The Religious Right and US Middle East Policy
تاريخ النشر: 01/05/2005
الناشر: مركز الإمارات للدراسات والبحوث الاستراتيجية
نبذة الناشر:The religious landscape in the U.S.is characterized by diversity. The percentage of denomination within the population as a whole also remains relatively constant.
The total, over 80% of Americans are Christian. Protestants constitute the largest denomination, including over half of the entire population. The more conservation (white) Evangelicals have become ...the largest single group, constituting 25.4% of the total and relegating the more liberal Mainline Protestants (22.1%) to a second place. The percentage of black Protestants has also shrunk since the 1960s to barely 8% in 1996. Roman Catholics constitute 21.8% of Americans.
The secularly-oriented segment of the population has increased the most the mid-1960s and presently forms 16.3%, almost twice as mush as in 1965. The secularization trend mobilized committed religious leaders, especially Evangelical Protestants, to counter the "decadence" and "disintegration of moral values" in society. Evangelical protestants, foremost among them the traditionalists, share an individualistic belief system that is directed towards the afterlife. Denominational membership has become indicator of ideology and political outlook. Moreover, the depth of personal belief and degree of activism are other important indicators of political behavior. "Committed" or practicing member distinguish themselves from others by factors like the frequency of church attendance and prayer, the exceptional role that faith plays in their everyday life, and adherence to traditional beliefs, such as the belief in heaven and hell. Committed members of a congregation generally display more conservative political outlook and have a markedly higher preference for the Republican Party. In contrast, the less committed tend to prefer the Democratic Party.
The divide has been working in favor of Republicans. Empirical regression analyses, which illustrate the specific weight of distinct factors, show that in the U.S."The influence of religious affiliation on voting behavior is substantial, rivaling that demographic factor such as income and education." إقرأ المزيد