Our original article espoused a simple way to recode religious groups on the General Social Survey (GSS) into historically meaningful categories and attempted to steer social scientists away from assigning these groups to a "Liberal-Moderate-Conservative" scale (Smith 1990). Among other problems, such scales create arbitrary cutpoints,…

We use Wisconsin Longitudinal Study data (n = 2,678) to assess the effects of religious denomination and ideology on end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. We found no statistically significant differences when comparing traditionally defined religious…

It is often assumed that the religious culture of a state can shape policies within the state, particularly concerning morality issues such as abortion or homosexuality. However, the precise manner in which religion shapes these policies has not been clearly specified. Drawing from social movements and policy literature, we argue that the…

Although the past decade has witnessed increased usage of ecological data to map the community-level effects of religion, the vast majority of studies in this body of scholarship continue to be plagued by two key shortcomings. First, ecological research on religion is often conducted in an atheoretical manner, one that privileges the structural…

Data from the 2002 Religion and Public Activism Survey were used to examine relationships among measures of religious orientation, embeddedness in social networks and the level of trust individuals direct toward others. Results from ordered logistic regression analysis demonstrate that Catholics and members of other denominations show…

Utilizing data from two national surveys, examines attitudes of White Protestants toward women's participation in politics. Compares the relationship between affiliation and religiosity and sex prejudice to that between religiosity and ethnic prejudice. Finds that unaffiliated Whites exhibit less sex and ethnic prejudice than do Whites affiliated…

Data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households indicate that parents with conservative scriptural beliefs used corporal punishment to discipline their children more frequently than did parents with less conservative theological views. This link persisted when numerous parent, child, and household characteristics were controlled.…

Analysis of data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households indicates that conservative Protestant parents of preschoolers and school-age children were significantly less likely than other parents to report yelling at their children. Moreover, estimated effects of denominational affiliation on parental use of yelling were partly…

Using American religious traditions as measures of bonding and bridging social capital in communities, we empirically test how these different forms of social capital affect crime rates in 3,157 U.S. counties in 2000. Our results suggest that the bonding networks evangelical Protestants promote in communities explain why counties with a greater…

Sociologists have documented a convergence of Protestants and Catholics in their valuation of autonomy and obedience as desirable traits for children from 1958 through 1991. By the 1980s, Alwin (1986) found that variation in such values within Protestants and Catholics was greater than that between them. Analyzing the GSS from 1986 to 2002, we…

Analysis of data from the 1996 Religious Identity and Influence Survey found that certain conservative Protestant groups, especially Pentecostals and charismatics, perceived public schools as hostile to moral and spiritual values. This alienation was associated with the lower and middle classes, large families, rural residence, residential…