Research On Religion » religion and politics

Jeremy Castle on Religion and Voting Behavior

tonygill — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 08:00:49 +0000

How do American voters react when candidates prompt them with religious cues? Dr. Jeremiah (Jeremy) Castle, an assistant professor at Central Michigan University, discusses a recent study he conducted with his colleagues regarding how religious cues and prompts affect opinions towards various candidates. We start the discussion with Prof. Castle’s dissertation work on young evangelical Christians and whether they are becoming more liberal/progressive in their political views. It turns out, that Millennial evangelicals are not becoming more liberal when you examine those who are actively involved in their church. Younger Christians who are peripherally involved in their faith do show a leftward drift, though. Moving on to a recent article published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, we pick up the topic of whether or not voters are influenced by how a candidate is presented to them in media (e.g., voter pamphlets). Jeremy reviews the extant literature on why people vote the way they do, noting that partisan affiliation is — not surprisingly — the primary factor determining how one views, and votes for, a partisan candidate. The question moves back one step to explain what determines party affiliation and Prof. Castle notes that a number of factors condition this, including race, income, education, and religion. The interesting phenomenon that social scientists have observed over the past few decades, though, is a shift away from denominational affiliation (e.g., Presbyterian, Catholic) and party identity, to one that is based more upon religious intensity. Christians, irrespective of denomination, who are more active in their faith subculture tend to be conservative and Republican in their political identity, whereas less active and secular individuals lean Democrat and liberal. (There are some exceptions including Jews and black Protestants who still largely vote Democrat.) Jeremy then details the survey experiment he conducted with David Campbell, Geoffrey Layman, and John Green wherein they created a “generic” candidate and manipulated how that candidate was presented to individuals. Some test subjects received a moderate religious prompt, others a strong religious prompt, a third group received a secular prompt, and of course there was a control group that did not have any religious/secular identifying characteristics. Jeremy reveals that the strong religious prompt tended to improve the favorability of candidates amongst individuals who identified as strongly religious, and secular prompts tended to reduce the candidates favorability amongst this group. He shares a number of other interesting observations from this study as well. The topic of religious voting during the 2016 presidential election comes up at this point and Prof. Castle notes that some of the trends within Donald Trump’s rhetoric matches with the theoretical expectations of the hypotheses he was testing. We then shift gears to discuss some of Jeremy’s other work on whether or not political messages in movies have an impact on public opinion and he covers an experimental study he did on Notre Dame students exposed to three different films and their attitudes towards health care reform conducted several years ago. He finds that strong political messages in movies do shift attitudes immediately following the viewing of the film and several weeks later. Jeremy closes out with some observations on what he has learned in his young career as an academic. Recorded: June 12, 2017.

Prof. Castle’s personal website.

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborne (mentioned in podcast).

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Who Would Jesus Vote For? A Redemption Church Small Group.

David Buckley on the Demand for Clergy in Politics

tonygill — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 08:00:32 +0000

Do religious individuals prefer to have their spiritual leaders directly involved in politics? Whereas the common assumption might be that religious adherents would like to see clergy directly involved in public policy decision-making, Prof. David Buckley (University of Louisville, political science) shows that the opposite is true. Using data from the World Values Survey, he noted an interesting pattern wherein the more spiritually-engaged a population was, the less likely those individuals were to support an active role for priests, pastors, and rabbis in the government. Prof. Buckley then explains this phenomenon can be explained by two causal mechanisms. First, in highly religious societies, there are many informal “back channels” wherein clergy already have influence over policy, thus necessitating less direct and formal roles. Second, direct and visible involvement in politics raises a set of risks for confessional leaders including political backlash for supporting losing politicians, deterioration of moral authority when clerics support unpopular (or unsuccessful) policies/politicians, and the chance that taking a political stand would divide their parishioners making them less likely to remain engaged with the religious institution. David illustrates these causal mechanisms using the debate over a reproductive health bill in the Philippines in the past decade. Recorded: April 8, 2016.

David Buckley on Academia.edu (access site for several papers).

Cosmos Club Foundation.

