The truth about conservative Christians : what they think and what they believe / Andrew Greeley & Michael Hout

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-201) and index

The religion of conservative Christians: a return to the reformation? -- Conservative Christians in American politics -- The politics of conservative Christianity in black and white -- Freedom, inequality, and conservative Christianity -- A social portrait of conservative Christians -- Conservative Christian growth: membership begins at home -- Conservative Christians in the "sexual revolution" -- The conservative Christian family and the "feminist revolution" -- Happiness and lifestyle among conservative Christians -- The Pentecostals: ultimate conservative Christians -- Conservative Christians and Catholics: too estranged for alliance -- Conclusions

Ever since the reelection of President Bush, conservative Christians have been stereotyped in the popular media: Bible-thumping militants and anti-intellectual zealots determined to impose their convictions on such matters as evolution, school prayer, pornography, abortion, and homosexuality on the rest of us. But conservative Christians are not as fanatical or intractable as many people think, nor are they necessarily the monolithic voting block or political base that kept Bush in power. Andrew M. Greeley and Michael Hout's eye-opening book expertly conveys the complexity, variety, and sensibilities of conservative Christians, dispelling the myths that have long shrouded them in prejudice and political bias. For starters, Greeley and Hout reveal that class and income have trumped moral issues for these Americans more often than we realize: a dramatic majority of working-class and lower-class conservative Christians backed liberals such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton during their runs for president. And when it comes to abortion, most conservative Christians are not consistently pro-life in the absolute fashion usually assumed: they are still more likely to oppose the practice than other Americans, but 86 percent of them are willing to tolerate it to protect the health of the mother or when the woman has been raped, and 22 percent of them are even pro-choice. What do conservative Christians really think about evolution, homosexuality, or even the meaning of the word of God?