The Rights turn in conservative Christian politics : how abortion transformed the culture wars / Andrew R. Lewis, University of Cincinnati.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewis, Andrew R., 1981- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in social theory, religion, and politics.

Cambridge studies in social theory, religion, and politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian conservatism--United States.

Christian conservatism.

Religious right--United States.

Religious right.

Abortion--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Abortion.

Abortion--Political aspects--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 271 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Rights on the right

Cultivating the value of rights: Evangelicals and abortion politics

But words can never hurt me: Learning the value of free speech

Separation tranquility: Abortion and the decline of the strict separation of church and state

First, do no harm: Abortion and health care opposition

Whose rights: Abortion politics, victims, and offenders in the death penalty debate

Where's the right? What abortion taught the losers in the gay marriage debate

Conclusion: Rights, reciprocity, and the future of conservative religious politics.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Oct 2017).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-28489-2

1-108-28669-0

1-108-28705-0

1-108-28777-8

1-108-28921-5

1-108-27817-5

1-108-28813-8