justice lived in the faith community: the revival of progressive religious activistm

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Presentation by Public Religion Research Institute CEO Dr. Robert P. Jones on April 24, 2010, at the Leading Edge Conference on Multicultural Congregations, sponsored by Middle Collegiate Church in New York. Includes data from Dr. Jones' book, Progressive & Religious, along with findings from PRRI's 2009 Religious Activists Surveys.

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PublicReligionResearch

Dr. Robert P. Jones, PresidentDaniel Cox, Director of Research

JUSTICE LIVED IN THE FAITH COMMUNITYThe Revival of Progressive Religious Activism

The Leading Edge Conference, April 2010

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 2

Losing the Public Imagination

2004 and the “Values Voters”

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 3

PROGRESSIVE RELIGIOUS ACTIVISTSInfluence and Profile

Findings from the 2009 Religious Activists SurveysBliss Institute for Applied Politics, University of Akron

Public Religion Research

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 4

Overview of American Religious Landscape

24%

47%

18%

11%

Conservative ChristiansReligious ModeratesProgressive People of FaithNon-Religioius

Source: “Faithful, Engaged, and Divergent,” Religious Activists Surveys, Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at University of Akron, Public Religion Research, 2009.

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 5

Not Outnumbered, but Out-Organized

Challenges to Progressive Religious Organizing1. Diverse and Dispersed– religious, theological, ethnic, geographic

2. Timid– Movitivated by commendable values (respect for others,

separation of church and state, humility)3. Overlooked– Conservative religious voices featured 3 to 1 in major media

compared to progressive religious voices (Media Matters, 2007).– Infrastructure: Ex. Dobson’s Focus on the Family: greater radio

reach than NPR and greater print subscriber base than NYT.

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 6

Affiliation Diversity of Religious Activists

5435

91

Conservative Religious Activists

44

1712

10

8

6

2 1

Progressive Religious Activists

Mainline Protestant

Roman Catholic

Unitarian/Mixed Faith

Evangelical Protestant

Former/Unaffiliated

Jewish

Other Faiths

Refused

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 7

Views of Scripture

319

37

21

174

Progressive Activists

Word of God, LiteralWord of God, Not literalContains word of God, reflects historyOne important source of wisdomAncient book of legendsRefused

48

35

102 4

Conservative Activists

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 8

Theological OrientationStructural vs. Individualistic

928

37

1311

2

Progressive Activists

Extremely StructuralVery StructuralSomewhat StructuralMixedSomewhat Individualis-ticVery IndividualisticExtremely Individualis-tic

1

4

22

41

32

Conservative Activists

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 9

Divergent Issue Priorities

Poverty

Health care

The environment

Jobs/economy

The Iraq war

Immigration

Same-sex marriage

Abortion

0 20 40 60 80 100

74

67

56

48

45

21

8

7

23

10

6

21

15

26

65

83

% Saying issue is 'Most Important'

Conservative ActivistsProgressive Activists

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 10

Positions on Selected Issues

Abortion legal all/most cases

Support same-sex marriage

Iraq war unjustified

Torture never justified

Support universal health insurance

Support > environmental protections

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2

1

14

15

6

13

80

59

94

79

78

87

Progressive ActivistsConservative Activists

/ 12The Revival of Progressive Religious Activism 11

THE REVIVAL OF PROGRESSIVE RELIGIOUS ACTIVISM

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