Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Divine Intervention? The Influence of Religious Value Communication on U.S. Intervention Policy

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Political Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Opinion about U.S. foreign intervention depends on both one’s belief about how the world works and those cognitively available value conceptions about how it should work. Consistent with social identity theory, we argue that values can shape social group boundaries and that these boundaries are analogous to the position of the U.S. in the world. Thus, the religious values we explore neatly map onto opinion about whether U.S. intervention should be qualified in its scope and rationale. In this investigation, we first provide experimental tests of religious value priming conducted on Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We then assess the degree to which American Protestant clergy communicate these values. The results of both investigations support the efficacy of considering the communication of religious values in shaping public opinion on U.S. foreign intervention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For instance, a 2007 Gallup poll (Newport 2007) found explicit support that people look for guidance from their house of worship—23 % attended church “for spiritual growth and guidance” and 20 % attended because it “keeps me grounded/inspired.” The remainder suggested they attend “because it’s my faith” (15 %), “to worship God” (15 %), for “the fellowship of other believers/the community” (12 %), “believe in God/believe in religion” (12 %), and because they were “brought up that way/a family value/tradition” (12 %), all of which are not incompatible with the value setting potential of churches.

  2. These areas were selected because of proximity to the authors.

  3. This was also a stated condition of the Institutional Review Board’s permission to sanction this project.

  4. These items load heavily on two factors split along the expected inclusive/exclusive lines. There are no other items in use that tap these concepts. We draw heavily on Finke and Stark (2005) for broad conceptual development and include an economic item in the exclusive battery given a growing literature on the ingroup reinforcing effects of participation in the Christian economy (e.g., Park and Baker 2007; Wuthnow 1998).

  5. We thank an anonymous reviewer for raising this possibility.

  6. We also elected to include these controls to address any concern that the random assignment mechanism may have been less effective than in a lab setting. We created interaction terms between the controls and stimuli and found no significant effects.

  7. The denominations surveyed (the primary sponsor for each denomination is in parentheses followed by the final n and the response rate) included the Assemblies of God (John C. Green, n = 208, response rate(rr) = 21.1), Christian Reformed Church (Corwin Smidt, n = 370, rr = 53.3), Disciples of Christ (Christopher Devine, n = 335, rr = 34.9), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Laura Olson; n = 272, rr = 34.1), Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (Jeff Walz and Steve Montreal; n = 359, rr = 41.7), Reformed Church of America (Corwin Smidt, 312, rr = 50.9), Southern Baptist Church (James Guth, n = 248, rr = 25.4), United Methodist Church (John C. Green, n = 282, rr = 28.7), and the Mennonites (Kyle Kopko, n = 520, rr = 53.6).

  8. Inclusive and exclusive value presentations are significantly and positively correlated with each other within each denomination as well, all at least at the .05 level with the exception of the CRC, in which r = .09 and p = .09.

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1959). Religion and prejudice. Crane Review, 2, 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, R. M., & Brehm, J. (1995). American ambivalence toward abortion policy: Development of a heteroscedastic probit model of competing values. American Journal of Political Science, 39, 1055–1082.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appleby, R. S. (2003). Serving two masters? Affirming religious belief and human rights in a pluralistic world. In J. D. Carlson & E. C. Owens (Eds.), The sacred and the sovereign: Religion and international politics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, D. C., Hurwitz, J., & Nelson, T. L. (2008). Of crusades and culture wars: ‘‘messianic’’ militarism and political conflict in the United States. Journal of Politics, 70(2), 307–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellah, R. N., Tipton, S. M., Sullivan, W. M., Madsen, R., & Swidler, A. (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, H. E., & Sniderman, P. M. (1985). Attitude attribution: A group basis for political reasoning. American Political Science Review, 79, 1061–1078.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cacioppo, J. T., Gardner, W. L., & Berntson, G. G. (1997). Beyond bipolar conceptualizations and measures: The case of attitudes and evaluative space. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1(1), 3–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cairns, E. E. (1996). Christianity through the centuries: A history of the Christian church (3rd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calfano, B. R., Djupe, P. A., & Green, J. C. (2008). Muslims and the American presidency. In G. Espinosa (Ed.), Religion, race, and the American presidency. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, E. Q., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1959). Christians in racial crisis: A study of Littlerock’s ministry. Washington: Public Affairs Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaiken, S., Giner-Sorolla, R., & Chen, S. (1996). Beyond accuracy: Defense and impression motives in heuristic and systematic information processing. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 553–578). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). A theory of framing and opinion formation in competitive elite environments. Journal of Communication, 57, 99–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2008). Framing public opinion in competitive democracies. American Political Science Review, 101(4), 637–655.

