Spirited Chat

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American Grace: Political scientist talks religion




Robert Putnam says the idea that religion is the province of conservative Republicans has caused a record number of young Americans to shy away from organized religion.

But the Harvard University political scientist, best-known for 1995’s Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, said his new book also found Americans to be surprisingly tolerant of beliefs that differ from their own.

Putnam, co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, will speak at Rice University at 7 p.m. Monday.

Why tackle religion?

America is a very religious country. The statistics in the book show the average American is more religious than the average Iranian. That has powerful effects on our civic life, both dividing us and uniting us. America is very unusual in the sense that we’re religiously devout, religiously diverse and actually quite religiously tolerant. Very few places in the world are all three of those.

Were you surprised at the tolerance of religious Americans?

I was, actually. For example, we gave people three choices: There is truth in one religion, their religion, and not in others; there’s no truth in any religion; or there is truth in many religions. The overwhelming majority of Americans pick the truth in many religions.

We said, do you mean non-Christians can get into heaven? There is a right answer (for Christians): Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the light. … But a majority of Americans say even people of other faiths can get to heaven. Even evangelical Protestants, who are Biblical literalists, say that.

How do you reconcile that with growing divide between religious conservatives and secular liberals?

It’s true. We’re more polarized in religious and political terms than we were 50 years ago. More of us are either devoutly evangelical or, at the other extreme, firmly secular. Fewer of us are in the middle. Moreover, there’s a strong correlation nowadays between our religion and our politics. It did not used to be that way.

But when you ask people about their personal views, they’re much more tolerant. We think both things are true. Americans are, when push comes to shove, less divided than we think we are.

What role might the 17 percent of Americans who profess no affiliation play in the future?

That’s very heavily concentrated among young people. Historically, 5 or 6 percent of Americans said they didn’t have any religion at all. Now, among people in their 20s, that figure is about 30 percent.

I think that’s mostly because they’ve been put off by the association between conservatism and religious values.

They’re saying, If religion is just about being a conservative Republican, that’s not for me, so they’ve walked away. I’m not certain that’s going to be permanently true, but it’s important.

It’s certainly an incentive for some religious leaders to see if they can reach out to young people.

I think I know what kind of religion might reach many of them, a religion that has an evangelical feel to it, but it wouldn’t have the political edge, what the young people would see as the intolerant edge, the anti-gay edge.

I wanted to ask about this idea that religion equals Republican — how might that reshape the church or religion in America?

That’s already reshaped it very substantially. Even as recently as the 1960s and ’70s, there was no correlation between politics and religion. There were plenty of progressive people in church and plenty of conservative people outside of church. That’s changed.

Some people are comfortable with that, and some are reacting by changing their religion. When people’s politics and religion are incompatible, more often than not they change their religion, rather than the other way around.

That was the single biggest surprise to me, that people are more likely to adjust their religion to their politics. I couldn’t initially believe that, that people were hazarding their eternal soul on the basis of how they felt about George Bush or Bill Clinton.

You found young people oppose abortion but have become increasingly accepting of same-sex marriage.

It wouldn’t be quite right to say young people oppose abortion. Everyone’s views are complicated. But they are much less likely than their parents, the Boomer generation, to think abortion on demand isn’t a big deal. Young people have a much more morally complex view about abortion. That makes them a little more moderate, away from the pure choice end and toward the pro-life end of the spectrum, but I’m not saying they would be ready to repeal Roe v. Wade.

On the other hand, they’re much more tolerant of gay marriage, much, much more. That’s as big a trend as the sexual revolution in the ’60s was, so I think that, in a democracy, it’s going to be hard for opposition to homosexuality to stay at a fever pitch.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that Americans, as a whole, don’t know a lot about religion.

I think there’s an interesting connection between their work and our work. I think the difference is, we are much more conscious that for most Americans, the big thing about their faith is their community of faith, the connections you have with fellow believers. Your church friends have a big influence on your life satisfaction, on what contributions you make to the rest of society.

I don’t mean to say theology is irrelevant. It isn’t. But it’s not the most important part of being part of a faith community.

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Kate Shellnutt

4 Responses

  1. chris says:

    jeez does this guy really label himself a political scientist? lol. So how insulting can one be to suggest that an entire generation has shied away from religion because its tied to the right? Anyone that is stupid enough to lump spirituality with governmental functionm doesn’t deserve to vote. And how do you look at the results of a poll done amongst only americans, then make conclusions about how america relates to the rest of the world? This is why poli scientist are a joke. I think it originated from the glut of pyscologist majors that couldn’t get into law school but desperately wanted to be relevant at the country club.

  2. David says:

    Yes we are tolerant of other faiths because we believe in FREEDOM of religion. What I take issue with is that other faiths are not tolerant of Christianity. Christians are ridiculed incessantly in the media and there is clearly a double standard for Christians vs. other faiths. Use the same measure for all. In addition, Republican is not the party of religion, Republicans embrace the sanctity of life and the marriage between a man and a woman. What a radical idea, human life should be protected and the ‘ancient’ practice of men and women entering into marriage. I will agree with one thing, most people may profess religious beliefs but most know nothing about their belief.

  3. viejo says:

    Wow, Harvard’s Political Science Department must be slipping. Dr. Putnam is sadly mistaken if he thinks that in the 60’s and 70’s there was no correlation between religion and politics and that progressives and conservatives peacefully coexisted in churches back then. It is precisely then that denominations began their severe decline. Progressives started demanding changes in the denominational doctrine on a variety of subjects, and they did it in a very secular political way. Even today, attend one of the major denominations conventions/assemblies and watch the social activists try to push through doctrinal changes that are from the far political left. Their success in doing so has caused the major denominations to lose millions upon millions of members over the past several decades.

    And to say that it’s because young people want religion but don’t want to be conservatives is just plain false. There are a myriad of reasons why young people are rejecting church.

    Bad surveys turn out bad data which leads to faulty conclusions. Dr. Putnam isn’t practicing social science with his book and views, he’s practicing social engineering.

  4. pdh42 says:

    To the people who believe as this guy does, you are believing a lie…. Either Jesus Christ is correct and that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Him, or there is no god and I for one do not believe that. God created the heavens and the earth and sent His Son to save the world. You either believe in Him or you reject Him…. Your choice…. As for the ones who believe it is Ok to slaughter babies, well I do believe that you are wrong as God (the Creator) knew us even as we were being knit within our mothers womb…. Not my words these are Gods Words…. Just like people who believe that it is Ok for homosexuals and that they will be in heaven also…. You really need to truly read the Bible and find out that you are being deceived….