The Rights Turn in Conservative Christian Politics: How Abortion Transformed the Culture Wars Contributor(s): Lewis, Andrew R. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1108417701 ISBN-13: 9781108417709 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $107.35 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2017 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Political Science | Civil Rights - Political Science | Political Ideologies - Conservatism & Liberalism - Religion | Religion, Politics & State |
Dewey: 261.7 |
LCCN: 2017017691 |
Series: Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics |
Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6.43" W x 9.54" (1.18 lbs) 288 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The Rights Turn in Conservative Christian Politics documents a recent, fundamental change in American politics with the waning of Christian America. Rather than conservatives emphasizing morality and liberals emphasizing rights, both sides now wield rights arguments as potent weapons to win political and legal battles and build grassroots support. Lewis documents this change on the right, focusing primarily on evangelical politics. Using extensive historical and survey data that compares evangelical advocacy and evangelical public opinion, Lewis explains how the prototypical culture war issue - abortion - motivated the conservative rights turn over the past half century, serving as a springboard for rights learning and increased conservative advocacy in other arenas. Challenging the way we think about the culture wars, Lewis documents how rights claims are used to thwart liberal rights claims, as well as to provide protection for evangelicals, whose cultural positions are increasingly in the minority; they have also allowed evangelical elites to justify controversial advocacy positions to their base and to engage more easily in broad rights claiming in new or expanded political arenas, from health care to capital punishment. |
Contributor Bio(s): Lewis, Andrew R.: - Andrew R. Lewis is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. He researches the intersection of religion, law, and American politics. He contributes to FiveThirtyEight and other media outlets, and is currently Book Review Editor at the journal Politics and Religion. |