World Values Survey (main website).

Philippines’ Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (mentioned in podcast).

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Nathanael Snow on the Evangelical Coalition and Public Choice

tonygill — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 08:00:58 +0000

How have evangelical Christians organized themselves over time to express their political and social views? Has this coalition remained stable over time, or has it changed? Nathanael Snow, a a PhD candidate in the department of economics at George Mason University discusses how the analytical tools of public choice theory can be applied to the study of the Evangelical Coalition over time to understand the organizational role that religion can play in political life.

As Tony can never resist the opportunity to explore where scholars develop their ideas from, he starts the discussion with an exploration of Nathanael’s background and how he came to blend public choice theory with economics. Nathanael reveals that he was inspired to follow the path of economic study while serving as a missionary serving inner city youth and teaching economics. This developed into a pursuit for a Ph.D. at George Mason University where student are encouraged to explore unique and non-traditional topics as economic graduate students. His marriage of public choice theory to the study of religious organizations was prompted by a quip made by one of his professors during a graduate seminar, and that becomes the focus of our discussion today. Public choice theory is then explained as a subfield of economics that applies the analytical tools of micro-economics to the world of politics, imposing the assumptions of methodological individualism, analytical egalitarianism, and self-interest onto the actions and decisions of people in the political realm. As religious individuals are also people with political preferences that seek to get those goals realized in public policy, Nathanael reasoned that this theoretical perspective would be an ideal one for examining the changing nature of the Evangelical Coalition.

Following that introduction to public choice theory, we turn to the religious world and Mr. Snow notes that it is very difficult to find a specific definition for what it means to be an evangelical. This ambiguity in definition is important because it provides a hint at the changing and chaotic nature of the “evangelical voting bloc” that so many politicians seek to capture. This leads to a discussion of median voter theory wherein politicians will seek to capture the “voter in the middle” of some multi-dimensional voting space, and that interest groups will often try to navigate their coalitions to fit the median voter. Given that not all evangelicals agree about everything, this leads to “voting chaos” within the coalition over time as different groups vie to be deemed the median voter and have their policies favored by elected officials. Nathanael explains that as the electoral franchise has expanded over time, religious organizations lose their direct legitimizing influence over the state and must compete for the attention of parliaments and other legislatures. Adam Smith becomes the topic of conversation as Mr. Snow makes a very insightful connection between what Smith wrote about religious organizations in Book V of The Wealth of Nations and his observation early in that work that members of a profession seldom meet for diversion before the conversation turns in a conspiratorial manner to raise prices. Tony thinks this is a brilliant insight and is upset that he never saw that direct linkage in his own work. Nathanael explains that it isn’t necessarily a “price” the way we think about it when it comes to religious activity in the public sphere, but getting one’s objectives codified into law.

Our interview then finishes with Nathanael’s review of the history of the Evangelical Coalition dating back to the early and mid-19th century in the United States. We cover the involvement that evangelicals had in organizing around the abolitionist movement and then see how a new split between progressives and fundamentalists arises in the early 20th century, redefining how this religious coalition views such issues as science, Darwinism, and contraception. As politics can make strange bedfellows, the interesting dynamics of this coalition can be seen when Southern evangelicals vote with Catholics for Al Smith in the 1928 presidential election and against Herbert Hoover. The first half of the 20th century becomes a period of schism and churning within the Evangelical Coalition that eventually settles down by the 1950s, which Nathanael declares a period of “peak Christendom.” It is at this time that the likes of Billy Graham can draw support from a wide spectrum of religious denominations and political viewpoints. We see the emergence of more voting chaos in the 1970s as progressive evangelicalism (e.g., the Sojourners) distance themselves from what becomes the Christian Right. Nathanael discusses the election of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and declares the period of George W Bush the era of “peak evangelicalism.” Upon Tony’s prompting, Nathanael jumps into the world of speculation with respect to the upcoming 2016 presidential election, and also reflects on how his views about religion and politics have changed over the course of his research. Recorded: February 25, 2015.

