Public Images of Protestant Ministers and Catholic Priests

Using data from a national sample of U.S. adults, we focused on differences and sources of those differences among the public images of three categories of clergymen: Catholic, Methodist, and Lutheran. The specific focus was on the issue of anti-clericalism, in particular anti-Catholic clericalism. In this connection, we raised three major questions: 1) To what extent does anti-clericalism in general exist in the United States? We found little. 2) How much residual anti-Catholic Clericalism exists? We found some. That is, our sample applied a set of negative characteristics more often to Catholic priests than to Protestant ministers. 3) What factors might be producing or encouraging the anti-Catholic clericalism that does appear to exist? Here denominational affiliation and educational level of the respondents are relevant. Of particular interest is the discovery that the little anti-Catholic clericalism that does exist seems to reside more in Catholic than Protestant respondents

Political science · Protestantism · Sample (material) · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

• Ritual Conflict as Social Conflict

  William D Dinges•Sociological Analysis•1987

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