Religious Conservatives and the Requirements of Citizenship

Political Autonomy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6320007
AutoresKimberly H Conger (0000-0002-5368-7809, Iowa State University), Bryan T Mcgraw (Emory University)
Año2008
Volumen6
Número2
Páginas253-266
Fecha de publicación2008-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592708080596
OpenAlexW2116311976
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas47

Many scholars have viewed the rise and political influence of religious conservatives in the U.S. with some alarm, arguing that their commitments are so illiberal and undemocratic as to be a substantial threat to the creation and maintenance of a just and stable democratic polity. In particular, many worry that religious conservatives lack the requisite civic virtues necessary to making pluralist democracies work. After attending to what sorts of virtues a good citizen ought to possess, we present evidence drawn from interviews with state-level religious conservative activists suggesting that political mobilization and integration into institutions of deliberation and electoral contestation actually works to make them better citizens, at least with respect to one important virtue, political autonomy. If such engagement can temporize the dangers politicized religion can sometimes pose, those concerned about religion's public influence might have their fears eased. Religious conservative activists can make for good citizens, fellow participants in the project of constructing a common political order that is durable, decent, and democratic

Autonomy · Citizenship · Civic virtue · Deliberation · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polity · Sociology · Virtue · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Public Administration · Religion and Society Interactions