    Google Scholar 

  • Converse, P. E. (1964). The nature of belief systems in mass publics. In D. E. Apter (Ed.), Ideology and discontent. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crites, S. L, Jr, Fabrigar, L. R., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Measuring the affective and cognitive properties of attitudes: Conceptual and methodological issues. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(6), 619–634.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djupe, P. A., & Calfano, B. R. (2009). Justification not by faith alone: Clergy generating trust and certainty by revealing thought. Politics & Religion, 2(1), 1–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djupe, P. A., & Calfano, B. R. (2012). American Muslim investment in civil society: Political discussion, disagreement, and tolerance. Political Research Quarterly, 65(3), 517–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djupe, P. A., & Gilbert, C. P. (2003). The prophetic pulpit: Clergy, churches, and communities in American politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djupe, P. A., & Gilbert, C. P. (2009). The political influence of churches. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djupe, P. A., & Gwiasda, G. W. (2010). Evangelizing the environment: Decision process effects in political persuasion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(1), 73–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., Mladinic, A., & Otto, S. (1994). Cognitive and affective bases of attitudes toward social groups and social policies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 113–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finke, R., & Stark, R. (2005). The churching of America 1776–2005: Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1984). Social cognition. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup identity model. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gainous, J. (2008). Who’s ambivalent and who’s not? Social welfare ambivalence across ideology. American Politics Research, 36(2), 210–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, J. L., & Gouws, A. (2002). Overcoming intolerance in South Africa: Experiments in democratic persuasion. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, C. P. (1993). The impact of churches on political behavior. Westport: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goren, P. (2005). Party identification and core political values. American Journal of Political Science, 49(4), 881–896.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guth, J. L. (2009). Religion and public opinion: Foreign policy issues. In C. E. Smidt, L. Kellstedt, & J. Guth (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of religion and American politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guth, J. L., Fraser, C. R., Green, J. C., Kellstedt, L. A., & Smidt, C. E. (1996). Religion and foreign policy attitudes: The case of Christian zionism. In J. C. Green, J. L. Guth, C. E. Smidt, & L. A. Kellstedt (Eds.), Religion and the culture wars. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guth, J. L., Green, J. C., Smidt, C. E., Kellstedt, L. A., & Poloma, M. (1997). The bully pulpit: The politics of protestant clergy. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadden, J. K. (1969). The gathering storm in the churches. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrmann, R. K., Tetlock, P. E., & Visser, P. S. (1999). Mass public decisions to go to war: A cognitive-interactionist framework. American Political Science Review, 93(3), 553–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilpold, P. (2001). Humanitarian intervention: Is there a need for a legal reappraisal? European Journal of International Law, 12(3), 437–468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinckley, R. H. (1988). Public attitudes toward key foreign policy events. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32(2), 295–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. A., & Abrams, D. (1988). Social identifications: A social psychology of intergroup relationships and group processes. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, J. E. (1985). The mood/interest theory of American foreign policy. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckfeldt, R., & Sprague, J. (1995). Citizens, politics, and social communications: Information and influence in an election campaign. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huddy, L. (2001). From social to political identity: A critical examination of social identity theory. Political Psychology, 22(1), 127–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1987). How are foreign policy attitudes structured? A hierarchical model. American Political Science Review, 81(4), 1099–1120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iyengar, S., & Kinder, D. R. (1987). News that matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby, W. G. (2006). Value choices and American public opinion. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 706–723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelen, T. G. (1992). Political Christianity: A contextual analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 36(3), 692–714.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, M. K., & Niemi, R. G. (1968). The transmission of political values from parent to child. American Political Science Review, 69, 169–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, B. (1963). On church and sect. American Sociological Review, 28, 539–549.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kam, C. D., Wilking, J. R., & Zechmeister, E. J. (2007). Beyond the ‘narrow data base’: Another convenience sample for experimental research. Political Behavior, 29(4), 415–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, I., & Glen Haas, R. (1988). Racial ambivalence and American value conflict: Correlational and priming studies of dual cognitive structures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(6), 893–905.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohut, A., Green, J. C., Keeter, S., & Toth, R. C. (2000). The diminishing divide: Religion’s changing role in American politics. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krosnick, J. A. (1989). Attitude importance and attitude accessibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15(3), 297–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krosnick, J. A., Boninger, D. S., Chuang, Y. C., Berent, M. K., & Carnot, C. G. (1993). Attitude strength: One construct or many related constructs? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(6), 1132–1151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krosnick, J. A., & Kinder, D. R. (1990). Altering the foundations of support for the president through priming. American Political Science Review, 84, 497–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kull, S., & Destler, I. M. (1999). Misreading the public: The myth of a new isolationism. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leege, D. C. (1985). The findings of the notre dame study of catholic parish life. Mahwah, NJ: New Catholic World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leege, D. C., & Kellstedt, L. A. (1993). Religious worldviews and political philosophies: Capturing theory in the grand manner through empirical data. In D. C. Leege & L. A. Kellstedt (Eds.), Rediscovering the religious factor in American politics. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leege, D. C., & Trozzolo, T. A. (1989/2006). Report no. 4. Religious values and parish participation: The paradox of individual needs in a communitarian church. http://www.nd.edu/~icl/nd_study.shtml, Accessed 24 Jan 2010.

