Even the most highly religious Americans say that 82 percent of them. Again, its the Aunt Susan principle. Your question about whether a year is enough time to capture differences in our case, what I was emphasizing here, peoples religious social networks, was one that we actually had. Its an interesting story because having diverse ethnic groups within the Catholic Church thats nothing new. Because two or more religions contradict one another. Below that, we find evangelical Protestants and Americans who are not religious. And this is our favorite little detail: It turns out the United States is actually just a smidgen more religious, at least by this measure, than are the folks who live in Iran. CAMPBELL: Thats a good question. And your religion, you know, teaches you, theologically, shes not supposed to be able to go to heaven. We give within the vignettes that we have in the book quite a few examples of in this case its parishes in Chicago that are dealing with the influx of Latinos. For those of you who dont have copies, shame on you, but we have some available outside this event in the hallway. Today Im going to try to cover at least some of the highlights of what weve done. The takeaway finding is that the most popular religious group in America today: Jews, followed closely by Catholics. In other words, religion doesnt matter much to them, and we can see, again, over that year period for most of those folks theres been no other change in their life. Its something that they really do believe. Key Terms proletariat: the working class or lower class status quo: the current state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs. ELIZABETH TENETY, THE WASHINGTON POST: I am really interested in this quote from Rod Dreher, in particular what now Im writing down the tolerance trajectory and whats happening as we are pluralistic. WILLIAM DANTONIO, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: I want to return, David, to the response that you made on the brouhaha in the Senate between Reid and Kyl. They dont know whether they are in or out. Carrying a purse would be one of those things, maybe. The threat of religious extremism is real and well documented. The thing that makes it possible for religion to be divisive is also the thing that makes it possible to unite Americans in many other ways. It may very well be that this tolerance that comes from the experience of other kinds of people is very fragile. They give us the same answer a year later, and that suggests that theyre not just making it up. Thats not to say that all groups are viewed the same, and so we have an extended section in American Grace where we talk about how Americans perceive not just some sort of generalized people who are different from them, but actually how they perceive those who are in specific groups. It is about good governance and security. The religion that Campbell and Putnam describe seems to be very good at making people happy, but it doesnt seem to be particularly good at making for a more just and equitable society. We do talk at length about the demographic transformation thats happening in the United States, particularly with the growth of the Latino population and the impact thats had on the American religious landscape, specifically within the Roman Catholic Church. Now, the third of those three is the one that often causes audiences to sit back and say, what? Such conflict is harmful to the overall credibility of religion and may cause religious apathy or disintegration. Shes the one you call when youre in trouble. And thats true. At this time Id like to introduce David Campbell, coauthor of American Grace: How Religion Divides Us. Here are some reasons why religious conflicts occur: Disagreements on opinions and views. Why are countries in sub-Saharan Africa so vulnerable to this kind of conflict? And then for folks who simply say Im just a Christian, we have made a decision in the book that kind of works against our findings. DENNIS CROWLEY, UNITED NEWS & INFORMATION: Did you find out if any denomination is affected by immigration the changing role or the changing landscape? Theyre sort of yearning, we think, for a form of religion. CAMPBELL: When we speak of religious beliefs, the questions that weve asked folks and we compiled them with the help of people like John Green and then a whole group of others who have spent a long time studying this sort of thing to advise us when we speak of religious beliefs, they are beliefs that are religious in nature. Actually, the role that ethnicity and race play within religion is a major theme in the book. They clam up and say, Im not anything. Thats not my politics, and if I say that Im of a particular religion, this persons going to think that I also have those politics and I dont. Thats just the idiosyncrasies. Due to poorly treating members of society. GREEN: It turns out that just a lot of the groups that voted conservative, voted Republican in the last election have these traditional religious beliefs of the sort that Dave has measured in his survey. Religious discrimination and religious armed conflict in sub-Saharan And if things change, thats where, often, we find some interesting results. I think thats a very good way to put it. Religion may function differently today than it has in the past, but it still continues to function in American society in a very powerful way. Religious Fluidity, Interlocking Social Networks Several measures will be required butthe good news is that some of these are already in place. All religions have their accepted doctrines or beliefs that followers must accept without question. It is so common that we often dont even remark upon it at all. The spike in religious violence is global and affects virtually every religious group. Our book actually came out right in the midst of all of that so we got a lot of questions about whether this American grace were describing was something of the past because today it looks like this is a group thats not perceived very positively by the American population. That is one way that we get all the religious mixing and mingling that we find in the United States. You also asked about whether the religious intermarriage you find within