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Same Battle, Different War: Religious Movements in American State Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2013

Kimberly H. Conger*
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Kimberly H. Conger, Political Science Department, Colorado State University, C346 Clark Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1782. E-mail: kimberly.conger@colostate.edu

Abstract

The Christian Right is a long-standing social movement with a reputation for mobilization and activism at all levels of American politics. The Christian Progressive movement is a manifestation of religiously motivated political activity largely opposed to the policy goals of the Christian Right. Some have questioned, however, whether Christian Progressives have the internal cohesion to mobilize voters, activists, and movement organizations toward their policy goals. In this article, I update an existing measure of Christian Right influence and introduce a parallel measure for Christian Progressives. Analyses of these indices show that the Christian Progressive movement is visible and active in many states, though not the engine of influence that the Christian Right remains.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2013 

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