justice lived in the faith community: the revival of progressive religious activistm
DESCRIPTION
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.TRANSCRIPT
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
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Losing the Public Imagination
2004 and the “Values Voters”
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PROGRESSIVE RELIGIOUS ACTIVISTSInfluence and Profile
Findings from the 2009 Religious Activists SurveysBliss Institute for Applied Politics, University of Akron
Public Religion Research
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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THE REVIVAL OF PROGRESSIVE RELIGIOUS ACTIVISM
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