"A social science examination of the role of religion in American society in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its effects on attitudes and behaviors related to the state, experts, health policy, the First Amendment, cooperation, race, gender, generational differences, institutions, and legal issues"--

This book provides a critical media analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, using the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel to reveal the deliberate practices of those that have weaponized a deadly, serious disease against the most vulnerable members of society.

In Trump, White Evangelical Christians, and American Politics, political scientists Anand Edward Sokhey and Paul A. Djupe bring together a wide range of scholars and writers to examine the relationship between former President Donald Trump and white American evangelical Christians. They argue that, while this relationship—which saw evangelicals supporting a famously unfaithful, materialistic, and irreligious candidate despite self-defining in opposition to these characteristics—prompted many to wonder if Trump himself transformed American evangelical religion in politics, this alliance reflected both change and the outcome of dynamics that were in place or building for decades. Contributors contextualize the Trump presidency within the story of religious demographic change, the growth of politicized religion, nationalistic religious expression, and the ways religion and politics in the United States are enmeshed in the politics of race. These investigations find that the idea of religious “transformation” is not accurate. Instead, the years 2015 to 2022 saw mainly minor changes to the ways religion appeared in public life—but these changes ultimately complemented and advanced an existing white evangelical strategy to increase political and social power as they became a demographic minority in the United States. Taken together, this collection reveals new insights for readers seeking to understand the religious dimensions of Trump’s rise, the reasons evangelicals become political activists, and the multifaceted alliances between secular politicians and conservative religious subcultures. Contributors: Abraham Barranca, Ruth Braunstein, Ryan P. Burge, David E. Campbell, Jeremiah J. Castle, Paul A. Djupe, John C. Green, Sarah Heise, Geoffrey C. Layman, Andrew R. Lewis, Gerardo Martí, Eric L. McDaniel, Napp Nazworth, Shayla F. Olson, Enrique Quezada-Llanes, Kaylynn Sims, Anand Edward Sokhey, Hilde Løvdal Stephens, Kyla K. Stepp, Allan Tellis.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be a topic for academic research for years to come. This collection brings together international scholars from various disciplines to analyse the impact of the pandemic on both religious freedom and on religious community life in Europe. Divided into two parts, the first focuses on theoretical considerations, while the second explores local challenges and includes case studies from countries with different socio-political profiles. The book includes critical evaluations of public crisis management of religious communities during the pandemic, as well as critical reflections on religious freedom appeals in such crisis. In sum, the volume probes and challenges scholars and students of law, religion, politics, and sociology to go beyond the typical oppositions in considering Freedom of Religious Belief in the current secular European context. The work will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Law and Religion, Human Rights Law, Sociology, and Political Science.

Why did America do so badly?When the COVID-19 crisis reached America, the US had more resources and expertise at its disposal to confront the threat than any nation on the planet, and yet the American response was homicidally inefficient. Why?In this book, I argue that the root of the problem is America's religiosity. A crisis that only science could meet threatened to expose the impotence of religious claims, and religious leaders and institutions went on the attack. Any hope of a rational, scientifically informed response was crippled by a presidential administration elected by religious zealots, staffed by religious zealots, and beholden to religious zealots. But their malfeasance was not limited to the political arena.From churches ignoring state lockdowns, to televangelists declaring the disease miraculously eradicated, to pastors suing their governors for enforcing public safety measures, religion was at the forefront of virtually every misguided step towards catastrophe that the nation took.When science eventually solves this problem, religions will be quick to thank their gods for the scientist's labor and forgive themselves their trespasses. We cannot afford to give them such easy absolution. Their disastrous contributions to our national pandemic response are a potent reminder that a nation in the twenty-first century can ill afford to let anyone compete with science in the realm of truth.

How the politicization of the pandemic endangers our lives—and our democracy COVID-19 has killed more people than any war or public health crisis in American history, but the scale and grim human toll of the pandemic were not inevitable. Pandemic Politics examines how Donald Trump politicized COVID-19, shedding new light on how his administration tied the pandemic to the president’s political fate in an election year and chose partisanship over public health, with disastrous consequences for all of us. Health is not an inherently polarizing issue, but the Trump administration’s partisan response to COVID-19 led ordinary citizens to prioritize what was good for their “team” rather than what was good for their country. Democrats, in turn, viewed the crisis as evidence of Trump’s indifference to public well-being. At a time when solidarity and bipartisan unity were sorely needed, Americans came to see the pandemic in partisan terms, adopting behaviors and attitudes that continue to divide us today. This book draws on a wealth of new data on public opinion to show how pandemic politics has touched all aspects of our lives—from the economy to race and immigration—and puts America’s COVID-19 response in global perspective. An in-depth account of a uniquely American tragedy, Pandemic Politics reveals how the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic has profound and troubling implications for public health and the future of democracy itself.

In this groundbreaking work, Paul A. Djupe and Christopher Gilbert analyze national data from a survey of over 2,400 Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America clergy, looking deeper into their motivations for political action. Using these data, the authors argue that clergy roles in politics and civic life result from the intersection of their personal beliefs and interests, the specific needs of their congregation and community, and ongoing influences from their denomination.