series of behavioral economics games (e.g., trust game, dictator game) that the team played with test subjects to discern different types of discrimination. All of this made use of the Senegalese population as a “natural” means of introducing controls into study (and we cover various limitations and methodological solutions in the research design).

Prof. Adida points out several important findings from this study at various points in our discussion. First, the research team was able to determine that labor-force (hiring) discrimination did exist in France and that it was significant on the dimension of religion. Muslim Senegalese women were much less likely to get interview calls than either a Christian Senegalese woman or one with a secular portfolio. Second, they explore the presence of two types of discrimination — “rational” and “non-rational” Islamophobia. Contrary to what the name may sound like, “rational Islamophobia” does not seek to morally validate discrimination, but rather is defined as discrimination based upon some collected information on the part of an individual. For instance, learning that Muslims may need to pray several times a day, an employer may not want to hire such an individual because they believe it would interrupt the work environment. It may also be that more conservative attitudes towards women that are held by Muslim may interfere with the goals of greater gender equity in the workplace. “Non-rational” Islamophobia, on the other hand, refers to emotional preferences (or “tastes”) that do not necessarily have a basis in information gathering. The research team discovers both types of discrimination are at play in France. We further explore the reasons for such discrimination and Prof. Adida introduces the concept of a “discriminatory equilibrium.” Given France’s history of secularism (laicite), native French will find it difficult to relate to immigrants who are more religious, have more socially conservative views, and who engage in religious practices that are publicly visible (e.g., wearing the hijab). Moreover, innate “non-rational Islamophobia” also pushes non-Muslim French citizens from wanting to interact with immigrants. This, in turn, provides little incentive for Muslims to seek ways to assimilate (or integrate) into secular French society, which results in this “equilibrium.” Claire discusses a few policy proposals that she and her co-authors have devised, along with what she learned throughout the process of the study. Recorded: December 21, 2015.

Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-Heritage Societies, by Claire Adida, David Laitin, and Marie-Anne Valfort.

Immigrant Exclusion and Insecurity in Africa, by Claire Adida.

Nations, States, and Violence, by David Laitin (co-author and research with Claire Adida).

Identity in Formation, by David Laitin.

Hegemony and Culture, by David Laitin.

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Ahmet Kuru on Islam in Europe.

David Smith on Episodic Religious Persecutions

tonygill — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 09:00:38 +0000

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United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

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Christopher Scheitle’s Religious Road Trip

tonygill — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:00:06 +0000

What do you get when you take a seasoned sociologist and a senior research associate, put them in a rented Dodge Charger for six weeks, and tell them to discover what America’s spiritual landscape is all about? You get a religious road trip with Christopher P. Scheitle and Roger Finke .. and you learn a whole lot about what it is like to be religious in the US! Chris Scheitle, a senior research associate in the Department of Sociology at Penn State University and adjunct assistant professor at the College of St. Benedict – St. John’s University in Minnessota, tells us how this unique research project came about. He reveals how he suggested this offbeat idea to Roger Finke over a few beers and that Roger came back with some research funding and his wife’s permission a few days later and off they went (after a bit of preparation). Their first stop took them to Memphis, TN to investigate the experience and influence of an African American church headed up by Robert Cole. Chris details how the black church experience has permeated the broader American culture and what this means for religion in America. It is then off to Houston, TX to pop into Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, a megachurch that serves roughly 40,000 congregants on any given Sunday. We discuss the role of megachurches in America and how they represent the adaptability and creativity of the American religious spirit. We then stop at a local Houston Yerberia and a cowboy church just out of Amarillo to find out what these entities bring to the national experience. Travelling up to Colorado Springs, often called the “Vatican of evangelical Christianity,” we then find out about the role played by parachurch organizations such as Focus on the Family and Global Mapping International. And then it is off to San Francisco to peak into various Asian immigrant religious groups such as the Buddhist Churches of America and even a Hare Krishna group. We finish up the trip with an exploration of Muslims in Detroit and Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. All along the way, Tony peppers Chris with questions about what it is like to drive around the country with a full professor and what kind of music Roger Finke likes to listen to. We end with Chris’s thoughts on what he learned from this trip and find out that although the American religious landscape is defined by its pluralism and diversity, in reality many religious folks of different faith traditions often share the same concerns with one another; Chris ends up impressed with the similarities that arise from our national diversity. Recorded: February 17, 2012.

RELATED LINKS

Places of Faith: A Road Trip across America’s Religious Landscape, by Christopher P. Scheitle and Roger Finke.

Christopher P. Scheitle’s website and Penn State University.

The Association of Religious Data Archive (ARDA) at Penn State University.

An article about Places of Faith at Ahead of the Trend on The ARDA.

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Ahmet Kuru on Islam in Europe

tonygill — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:00:40 +0000

How is contemporary Europe adjusting to the growing presence of Muslim immigrants and their second and third generation progeny? Prof. Ahmet Kuru — assistant professor of political science at San Diego State University — joins Tony to discuss the origins and demographic composition of Muslim immigration in post-WWII Europe. We primarily focus our discussion on France, Great Britain and Germany, though the responses of other countries are mentioned as well. Prof. Kuru notes how the demand for labor in the post-war era, combined with differering colonial legacies, shaped the issues surrounding the accomodation of Muslim immigrants in different parts of Europe. While Great Britain made citizenship for immigrants easy based on whether an immigrant came from a former colony, countries such as Germany made citizenship more difficult and existed under the expectation that immigrants would eventually return to their place of origin. Our discussion covers Prof. Kuru’s research on assertive secularism, wherein nations (e.g., France) intentionally seek to remove religion from the public sphere (though the implementation of such policies is not always consistent). We cover the recent ban on the Muslim headscarf (hijab) and oher controversies such as mosque construction and funding for religious education. We close out our discussion with a discussion of how religious policy is changing in Turkey and how that relates to the European situation, and why Muslims in the United States have found it esier to accomodate to the cultural and political landscape than in Europe. Recorded: February 7, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Ahmet Kuru’s website at San Diego State University.

Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey by Ahmet T. Kuru.