Using a 3X2 experimental design, this research examines political candidate image as a function of candidate gender and involvement in a sex or financial scandal. One hundred fifty students from college classes in continuing education were given candidate descriptions that varied only by gender of candidate and involvement in a sex scandal, financial scandal, or no scandal. Respondents gave candidates involved in scandal lower character scores. Both male and female candidates received lower character scores in the presence of a financial scandal than in the presence of a sex scandal, but counter to expectations, female candidates received significantly higher character scores in the presence of a sex scandal.

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The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is best understood as an intriguing reshaping of religious imperatives and the efforts to put them into practice. The book not only synthesizes the broader argument of the book but also places it in contrast to common interpretations of the ECM, such as that it is merely evangelicalism in disguise, liberal Protestantism in another guise, religious consumerism, or a movement that has already run its course. The book argues that the structure and practices of Emerging Christianity represent a distinctive approach to religious individualization. We describe the religious orientation or “self” of the Emerging Christian as “legitimate,” “sacralized,” and “pluralist,” which is supported by congregations that facilitate a cooperative egoism. Emerging congregations provide settings where pluralism is embraced and where the otherwise isolated self can find meaning and fulfillment through others. In the ways it has responded to modernity, the ECM (and the other expressions of Christianity it may influence) is remarkably well-adapted to persist, even thrive, as a viable religious alternative in the West. And the patterns of religious individualism, the formation of pluralist congregations, the allowance for multiple forms of legitimate spirituality, and the desire to strategically construct a personal faith that is valid and strengthened by life lived in the real world will be a ubiquitous element of modern religiosity.

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This article uses a case study of a Pentecostal/charismatic congregation to explore how inclusive, overarching identities are constructed in South Africa. It explores how the congregation's "culture" impacts on identity formation, contestation and change. It argues that the way people construct their identities correlates with their perceived level of empowerment. It concludes that for an overarching identity to become durable, it must be accompanied by structural changes that dismantle the power imbalances embedded in old racial categories.