couples suggests that theres a blurring of the lines between religious traditions, and I think that that is certainly the case. So going forward, we might very well see a diminishment in the staunchness, if you want to put it that way, of peoples religious beliefs as we become a more pluralistic and interconnected society. We have a whole other set of questions that ask probably more along the lines of what youre describing that I might call ideology or values that are more secular in nature than religious. Or do we have these strong beliefs, and as a result, were in these communities that make us happy and good citizens? African governments must do mostof the work with the support of other countries. You got a lot of Republicans who supported those. Were actually now going to do a third weve gotten funding for that and that will be a five-year span of time, which is by the standards that people do this sort of research almost an eternity. It turns out that Mormons actually work that way too. As you know, the Forum is a project of the Pew Research Center, which is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization. As an example, the diocese of Spokane in the Catholic Church, which is eastern Washington, and the diocese of Boise, which is all of Idaho. This can lead to inflexibility and intolerance towards other beliefs. What I think is a more likely explanation for the high level of religiosity among Americans stems back to the constitutional architecture of the country, given that we have never had a state church, per se. From a non-religious point of view, this is mainly about long-term development. The Impact of Religious Conflict in Society - GraduateWay CAMPBELL: And has he received any blowback from that? If you live within a Catholic parish, youre supposed to go to the particular church represented within that parish. We have much more as well. Were going to show you some evidence today that that is actually the case, that Americans are quite accepting of those who are of other faiths, which is a remarkable thing given that so many Americans are themselves not only religious in a nominal sense, that is, they have a religious affiliation, but theyre also quite serious about their religion. Ill just mention briefly here that we have good reason to believe that the growth of the nones that second aftershock is a direct reaction to the intermingling of religion and politics in the United States. If you look at that data and the percentage of Americans who married across specifically Catholic versus Protestant lines, America a hundred years ago looks like Northern Ireland today. Some people might, for instance, believe in God and assume that God is white, lives in the suburbs and has $100,000 a year in income. So this includes Episcopal parishes in Boston, Catholic parishes in Chicago, evangelical megachurches of different types in Southern California, in Minneapolis, a very conservative Lutheran church in Houston, an LDS or Mormon congregation in suburban Salt Lake City, a synagogue in Evanston, a black church in Baltimore and probably others that I have not yet mentioned. It has an evangelical flavor, and its hip and urbane and all of that, but at the same time doesnt have the politics in its message. Those are my version of the D words. Americans are religiously tolerant? Is religion a power for peace or does it cause conflict? - KS3 - BBC The Catholics have welcomed immigrants from around the world for generations. Rachel Woodlock (Islam) Religion is powerfully motivating and belligerent humans fight over it. Matthias Basedau: Conflicts that have a religious dimension are becoming more common worldwide and sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. The interview was conducted by Gwendolin Hilse, Nigeria: tensions persist after Zaria mass killings, Kenyan army battles al-Shabab militants in Somalia, IS-affiliated militant group seizes port town in Somalia, Ukraine: Deadly Russian missile strike hits Kramatorsk, Wagner chief Prigozhin arrives in Belarus, Prigozhin's tanks: A stress test for Putin, In Zambia, postnatal depression is neglected, Bangladesh heatwave brings on crippling power cuts, Germany: Racism, antisemitism reporting on the rise, Greece: Mitsotakis takes office after conservative landslide, International African American Museum opens on historic site, Amazon rainforest study: Brazil led deforestation in 2022. advance of religious conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa? So what I thought I would do is just end there really is an end, I promise I thought Id end on two other quick things that we found that many audiences are quite interested in, that I wont go into a lot of detail about, but will nonetheless put on the table, if youd like, to use it as fodder for discussion. That does for the most part seem to be what they hold to. COOPERMAN: No more questions? Campbell has written a book with Harvard professor Robert Putnam, entitled American Grace, which examines the changing role of religion in America since the 1960s. CAMPBELL: It was actually John who raised that. STEPHANIE SAMUEL, THE CHRISTIAN POST: I just wanted to add also that there has been talk among some evangelicals, notably Chuck Colson, during the election about kind of dividing themselves or pulling away from the Republican Party and embracing more of that social justice concept within the Bible and within the life of Jesus Christ. Im Alan Cooperman, the associate director of research at the Pew Form. The fact of the matter is American religion is complex, and you have to make judgment calls as you go along. It wasnt dramatic, but it was large and the fact that it was growing while other groups were shrinking is itself significant. Thats kind of open but I would suspect, based on what we do know about that population, that they would be more likely to just settle down in a new faith or some sort of amalgam. Craving a Sense of Community This A-Level Sociology vide explores some of the reasons. On the other hand, thanks toglobalization, governments can also improve their networks to implement de-radicalization measures. CAMPBELL: Again, just a little bit of evidence for the fact that when people are giving us responses to