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"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, placing the election in historical context and looking at the campaign as a whole, from the primaries through all the way through election day. At the heart of their analysis is data gleaned from a national survey conducted by the authors, in which voters were interviewed in the spring of 2008 and then re-interviewed after the election."--BOOK JACKET

Is the private experience of religion counterproductive to engagement in public life? Does the public experience of religion contribute anything distinctive to civic engagement? Pews, Prayers, and Participation offers a fresh approach to key questions about what role religion plays in fostering civic responsibility in contemporary American society. Written by five prominent scholars of religion and politics, led by Calvin College's Corwin Smidt, the book brilliantly articulates how religion shapes participation in a range of civic activitiesùfrom behaviors (such as membership in voluntary asso

Bowling alone but serving together: the congregational norm of community involvement / Ram A. Cnaan, Stephanie C. Boddie, and Gaynor I. Yancey -- Religious social capital: its nature, social location, and limits / John A. Coleman -- Faith and leadership in the inner city: how social capital contributes to democratic renewal / Mark A. Warren -- Does religion matter? projecting democratic power into the public arena / Richard L. Wood -- Religion and volunteering in America / David E. Campbell and Steven J. Yonish -- The religious basis of charitable giving in America: a social capital perspective / Roger J. Nemeth and Donald A. Luidens -- Ties that bind and flourish: religion as social capital in African-American politics and society / Fredrick Harris -- Social capital and societal vision: a study of six farm communities in Iowa / Janel Curry -- Religious involvement, social capital, and political engagement: a comparison of the United States and Canada / Corwin Smith [and others] -- The language of God in the city of man: religious discourse and public politics in America / Rhys H. Williams -- Can religion revitalize civil society? an institutional perspective / Robert Wuthnow -- Religion, social capital, and democratic life: concluding thoughts / Corwin Smidt.

"Measuring Religion in Terms of Belonging, Beliefs, and Behavior" published on by Oxford University Press.

AbstractGiven their strategic position within American society, clergy continue to remain important actors in American politics. This article examines the partisan identifications and electoral behavior of American Protestant clergy in the 2016 presidential election. Although clergy partisanship may be of interest in any election, the 2016 contest, given the milieu of political polarization and the presence of the Trump candidacy, provides an intriguing context for assessing the profession's electoral behavior, particularly among Republican clergy. Based on survey results from over 2,500 clergy drawn from ten Protestant (five mainline and five evangelical) denominations, the study finds that, during the early stages of the 2016 nomination process, only a small percentage of Republican clergy supported Trump and that, despite the high level of political polarization, a sizable segment of Republican clergy resisted partisan pressures and refused to vote for Trump in the general election. The propensity of both independent and Republican clergy to vote for the GOP nominee varied largely with the level of perceived "threats": to the Christian heritage of the nation, from Islam, and from the process of "globalization."

AbstractThis is a study of the comparative outcome success experienced by 2748 participants in government-funded faith-based and community-based intervention programs for at-risk and adjudicated Latino youths run by 28 providers in five western cities. The Latino Coalition, an intermediary faith-based organization, subcontracted with 28 sub-grantees that provided the services from 2005–2008. The study found similar outcomes were experienced by youths in the faith-based versus the community-based programs, but it did find significantly different outcomes by the comprehensive versus non-comprehensive nature of the programs. The study places its findings in the context of faith-based and community initiatives and draws conclusions concerning the public policy implications of the government partnering with faith-based and community-based organizations to provide public services to needy, and especially minority, populations.