God in America: Why Theology Is Not Simply the Concern of Philosophers

Abstract

As citizens of the most technologically advanced and economically developed country in the world, nearly all Americans stalwartly maintain their faith in God, much more so than residents of other postindustrial countries (Norris and Ingelhart 2004). But what is the content and meaning of this belief? Perhaps belief in God has become so pervasive in contemporary American culture that it reflects little about believers' deeper religious thoughts, identities, and actions. We find the opposite to be true. Outside the confines of seminaries, competing beliefs about who God is and what God wants have a clear and important connection to everyday religious life in the United States. Subtle distinctions in American images of God powerfully predict religious diversity as measured by belief in the truth of a single religious faith, religious devotion, and attitudes about the compatibility of secular and religious spheres. More specifically, we discern that American religious conservatism, in all its forms, can be aptly characterized by the belief that God is highly engaged in the world and particularly judgmental of human behavior.

Education and religion: Individual, congregational, and cross-level interaction effects on biblical literalism

“…A variety of factors are known to affect literal view of the Bible, among them: religious tradition, images of God as judicial or engaged, southern residence, nonwhite race, and educational attainment (Froese and Bader, 2007;Bader and Froese, 2005). In examining the social sources of American religious restructuring following World War II, Wuthnow (1988, p. 168) underscores the importance of educational expansion and argues that ''of all the social background questions .…”

“…Because prior work finds nonwhites are more likely to affirm biblical literalism (Froese and Bader, 2007); race/ ethnicity is controlled with dichotomous indicators: black, Asian, Hispanic, and white. I also account for gender (female = 1) because women may make up for being denied leadership roles by affirming a literal view of the Bible, i.e.…”

Religion, Spirituality and Everyday Practice

“…When God's anger and engagement are combined and conceptualized along a continuum, Bader and Froese (2005) find images of God to vary significantly by religious tradition, with Evangelicals tending toward the most active and authoritative images of God and Jews viewing God as a relatively distant and non-judgmental figure. Froese and Bader (2007) find that God's engagement and God's judgment are both significantly associated with the belief that God favors the United States in world affairs, but only God's judgment is related to the belief that God favors particular political parties. Froese and Bader (2007) find that God's engagement and God's judgment are both significantly associated with the belief that God favors the United States in world affairs, but only God's judgment is related to the belief that God favors particular political parties.…”

Desecration, Moral Boundaries, and the Movement of Law: The Case of Westboro Baptist Church

“…Most theists wrestle with how God renders judgment and what role, if any, the almighty plays in tragic events such as 9/11, school shootings, or natural disasters (Froese and Bader 2010). Members of WBC, however, have very consistent views on such matters.…”

“…Members of WBC, however, have very consistent views on such matters. We asked members to indicate how well a series of words described God's disposition (see Froese and Bader 2007) (Table 1 shows members' responses). While there was some disagreement amongst respondents about how well adjectives such as "critical," "concerned," and "distant" describe God, the remaining adjectives reveal WBC's uniformly fearsome conception the Almighty.…”