Aversion to and Understanding of God Talk in the Public Sphere: A Survey Experiment

"God talk" occurs when a member of the public gives religious reasons for a policy claim. The legitimacy of God talk is the subject of great debate among sociological and political theorists of the public sphere. There has never been an empirical study of the general public's views of...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion
Main Author: Evans, John H. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2017]
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B USA / Public space / Speech / God / Topic
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
CG Christianity and Politics
KBQ North America
Further subjects:B Religion and science
B Public Sphere
B Public discourse
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:"God talk" occurs when a member of the public gives religious reasons for a policy claim. The legitimacy of God talk is the subject of great debate among sociological and political theorists of the public sphere. There has never been an empirical study of the general public's views of the legitimacy of God talk itself. Using a vignette survey experiment, I find among the overall public that there is a statistically significant but extremely small degree of aversion to hearing God talk. Additionally, respondents claim to be able to understand God talk just as well as claims justified by science. Aversion to hearing and understanding God talk do differ by the religion of the respondent. I conclude with a discussion of how these results may influence theoretical debate about the public sphere.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12368