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Jonathan Rose on Medieval Law and the Clergy

tonygill — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 09:00:11 +0000

How did common law develop in England? How is common law different than civil or canon law? And how did English clergy use the legal system to their benefit from the 13th to the 15th centuries? Professor emeritus Jonathan Rose of Arizona State University’s College of Law joins us to discuss these questions and many more. This interview is not only interesting for its connection to religion, but what one can learn about the development of a very “common” form of law and how legal institutions can be abused by various parties, including religious folk.

Our conversation begins with some general discussion about being an emeritus professor and about how Prof. Rose came to study medieval English law. We then dive into some basic definitions of legal terms, most importantly covering the differences between common, civil, and canon law. Early in our discussion, we talk about the work of Richard Helmholz, an expert in the area of medieval English law (including canon law). It was an edited volume in honor of Prof. Helmholz’s work that Prof. Rose wrote his essay on the abuse of legal procedures by clergy.

As common law develops in England throughout the medieval period, conflict ensues over the jurisdiction of the courts as relates to the clergy. Whereas there were a number of ecclesiastical courts that tried priests via canon law, the Church and its officials invariably interacted in the secular realm that brought it (and them) into contact with common law courts. Issues such as patronage, benefices, tithing, mortuary payments, land disputes, and even criminal misdeeds (e.g., rape) were often the subject of jurisdictional disputes between ecclesiastical and common law courts. Jonathan brings up the famous case of Thomas Becket as the best known example of such jurisdictional conflict that led to the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury. We also discuss a number of areas where the Church had jurisdictional power over the general population — e.g., marriage, probate, religious offenses — that often created tension with secular authorities and their citizens. This is a great overview of how the multi-faceted legal profession operated back in the days of yore.

The latter half of our discussion turns to the abuse of legal procedure. Here we learn that clergy were just as involved in the common law courts, and attempted to manipulate them to their advantage, just as the laity did. Prof. Rose explains the legal concepts of “maintenance” and “champerty.” Maintenance involves doing things in support of a lawsuit that one is not directly a party. Champerty was the worst type of maintenance in that it was expected that in exchange for help in litigation, an individual (or group) would receive some payment (or “part of the land”). One could imagine that this would lead to all sorts of machinations and conspiracies, and Prof. Rose points out that it certainly did and provides examples of such, including the noteworthy Eyre of Kent in 1293 wherein a group of priests were charged with conspiracy. Prof. Rose discusses how these abuses were eventually reined in beginning with Richard II. We conclude with some of Jonathan’s thoughts about how this history might teach us something of relevance in contemporary times. He notes that wherever there are legal rules, there will always be attempts to manipulate those rules. Recorded: January 12, 1016.

Prof. Jonathan Rose’s SSRN page (includes the article “Clergy and the Abuse of Legal Procedures in Medieval England”).

Studies in Canon Law and Common Law in Honor of R.H. Helmholz, edited by Troy Harris.

The Oxford History of the Laws of England, Volume I, edited by R.H. Helmholz.

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Murat Iyigun on Monotheism, Conflict, Europe, the Ottomans, and the Blues

tonygill — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 08:00:56 +0000

Are monotheisms better at establishing sociopolitical stability than civilizations with polytheistic religions? And to what extent do monotheistic civilizations influence the socio-economic development of one another? In particular, did the Ottoman Empire change the course of European history via its military advances into southeast Europe at a key moment in time? Prof. Murat Iyigun, the Stanford Calderwood Endowed Chair in Economics at the University of Colorado, answers these questions and discusses other interesting historical findings that he published in his new book, War, Peace, & Prosperity in the Name of God. And if that isn’t enough, Murat — an accomplished blues guitarist — treats us to an original “arabesque blues” tune at the end of our interview. Up your knowledge of history with our discussion, and then get down and funky with Prof. Iyigun’s musical stylings!

Our conversation begins, as usual, with a bit of background about our guest. Prof. Iyigun explains what cliometrics — one of his academic specialties — is and also how he became interested in the study of religion and economics. He notes that the events of September 11, combined with new advances in institutional economics, prompted him to look into the role that informal cultural institutions play in history. He also gives credit to his mentor — Herschel Grossman — at Brown University for inspiring him to look beyond the typical empirical fare of economics.

