Religion and Democratic Citizenship.

Religion and democracy in the United States have a long and uneasy relationship. While some scholars such as Tocqueville have praised religion as a force contributing to civic engagement and democratic citizenship, others have been less sanguine, viewing religion and religious persons as sources of political intolerance and a rigidity that weakens democratic discussion and debate. In this paper we address a fundamental question, namely, "Does religion tend to promote or inhibit democratic citizenship?" The paper begins with a theoretical discussion in which we consider the nature of democratic citizenship and its various dimensions. We then proceed to examine the relationship between religion and these dimensions. Dependent variables (measures of democratic citizenship) include political involvement, political knowledge, viewing the cheating of government as acceptable, political cynicism, voting turnout, and membership in voluntary organizations. Independent variables include religious tradition, religious orthodoxy, religiosity, socio-economic variables, and political variables.The primary data source used in this paper is a national pre-election survey conducted by the Paul Henry Institute in April 2008. This national survey (N=3007) is uniquely suited to the task at hand in that it contains a variety of important religious, political, and social variables. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]