And not just in spirit.
This new sociological study looks awfully suspicious--conservative Protestants have far less money than others. Why? They're focused on heaven instead of earth. And fewer families have two working parents.
Well okay, I guess that makes sense as far as it goes. But the rather staggering difference--a median net worth of $26,000 (in 2000) for conservative Protestants as opposed to $66,200 for the nation at large--seems like it might be about more than treasures in heaven and mommies at home. It would seem pretty important to deal with the possibility that it's in fact the financial status that motivates the religious affiliation, rather than the other way around--especially given that this particular branch of Christianity is so conversion oriented.
Modern conservative religion in this country thrives on, among other things, a narrative of cultural oppression--you know, the gay coastal feminist latte drinkers have killed school prayer, that sort of stuff. Leaving aside the question of whether this narrative is remotely true, narratives of oppression can be attractive to a society's relative have nots. And narrow, people-of-the-book doctrine thrives in a context of (real or perceived) oppression and threat--because there's much to protect against and clear bad guys to condemn. This is elementary stuff, central to understanding, say, the book of Revelation, or the Anglican Communion, or the newspaper industry's hostility to the blogosphere...
I'm getting carried away. What I mean to say is this: Is it possible that conservative Protestants have less money than others because conservative doctrine offers an appealing framework for finding meaning in being poor? Perhaps the Duke study deals with this, but the reporting here (from RNS!) doesn't say so. (It does mention that, controlled for education, age, and race, the difference remains, though it doesn't say how much the gap reduces, and the overall thrust of the thing is that conservative Protestants simply choose to have less money. I don't buy that.)
Jesus Passion made present John 18 1 19 42
5 weeks ago
Duke sucks, man.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the author of the study has a forthcoming book on the same topic. You can see some of her other papers from this project here.
ReplyDeleteI think you've hit it on the head, Steve. Especially when you read that the difference is most pronounced among African American Protestants and doesn't exist with Mormons...
ReplyDelete"...narratives of oppression can be attractive to a society's relative have nots."
ReplyDeleteWell said, Steve. Obama should have hired you to write his remarks for that San Fran gig rather than whoever wrote the "the angry poors love god and guns" bit.