Must religious nationalism divide? Race, government‐supported religion, and views of political solidarity and compromise

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAmericans who believe government policies should bolster religion's influence tend to favor rigid in‐group/out‐group distinctions and hierarchies. Yet given that religious and political views are fundamentally racialized, we theorize racial identity moderates the link between favoring government‐supported religion and views toward political solidarity and compromise.ObjectiveThis study extends our understanding of how beliefs about religion and politics involve not only different, but contradictory orientations to political solidarity and compromise contingent on racial identity.MethodsWe estimate binary logistic regression models using data from Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel, Wave 92, a nationally representative survey of over 9200 Americans.ResultsMain effects indicate that favoring government‐supported religion is associated with rejecting political compromise, but unassociated with measures of solidarity. Interactions, however, show main‐effects mask considerable racial variation. Substantively, the link between favoring government‐supported religion and rejecting political compromise is limited to White Americans. Yet Black Americans who favor government‐supported religion become significantly more likely to recognize shared values despite political differences and Black Americans who favor government‐supported religion see less difference between Democrats and Republicans, while their White counterparts see more.ConclusionsFavorability toward government policies supporting religion does not necessarily represent “us versus them” orientations. Rather, the association is racially contingent.