We then jump into Murat’s new book and he lays out the three central questions that he seeks to answer: 1) Why and how did monotheism spread so rapidly and become swiftly intertwined with political authority?; 2) What has been the role of religion and ideology in conflict historically?; and 3) What were the lasting sociopolitical and economic effects of religiously-motivated conflicts? As for the first question, we walk through Murat’s empirical study showing that, ceteris paribus, monotheistic civilizations tend to last longer than polytheistic ones and generally have greater territorial reach (a proxy for governing effectiveness). Tony probes some of the methodological difficulties in measuring these phenomenon and Murat provides convincing answers as to why his study does show a significant effect for monotheism. He then reviews some of the reasons why monotheisms might be better for obtaining sociopolitical stability, including the ability of ecclesiastics to provide credibility to rulers and lower the discount rate of individuals thus allowing for longer-term policies.

Turning to one particular monotheistic civilization — the Ottoman Caliphate — Dr. Iyigun provides some background information about how the Ottomans were able to rise to power and conquer a vast territory, extending across North Africa, into the Arabian peninsula, and eastward towards central Asia. He discusses the “Gaza ideology,” which promotes the basis for an offensive military strategy allowing for conquest, which then becomes its own engine of growth, allowing for a further extension of rule. The height of Ottoman rule from the mid-15th to the 17th centuries also has an important impact on Europe. With the Ottomans pushing into the Balkans and close to the gates of Vienna, Europeans had to reduce their own territorial infighting in order to address this external existential threat. Murat notes that while the Roman Church’s monopoly had come under challenge prior to the Protestant Reformation (e.g., the Hussites and Lollards), the definitive Protestant break fostered by Martin Luther was catalyzed by the Ottoman threat. While acknowledging the role of the printing press and other explanations for Protestant success, Prof. Iyigun argues that military advances by the Ottomans forced Europeans to temper their own intra-faith hostilities and conflict, which in turn gave Christian dissenters a chance to take hold and expand on the continent. His empirical work on the frequency and duration of intra-European conflict compared against Ottoman advances, along with qualitative evidence in the documents of Prince Ferdinand and others, shows this hypothesis to be rather convincing.

We move next to a set of miscellaneous (albeit important) questions about how this may have impacted the different economic development trajectories of the two regions — Europe and the Middle East. Tony asks whether the threat of Europe, particularly in the form of The Crusades, might have played a similar galvanizing role in Ottoman economic development. Interestingly, it does not and Murat explains what happens when the dominant power in the region faces such threats. He notes three phases — denial that a threat exists, a conservative revival to “restore historic greatness” leading to a reliance on old institutions not suited for a new reality, and then finally emulation of the institutions of the rising power. We also talk about another interesting facet of his book — the role of harem politics. While most of his book is macro-historical, he does devote time to looking into the micro-foundations of military decisions in the Ottoman Caliphate and develops a fascinating thesis. Here he argues that the nature of dynastic succession relied upon births that were from captured concubines and slave women, often from Christian lands (sometimes as far away as France). He tests whether the heritage of the mothers of various sultans played a role in determining where military campaigns would take place. Interestingly, valide sultans (queen mothers) who came from Christian regions (although who also converted to Islam), had an influence in tamping down military incursions into Europe. While only a side chapter in Murat’s book, this may be one of the most interesting and surprising findings of his study (at least to Tony, who notes that “Moms matter” in history).

Prof. Iyigun finishes off with some broad lessons he learned from his decade-long study of this topic. He notes that institutional, particularly informal (cultural) institutional, context is very important for structuring political and economic histories. He also notes that while economic competition in a globalizing world is often viewed positively, cultural/ideological competition should be viewed the same way. Finally, he learned that in a globalizing world, religion may become a more important focal point for bringing people together than nationalisms, a thesis advanced earlier by Samuel Huntington but which Murat intends to explore further in a more rigorous fashion. And last, but not least, Murat talks about his love of the blues and how he came to play in the band Barrel of Blues, and then treats us to his own composition — Muqarnas. Enjoy! Recorded: July 8, 2015.

