Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want - Hardcover

Smith, Christian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520220412 ISBN 13: 9780520220416

Publisher: University of California Press, 2000

Synopsis

In recent decades Protestant evangelicalism has become a conspicuous and--to many Americans, worrisome--part of this country's cultural and political landscape. But just how unified is the supposed constituency of the Christian Coalition? And who exactly are the people the Christian Right claims to represent? In the most extensive study of American evangelicals ever conducted, Christian Smith explores the beliefs, values, commitments, and goals of the ordinary men and women who make up this often misunderstood religious group. The result is a much-needed contribution to the discussion of issues surrounding fundamental American freedoms and the basic identity of the United States as a pluralistic nation.

Based on data from a three-year national study, including more than 200 in-depth interviews of evangelicals around the country, Christian America? assesses the common stereotype of evangelicals as intolerant, right-wing, religious zealots seeking to impose a Christian moral order through political force. What Smith finds instead are people vastly more diverse and ambivalent than this stereotype suggests. On issues such as religion in education, "family values," Christian political activism, and tolerance of other religions and moralities, evangelicals are highly disparate and conflicted. As the voices of interviewees make clear, the labels "conservative" and "liberal" are too simplistic for understanding their approaches to public life and political action.

About this title

About the Author

Christian Smith is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving (1998) and Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement (1996).

From the Back Cover

"This book clearly demonstrates how important it is to listen. Smith's work provides us with broad and systematic confirmation of what a decade of ethnographic studies had anticipated--when we get past our stereotypes long enough to listen to ordinary evangelicals, we find a much more diverse and ambivalent family than the 'mighty charging army' of culture war rhetoric. Serious attention to the findings reported here can be an important ingredient in building the civil and tolerant society we say we want."―Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Bible Believers

""This volume captures the common sense views of thousands of grass-roots evangelicals about the role of politics and pluralism in contemporary America. It shows that evangelicals speak not with one voice, but reflect a wide range of options on most issues of pressing cultural importance. Smith's subtle and wide-ranging work will significantly define--and redefine--the discussion of religion in America at the turn of the twentieth century."―Grant Wacker, Duke University

"In this well-researched and highly readable book, Christian Smith explodes many of the stereotypes associated with evangelicals. Contrary to the view presented in the media and shared by many liberals, Smith conclusively demonstrates that the typical evangelical is not a political extremist, nor does he or she believe in forcing their world view on others. Instead, most evangelicals share the same cultural values of tolerance and individualism that are common to mainstream America. This landmark study, drawing on extensive survey data and hundreds of in-depth interviews, will redefine our view of evangelicalism"―Donald E. Miller, author of Reinventing American Protestantism

From the Inside Flap

"This book clearly demonstrates how important it is to listen. Smith's work provides us with broad and systematic confirmation of what a decade of ethnographic studies had anticipated--when we get past our stereotypes long enough to listen to ordinary evangelicals, we find a much more diverse and ambivalent family than the 'mighty charging army' of culture war rhetoric. Serious attention to the findings reported here can be an important ingredient in building the civil and tolerant society we say we want."—Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Bible Believers

""This volume captures the common sense views of thousands of grass-roots evangelicals about the role of politics and pluralism in contemporary America. It shows that evangelicals speak not with one voice, but reflect a wide range of options on most issues of pressing cultural importance. Smith's subtle and wide-ranging work will significantly define--and redefine--the discussion of religion in America at the turn of the twentieth century."—Grant Wacker, Duke University

"In this well-researched and highly readable book, Christian Smith explodes many of the stereotypes associated with evangelicals. Contrary to the view presented in the media and shared by many liberals, Smith conclusively demonstrates that the typical evangelical is not a political extremist, nor does he or she believe in forcing their world view on others. Instead, most evangelicals share the same cultural values of tolerance and individualism that are common to mainstream America. This landmark study, drawing on extensive survey data and hundreds of in-depth interviews, will redefine our view of evangelicalism"—Donald E. Miller, author of Reinventing American Protestantism

Reviews

In this convincing cultural analysis, Smith, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, aims to debunk the prevailing myth, fed by high-profile elites in the religious right, that evangelical Christians are a uniform body of obedient zealots. Smith focuses on "ordinary Evangelicals" and poses the questions embedded in the title: What do they want from America, and how do they hope to get it? He then combines compelling statistical research with evangelicals' own words from in-depth interviews to show that evangelicals as a group are hardly monolithic in their views, nor do they necessarily constitute a threat to pluralism in America. In matters ranging from politics to public schools and gender roles in the family, the author finds that evangelicals are far more likely to advocate tolerance and change through example and personal Christian discipleship than through public mandates. In his chapter on families, Smith reveals a particularly intriguing complexity of evangelical views: most respondents claim male headship without giving up equality between spouses. These internal contradictions are precisely what Smith wants us to understand; although they may lag behind other Americans in advocating diversity, evangelicals are still more complex than most have assumed thus far. Smith provides a narrated appendix in which he presents his regression analyses in surprisingly readable form, appropriate even for the lay reader. This book is a major contribution, both substantively and methodologically, to understanding America's religious landscape.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Unlike Linda Kintz's Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions That Matter in Right-Wing America (LJ 10/1/97) and much of the other recent literature on the Christian right, Smith (sociology, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving) goes beyond the speeches and books of the (often self-) identified leaders and examines the attitudes of the broad range of Protestant evangelicals. Basing his research on interviews that followed up on surveys, Smith shows that most evangelicals do not want a country in which Christian beliefs and practices are imposed, as is so often charged. Their views generally are much more nuanced and diverse, and Smith, using a narrative form, discusses several of them, considering topics that range from gender roles to the role of religion in politics and public schools. An appendix gives the results of several surveys. An important book, especially during this Presidential election year; recommended for most libraries.
-Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520220412
• ISBN 13: 9780520220416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 267