these questions about religious beliefs, theyre not just making them up off the top of their heads or flipping coins is that because we have surveys at two points in time, we can see whats stable. Let me just also mention, even though I wont talk about this so much in the talk today, that the book itself is not solely based on statistical analysis, but also has a dozen what we call congregational close-ups. I can probably predict how you vote. Now, how can this be? One of the more interesting ways is if you ask Americans which party is friendlier toward religion, theyre much more likely to say the Republicans than the Democrats. SAMUEL: If I could just follow up with that? Aunt Susan is that relative of yours we all have one who is the sweetest, kindest, nicest person you know. Read our research on: LGBTQ Attitudes & Experiences| Supreme Court | Race & Ethnicity. But we dont know where to put them, so we put them there. These views are particularly widespread among white evangelical Protestants, two-thirds of whom see at least some conflict . Those changes are tightly connected to changes in the political environment, where, of course, weve also seen a lot of polarization. There seems to be some kind of flattening out of religious truths, and the distinctions between one faith and another dont seem to be so great for them to be able to make a switch to another religious denomination. JENNIFER SKALKA, WASHINGTONIAN: Im interested in the flurry of conversion activities that you discussed. We thought maybe thats what wed find about religious beliefs. DANTONIO: That may be why we see no Jewish Republicans in the Senate and only one in the House. DW: In your study on the subject of religious conflicts in Africa, you claimeight out of ten active armed conflicts have a religious dimension. So throughout the 1970s, all the way through the mid-1990s, we see a growth in evangelical Protestantism. Maybe theyre even doing it subconsciously this is just what we do because were Republicans; were the party that talks about God. Will they find a church? But instead, its come up in the discussion about our book. Im going to show everybody the book. What do we mean by the shock of the 60s? John Green, Senior Research Adviser, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Moderator: So if you have a Muslim friend and you thought you lived in this Catholic universe, and then you think, okay, your pal Sal, shes not so bad, does that have a direct relationship on all of these orthodox beliefs? Religion, Source of Conflict or of Peace? - DebateWise We asked a follow-up, which Ill admit was inspired by a similar question Pew has asked in its research, that says to those who are of Christian faiths, do you still hold that opinion even when those other religions are not Christian? (Laughter.) I think what youre describing is a nice example actually of the way our two parties have dealt with religion over the last generation or so. Do you believe in God? We dont have to go way back in the past. It also has to do with the fact that religious conflicts spill over from North Africa and the Middle East; either directly from Libya or Algeria or indirectly through the spreadof more radical versions of Islam. The panel survey weve done that is measuring at two points in time didnt quite hit the economic crisis. However, I do a pretty mean Bob Putnam impression, so throughout the conversation today, Ill try to slip in a few Bob-isms as often as I can. Religious tolerance and freedom are hindered as a result of ignorance, and by building an understanding of the core message of some of the world's major religions and what its followers hope to attain from it can help bridge cultures together, despite their personal beliefs. Given how entrepreneurial American religion is, its pretty likely that someone will figure out how to bring many of those folks back to the pews. COOPERMAN: Thats terrific for teeing up the fact that the Pew Forum will be coming out with a report next month on the growth of the Muslim population in the United States and around the world. Weve actually done a version of our Faith Matters Survey in Northern Ireland, as well as in the Republic of Ireland and the U.K., and thats just one finding thats really striking to us, that there you have a religiously segregated society today that looks like what America looked like a hundred years ago. The reason why that pro-life finding about young people is so interesting is that they are also the most secular group of the population. Religion and Politics Confusion may arise over whether a terrorist group has a religious agenda, a political agenda, or both. But yeah, theyre a little more likely. And so those two factors together mean that the Catholic Church is on the leading edge of the Latino-ization of America. The red bar represents the United States. That actually turns out to be really critical for many parts of our analysis, the fact that we have measures at two different points in time from the same people. The answer is this interlocking set of social networks that we have, and thats what we mean when we refer to Americas grace. A key part of our story is also captured in the percentage of Americans who, when asked whether theres very little truth in any religion, whether one religion is true and others are not, or whether there are basic truths in many religions, overwhelming cluster in that last category. We, too, were skeptical. Its one of the small differences in methodology. I have to admit Im always a little hesitant to use the word tolerance because it can mean so many different things to so many different people. Actually what youre describing is remarkable, given what we see in our data. Internal conflicts between or among the people of the same religious groups are caused by; fighting for positions to be leaders in the group or there may be grumbling over the utilization of the resources of the religious group. CAMPBELL: Yeah, I dont know if I want to say that were at a point where theres a sharp divide between those who are highly educated and less-educated in terms of their church attendance. ANTHONY POGORELC, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: I just wanted to make a point on