War, Peace, & Prosperity in the Name of God: The Ottoman Role in Europe’s Socioeconomic Evolution, by Murat Iyigun.

Barrel of Blues (great tunes can be found here).

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Paul Kubicek on Islam, Political Islam, and Democracy

tonygill — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 08:00:34 +0000

Can Islamic nations craft functioning democracies? While a cursory glance at the Arab Middle East would suggest the difficulty with such a task, Dr. Paul Kubicek, professor of political science at Oakland University, discusses his comparative research that shows a number of tentative successes with democracy in the Muslim world. We discuss Turkey and a number of other countries that receive little attention in the popular media such as Senegal, Mali, Tunisia, and Bangladesh. While many of these countries have experienced democracy in the past decade or so, and some of them (e.g., Bangladesh) still face significant challenges, Prof. Kubicek’s research shows that Islam and democracy are not necessarily incompatible.

As per usual, Tony asks Paul about his background with particular attention to how someone who studied post-communist nations in eastern Europe would end up taking a job in Istanbul at Koc University, especially since he had never visited that nation prior to his job interview and did not know Turkish. We chat a bit about his time there and his reflections on being a “stranger in a strange land.” It was his three year stint as a professor at Koc that created the seeds of interest that eventually became the basis of his book Political Islam and Democracy in the Muslim World.

We then take care of a few definitional issues talking about what democracy is and where nations in the Muslim world — stretching from Morocco to Malaysia — fit in comparative perspective. Paul notes that on empirical scores of democracy (mainly from the Polity data set), Muslim countries score significantly lower (i.e., less democratic) than the non-Muslim world. He reviews a number of reasons other scholars have advanced for this “democratic deficit,” including theories about poverty’s relationship to democracy, the “resource curse,” and some political culture factors, as well as hypotheses linking Islam’s incompatibility with democratic governance. We then talk a bit about the variation within Islam — not a monolithic religion by any means — and briefly explore the topic of political Islam.

The last half of our interview surveys a number of countries that have had some success with democratization. We start with Turkey, the country that was Paul’s home for three years. He reviews the history of that nation and notes how religion was removed from political consideration during and following Kemal Ataturk’s rule. Paul then talks about the democratization process and how it has opened up to individuals who want a more public space to express their religion and the rise of the Justice & Development Party (AKP). While there has been a few steps backwards in terms of free speech and other civil liberties, Paul does not attribute this to Islam per se, but rather just the natural desire of governments to want more power. We also discuss the pull that Europe has had on the political landscape of Turkey, and Paul notes that while Europe did exert some influence towards democratization in the 1990s, this influence has faded in the past decade.

We then move on to a number of lesser-known countries, starting with Senegal — a west African nation that has shown considerable success with democratic governance. Again, Paul reviews the history of this country (a former French colony) and explains how the “national brand” of Islam, which is Sufi-based, assisted (or at least did not inhibit) the process of democratization. Paul points out that a great deal of toleration for other religions exists in this country and a number of the first presidents were, in fact, non-Muslims. We then travel a bit to the northeast to look at Mali. Of all the countries examined in his book, Mali would appear to be the least conducive to democracy given its low GDP per capita and high rates of illiteracy. Nonetheless, beginning in 1992, the country moved in a democratic direction with competitive elections. A brief military coup in 2012 prompted by separatist unrest in the north was short-lived as the generals handed back power to civilians. Bangladesh is then offered up as a case where things have not progressed as well and Paul explains how “creeping Islamization” from Pakistan has caused backtracking on a variety of civil liberties.

We finish off the interview with some discussion of the Arab Spring, a movement starting back in 2011 that offered hope for political liberalization in North Africa and the Middle East, but which has not been as successful in that area as was hoped. Paul points out that Tunisia, the point of origin for the Arab Spring, is doing well with respect to democratic liberalization but other countries have floundered, including Egypt. Paul offers up some final thoughts on the political future of the region. Recorded: July 2, 2015.

