This study finds that American religious and secular orientations are not purely exogenous influences on politics, but rather emerge from political processes.
New Conceptualization of Secularism
• Defines secular orientation beyond absence of religion to include an affirmative identity and commitment to principles.
Definitive Causal Test
• Employs panel data showing how political orientations shape religious/secular views over time.
• Uses experimental methods to demonstrate this causal relationship conclusively.
Mechanism Identification
• Identifies specific conditions under which politics affects religious/ secular perspectives.
• Clarifies the underlying processes driving these dynamics.
| Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations was authored by David Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, John C. Green and Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo. It was published by Wiley in AJPS in 2018. |
