Liberal Churches and Social Justice Movements: Analyzing the Limits of Inclusivity
Conservative Protestants have been successful in communicating their religious voice in the public sphere, while liberal Protestants have struggled to articulate a distinctly liberal, religious voice. In this article, I show that a major component of liberal Protestant identity—inclusivity—itself co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 59, Issue: 1, Pages: 84-100 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ American Protestant Church
/ Social movement
/ Inclusion (Sociology)
/ Publicity
/ Perception
/ Protestantism
/ Conservatism
/ Evangelical movement
/ Political engagement
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CG Christianity and Politics CH Christianity and Society ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
discursive strategies
B Social Justice B Inclusivity B liberal protestants |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Conservative Protestants have been successful in communicating their religious voice in the public sphere, while liberal Protestants have struggled to articulate a distinctly liberal, religious voice. In this article, I show that a major component of liberal Protestant identity—inclusivity—itself constitutes a fundamental barrier to developing that voice. Drawing on 26 interviews and a year of participant observation at a liberal Protestant congregation in the southeast, I first show that congregants construct their identity of inclusivity in response to cultural associations of Christianity with conservatism and exclusivism. I then analyze three discursive strategies that congregants use to make sense of individuals' involvement in Moral Mondays, a left-leaning local social movement. By connecting Moral Mondays to social justice, to religious beliefs, and to individual commitments, congregants depoliticize involvement in Moral Mondays and maintain their commitment to inclusivity. I argue that inclusivity does not limit their participation, but rather limits their ability to connect that participation to their liberal religious voice. This research has important implications for understanding barriers to liberal Protestants' articulation of a distinctly liberal and religious voice in the public sphere. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12641 |