Political Islam and Democracy in the Muslim World, by Paul Kubicek.

From Solidarity to Infirmity: Organized Labor in Post-Communist States, by Paul Kubicek.

Unbroken Ties: The State, Interest Associations, and Corporatism in Post-Soviet Ukraine, by Paul Kubicek.

The European Union and Democratization, edited by Paul Kubicek.

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Phoenix Moomaw on Ronald Reagan’s Faith (Our 250th Episode!)

tonygill — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 08:00:55 +0000

For our annual Fourth of July show, and our 250th episode, we invite our very first freshly-minted high school graduate, Phoenix Moomaw of The Bear Creek School, to discuss his recently completed senior project investigating the faith of President Ronald Reagan. Phoenix is well-positioned for this research project given that his grandfather — Donn Moomaw — was Ronald Reagan’s pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church from the time that Reagan was an actor, his tenure as governor of California, and during the White House years. To add to this, Phoenix’s family discovered a set of letters written by Ronald Reagan that had previously gone undiscovered and uses this correspondence (dating form the governorship and presidency years) to build his thesis.

We begin the discussion talking about the nature of Mr. Moomaw’s senior project. He provides his school’s rationale for requiring such a project and mentions a few of the other activities his classmates did. He then talks about how he came about his project in particular. The impetus for his investigation of Reagan’s faith was prompted by the discovery of several folders of letters in his grandfather’s garage that dated back to the 1960s and 1980s. He takes time to give us a taste of these letters and reads one them related to the treatments of Presbyterians under the Sandinista regime. Phoenix’s desire to scan these discovered documents to pass around to his family then became a project designed to determine how much of an influence religion played in Reagan’s life, and we walk through the steps of his research project discussing his three days spent in the archives at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. It is also noted during the interview that Phoenix relied upon personal discussions with his grandfather about his recollections of Reagan, including a time when Reagan reached out to Rev. Moomaw regarding a decision whether or not to pardon a death row inmate.

Phoenix’s principal research question was to determine how authentic Reagan’s faith was and how this played out in actual policy decisions. He uses as his basis for analysis C.S. Lewis’s theological test of true faith put forth in Mere Christianity, and Richard Neibuhr’s concept of “Christ above culture” in his book Christ and Culture. He explains both of these concepts for listeners. As for the former, Phoenix notes that Reagan did have an authentic faith as a “mere Christian.” Reagan also saw a place for religion and politics and maintained a moral compass for the nation. The analysis of whether Reagan was “Christ above culture” is more nuanced given that this concept holds up a standard that is separated from culture, but one that attempts to influence culture. Phoenix notes how difficult it is for a president to live according to this standard. Phoenix’s grandfather noted that Reagan did not want to talk theology much and did not believe he could influence culture much. Phoenix concludes from this that Reagan entered into office with a strong religious background, but as time wore on his beliefs were shaped by his office and he lost sight of much of big picture that he entered the White House with, becoming mired in daily decisions. Even though Reagan did pray over these difficult decisions, it was difficult to hold to the “Christ above culture” standard. We reflect upon how difficult this is for all of us. Recorded: June 24, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

The Bear Creek School.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, CA.

Christ and Culture, by Richard Neibuhr (as mentioned in podcast).

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Mark David Hall on Religion and the Founding Fathers.

Should Christians Have Fought the US War of Independence.

Matthew Isaacs on Religion & Ethnic Rebellion

tonygill — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 08:00:20 +0000

When does religion play a role in ethnic rebellion and when does it remain irrelevant? Matthew Isaacs, a PhD candidate in political science at Brandeis University, adopts an economic model of religion to explain that when denominations are in competition with one another, and when they are facing declining resources, religious rhetoric will be used more frequently in mobilizing groups involved in ethnic turbulence.

