Liberal Churches and Social Justice Movements: Analyzing the Limits of Inclusivity

Abstract

Conservative Protestants have been successful in communicating their religious voice in the public sphere, while liberal Protestants have struggled to articulate a distinctly liberal, religious voice. In this article, I show that a major component of liberal Protestant identity—inclusivity—itself constitutes a fundamental barrier to developing that voice. Drawing on 26 interviews and a year of participant observation at a liberal Protestant congregation in the southeast, I first show that congregants construct their identity of inclusivity in response to cultural associations of Christianity with conservatism and exclusivism. I then analyze three discursive strategies that congregants use to make sense of individuals’ involvement in Moral Mondays, a left‐leaning local social movement. By connecting Moral Mondays to social justice, to religious beliefs, and to individual commitments, congregants depoliticize involvement in Moral Mondays and maintain their commitment to inclusivity. I argue that inclusivity does not limit their participation, but rather limits their ability to connect that participation to their liberal religious voice. This research has important implications for understanding barriers to liberal Protestants’ articulation of a distinctly liberal and religious voice in the public sphere.

Silence and Sameness in the Norwegian Church Abroad

“…They try not to create settings where they put people's faith or ethics to any sort of test, anxious to avoid being seen as policing faith or ethics. These culturally specific norms of inclusiveness and nonjudgment are key for understanding how threatening discussions of politics and divisive discussions are in the eyes of the informants (see Krull 2020 for an extended discussion on how norms of inclusivity may lead to depoliticization in a Christian congregation).…”

“…Astrid and Kristin, along with all the staff I interviewed, are very wary of coming across as noninclusive (see Krull 2020 for more on inclusivity and depoliticization). Especially if this can be interpreted as excluding “down.” This can be explained in many ways.…”

Parents’ attitudes towards the content of sex education in the USA: Associations with religiosity and political orientation

“…Although religiosity is often associated with political conservatism (Malka et al 2012), religious people are a heterogeneous group. For example, recent evidence suggests that attitudes towards social justice movements are quite different when comparing religious people who are liberal to religious people who are conservative (Krull 2020). Specifically, liberal Protestant Christians are more likely than conservative Protestant Christians to focus on social justice issues, such as inclusivity (Krull 2020).…”

Becoming “People of Faith:” Personal Moral Authenticity in the Cultural Practices of a Faith‐Based Social Justice Movement

“…They struggle to fully validate their religious commitments in public because others assume that since they are religious, they must also be political conservatives (Braunstein et al 2017). They also encounter frustration in many religious settings because they find that congregational and denominational cultures and ministries often support charity or direct service provision better than the pursuit of structural reforms through activism (Delehanty 2016; Krull 2020). Together, these factors make it difficult for religious people who see a need for structural change to cultivate and validate the perception of living an authentic religious life.…”