Flexibility in American religious life: an exploration of loyalty and purity

摘要

American social policy decisions are deeply intertwined with the religious lives of its citizens. Here we apply the tiered beliefs described in the Advocacy Coalition Framework to the views of several American Christian communities on social policy questions that involve (religiously defined) notions of sexual purity. We find a surprisingly large amount of variation in the policy beliefs, although this varies by denomination, and for Catholics varies by levels of loyalty to authority as well. We conclude that despite deep core beliefs about the fundamental nature of the world, and a scriptural orientation and notion of loyalty to authority defined by denomination, that there may be more policy flexibility at lower tiers of belief than the conventional wisdom would suggest.