Our conversation begins with a discussion of how he came upon his dissertation topic and the general literature in ethnic conflict. That topic has been of increasing interest to political scientists and Matt notes how he was able to plug in his interest in the “religious economies” perspective to help provide a further understanding of when religion becomes a salient dimension in such conflict. He notes that while it might seem obvious that religion and ethnic conflict would always be linked, and some studies have noticed a connection, there are plenty of instances — often in the same conflict — where religious rhetoric is not used to mobilize combatants and other forms of support. Matt notes that since much of the recent literature on ethnic struggles is rooted in a more rationalist perspective, the use of this theoretical perspective was pretty intuitive.

We then discuss his broad-based analysis of ethnic conflict from 1970 – 2014, a period chosen primarily for data availability. Without getting thick into the statistical details, he briefly mentions how he measured his different variables and how the analysis he ran demonstrated a very strong relationship between religious competition and use of religious rhetoric in conflict, as well as the importance of having a relatively more open political opportunity structure (i.e., a place where rebellious rhetoric is more free to express itself). Attention then turns to his qualitative analysis of two seemingly disparate cases — Northern Ireland during “The Troubles” and the recent Sri Lankan civil war. While seemingly very different cases, both involved religious rhetoric being used on one side of the conflict, but not on the other.

Matthew walks us through both of his case studies beginning with Northern Ireland. Here the story drives us back to the post-WWII era where a bombed out Belfast sent populations scrambling to rebuild in suburbs and leaving churches bereft of resources stranded in the city. Competition to head out to the suburbs intensified quickly among Protestants and created a very dynamic religious market. Catholics didn’t exit their faith as much thus that particular niche market did not face much competition. Interestingly, and in conformance with Matt’s thesis, religious rhetoric was more commonly used to rally Protestants to the Unionist cause (the group that favored union with Great Britain, which ironically meant separation from Ireland). Matt similarly traces the religious roots of ethnic conflict back prior to the actual fighting in the Sri Lankan civil war. Colonialism played a large role in Sri Lankan history and when the British left the island in 1948 a number of grievances about funding Buddhist temples arose that created competition amongst various monks. Over time, this translated into a factionalization in the faith that had a number of monks and political actors vying for support by tying themselves to the ethnic conflict with the Tamils. He traces this type of competition to a number of electoral cycles in the 1950s and 1970s and how it eventually manifested itself in violent hostilities in the 1980s.

Matt finished off with some self-reflection about the things he has learned in his current research. Note that because Matt was using a cell phone there are a few spots in the recording that sound a bit off due to the audio compression. The problems are mostly in the first 15 minutes of the interview. Recorded: May 26, 2015.

Matthew Isaacs on Twitter.

Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Society (IRES) at Chapman University. (Info on the IRES graduate student workshop.)

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Denis Dragovic on Religion & State-Building

tonygill — Sun, 10 May 2015 08:00:44 +0000

Do religious organizations play any role in helping to rebuild failed states? Prof. Denis Dragovic, an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne, joins us from Australia to discuss his new book Religion and Post-Conflict Statebuilding: Roman Catholic and Sunni Islamic Perspectives. Prof. Dragovic not only is a scholar of this topic, but he is also a practitioner who has had extensive experience in the field working with a variety of faith-based groups in some of the most politically troubled spots in the world. He begins the interview by telling us how he had to rescue one of his aid workers that had been kidnapped in Iraq, a harrowing tale indeed!

Our discussion on the issue of state-building begins with a little political science discussion, helping to define the terms of “failed state” and “state-building.” Denis notes that there are three critical areas that must be tended to when creating a functioning state that can help coordinate a society: 1) legitimacy; 2) security; and 3) basic needs (e.g., food, shelter). Without any of these three elements, individuals in a society live in a rather precarious situation. Denis peppers his discussion with some examples from the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. We then discuss what role religious organizations can play and why so many policymakers have overlooked the important organizational role faith groups play in society. Religious groups are essential components of civil society that usually remain well-organized even when a secular governing system is collapsing, plus they provide a great deal of knowledge about local conditions and network well with residents in villages and towns.

