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...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2017]
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In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 56, Issue: 3, Pages: 459-480 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Public space
/ Speech
/ God
/ Topic
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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) |
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. |
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ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12368 |