orthodox beliefs. Religious conflicts on the rise in Africa - DW - 09/23/2017 Those sorts of things. I believe them. So we didnt just take just a Christian and make just a Christian evangelical. Id like to suggest that there are three ways that Bob and Dave could look at their own data that might raise some questions about their optimistic take on this tension that they have in their book. I would simply argue here that some of you who always write about whos religious ought to rethink the notion of religiosity because Im trying to redefine it. Majority Say People of Other Faiths Can Go to Heaven Impact of Education, Income on Religiosity So CNN comes and asks them one day, what religion are you? However, people do not compromise with religion because they think that it will be a sin. Questions about the economic crisis or whether theyve experienced a home foreclosure or a job loss or know people who have, thats at the very top of our list because we want to understand whats happening at the individual level as we go through this remarkable period of economic of chaos what happens to their religiosity because I dont know if we really have a good sense of that right now. Religion has been a significant role in the lives of the everyday person, and while it has been a major factor in the history of humans, - creating hope and faith - it has also caused additional and unintentional conflicts in society. But when we looked, we actually do see some results, and the fact that we had every reason to think that we wouldnt well, when you do find it, that is probably reason to underscore that theres something there. Thats a big difference. In fact, religious elements played no role at all in 14 (40%) of the 35 armed conflicts in the research, and only five (14%) had religious elements as their main cause, the report showed. Theres a second half, a story that doesnt get told nearly as often, and thats about the ways that religion unites us, or again, at the very least, that were united in spite of our religious differences. But I should note that even though the backbone of our book is this one survey that we did that we call the Faith Matters Survey, we have kind of pressure-tested the results that we have against lots of other surveys, including those done by folks here at the Pew Forum, but also other national surveys. I mean, maybe theres a really strong anti-Richard Gere sentiment or something in the United States. Theyre more likely to help out in informal ways their neighbors and those around them. But well leave that thats next month. We do justice to points like that, I think particularly the point about biblical literalism is important because often we focus on questions like that that are really more appropriate for a Protestant than a Catholic audience. I mean, I see that as highly suspicious as a European because in Europe, religion is very much linked to identity, often to your citizenship, nationality, race, history. We were sort of left with these large trends and dont get down into the trees and look at what individuals are doing. So evangelicals and Mormons are a little more likely to hold onto their flock than other groups. And yes, to some extent they are, although again, the differences are not dramatic. Rod Dreher in The Dallas Morning News wrote the following in an essay about our book: But it should be remembered that a religion that makes no demands on people other than that they follow their bliss and be nice to everybody else is a religion that has no power to change minds and hearts. Certainly we want to thank David and John for their remarks. So there may be some very powerful indirect effects of religious beliefs on the social capital and the sociability and the tolerance and the civic behavior that the book illustrates so well. But it is not entirely clear how this influence is spreading orhow strong it is. STONE: Theyre still going tit-for-tat over this, and then other people have talked about, well, plenty of people work on Christmas, and the soldiers in Afghanistan dont get to come home, and working people have worked on Christmas and all. It will not inspire people to heroic deeds of self-sacrifice for the greater good, nor is it likely to endure.. The Role of Religion in Today's Conflict.1 By Ms. Karen Armstrong As we are all agreed, the conflict between the Muslim world and the West is essentially political but on a popular level religion is seen as one of its root causes. We have a chapter in the book where we are able to look at why people switch from one religion to another and also from one congregation to another. (Applause.). (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main But theyre out there. Religion and conflict - GSDRC No church? Thanks. Religious extremism can contribute to the escalation of conflicts. How religious conflict affects society? That manifests itself in lots of different ways. After all, people who are in a congregation are not there by accident. I was curious if many of them didnt just fall into the none category because they are terrified of self-identifying and being labeled a jerk because of the way that Christians have behaved. Remember at the very beginning of my presentation today, I mentioned that we interviewed people not just once but twice. Countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar are spreading Wahhabism, or similar variants, which can indirectly create aradical ideology that leads to violence. He has written more than a dozen books, among them the national bestseller, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. The difference between those sorts of countries and the United States is that for many of those people most of them, actually their religion doesnt matter all that much, whereas in the U.S. we find religion does matter in the sense that people report religious affiliation, they opt to attend services, they contribute their time and talents to a congregation. CAMPBELL: Thank you for that obviously very informed comment. We asked it that way because we wanted to capture the way Americans really perceive one another, so we didnt ask about atheists because the term atheist is so loaded.

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