We then move on to how religious groups assist in building (or rebuilding) the three elements of a functioning state. We start with legitimacy and Denis dissects this concept further by noting that there are three components to legitimacy: 1) legal validity of the state; 2) justification of power that transcends generations; and 3) the expression of citizen consent. He explains how religious groups can lend support to political leaders linking their legitimacy to the citizenry, and how rulers also use religious symbolism to connect with their population. He illustrates this with an interesting tale from Croatia following the civil war it experienced following the collapse of Yugoslavia. Security is the next issue we take up, and this is a surprising one given that religious groups generally do not control police or military force. Nonetheless, faith-based entities provide the ability to adjudicate disputes, enhance social capital (such as trust within society), and promote civic norms and values that help bring peace to a society. The role of sermons by religious leaders plays a large role here. Finally, we discuss the area of basic needs, which is what most people think about when talking about the role of religious groups in troubled areas. Here we cover the dimensions of international aid and domestic assistance, noting how religious organizations know a great deal about the local needs of different communities and are great conduits for solving problems.

We then discuss the role that different faith traditions play in state-building, including what it is like to work ecumenically across theologies. This takes us into a brief discussion of the different conceptualizations that Catholics and Sunni Muslims have with respect to the role of the state and governance. Our attention then turns to an interesting situation in the Middle East, which is the rise of the Islamic State and where this emerging group fits into the topic of state-building. We finish with some of Prof. Dragovic’s thoughts about what he has learned over the course of his scholarship and many years working in the field. Recorded: April 22, 2015.

Prof. Denis Dragovic’s bio at the Conversation.

Religion and Post-Conflict Statebuilding: Roman Catholic and Sunni Islamic Perspectives, by Denis Dragovic.

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Pamela Edwards on Samuel Taylor Coleridge

tonygill — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 09:00:50 +0000

While best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) also was a philosopher, historian, and theologian who had a great deal to say about the politics of his day. Dr. Pamela Edwards, an expert on Coleridge’s thought and the director of academic programs at the Jack Miller Center, discusses the life and times of this interesting figure.

Our conversation begins with a biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, including his youth as one of 13 children to an Anglican minister and his education in Christ’s Hospital, a school dispossessed children of clergy. We follow him through a period of turbulence at Cambridge University, where he never completed his degree and toyed around with a number of different theological and political ideas. Dr. Edwards then explains how Coleridge made his living after leaving Cambridge, finding friends and patrons that would sponsor his work and serving as a writer in various formats including poetry, journalism, and pamphlet writing. We discuss his various influences, including Edmund Burke, and how the unfolding of events of the era, namely the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, had an impact on him. As the podcast progresses, we note his unique historical position of straddling the very tail end of the feudal aristocratic period and the emergence of the Industrial Revolution.

Pamela then walks us through the development of Coleridge’s thinking on politics and how it blended his philosophical thoughts on Christianity and history. This journey begins with The Statemen’s Manual; or The Bible, the Best Guide to Political Skill and Foresight. Pamela makes note that the full titles of all his work are very important to understanding the content of his writing. This Lay Sermon, was aimed at educating politicians and diplomats about good governance. We discuss how much of this was rooted in the ideas of covenant and contracts in the Old Testament.

Our discussion then takes a look at On the Constitution of Church and State According to the Idea of Each. Again, Pamela notes the importance of the full title of the work and how it mattered that the term “Idea” was capitalized throughout the work. Here we dip into Coleridge’s view of history as an emanation of the divine and the living memory of the nation. Coleridge argues that the Church is a fulcrum point in history balancing the permanence of history (represented by the landed gentry) and progress (the coming commercial age). Coleridge’s political philosophy was to infuse an aristocratic spirit into an increasingly democratic world.

The interview finishes with some of Pamela’s reflections on how Coleridge would view our world today, noting that the fragmentation that we tend to have amongst specialized departments in modern universities would be unsettling to him, as he saw things in a much more holistic light. Dr. Edwards also discusses the importance of having a moral foundation for both “experts and amateurs” that helps to anchor our increasingly technical world. Recorded: February 11, 2015.

The Statesman’s Science: History, Nature, and Law in the Political Thought of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, by Pamela Edwards.

The Oxford Handbook on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by Frederick Burwick.

The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce, by Deidre McCloskey (mentioned in podcast).

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