  • Leege, D. C., & Welch, M. R. (1989). Religious roots of political orientations: Variation among American catholic parishioners. Journal of Politics, 51(1), 137–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lodge, M., McGraw, K. M., & Stroh, P. (1989). An impression-driven model of candidate evaluation. American Political Science Review, 83(2), 399–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, J. W. (2003). Theory-testing, generalization, and the problem of external validity. Sociological Theory, 21, 236–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupia, A. (1994). Shortcuts versus encyclopedias: Information and voting behavior in california insurance reform initiatives. American Political Science Review, 88(1), 63–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandelbaum, M., & Schneider, W. (1979). The new internationalism: Public opinion and American foreign policy. In K. Oye, D. Rothchild, & Robert E Lieber (Eds.), Eagle entangled: U.S. policy in a complex world. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, J. D. (2004). ‘Christian fundamentalists and public opinion toward the middle east: Israel’s new best friends?’. Social Science Quarterly, 85(3), 695–712.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mockabee, S. T., Wald, K. D., & Leege, D. C. (2007). Reexamining religiosity: A report on the new religion items in the ANES 2006 pilot study. ANES pilot study reports. Ann Arbor, MI: American National Election Studies.

  • Modigliani, A. (1972). Hawks and doves, isolationism and political distrust: An analysis of public opinion on military policy. The American Political Science Review, 66(3), 960–978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monroe, K. R., Hankin, J., & Van Vechten, R. B. (2000). The psychological foundations of identity politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 3, 419–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, J. (1973). War, presidents, and public opinion. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munro, G. D., Ditto, P. H., Lockhart, L. K., Fagerlin, A., Gready, M., & Peterson, E. (2002). Biased assimilation of sociopolitical arguments: Evaluating the 1996 presidential debate. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24(1), 15–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, T. E., Oxley, Z. M., & Clawson, R. A. (1997). Toward a psychology of framing effects. Political Behavior, 19(3), 221–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niebuhr, H. R. (1951). Christ and culture. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, B. I., & Shapiro, R. Y. (1992). The rational public: Fifty years of trends in Americans’ policy opinions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, J. Z., & Baker, J. (2007). What would Jesus buy: American consumption of religious and spiritual material goods. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 501–517.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, T. (1937). The structure of social action. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, V., Cappella, J. N., & Nir, L. (2002). Does disagreement contribute to more deliberative opinion? Political Communication, 19(1), 95–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pugh, M. (1996). Humanitarianism and peacekeeping. Global Society, 10(3), 205–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinley, H. E. (1974). The prophetic clergy: Social activism among protestant ministers. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regan, P. (2002). Civil wars and foreign powers: Outside intervention in intrastate conflict. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roozen, D. A., McKinney, W., & Carroll, J. W. (1984). Varieties of religious presence: Mission in public life. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheufele, D. A., & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models. Journal of Communication, 57, 9–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O. (1986). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on social psychology’s view of human nature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(3), 515–530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherif, M. (1967). Group conflict and cooperation. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherif, M., Harvey, O. J., Jack White, B., Hood, W. R., & Sherif, C. W. (1961). Intergroup conflict and cooperation: The robbers cave experiment. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smidt, C. (Ed.). (2004). Pulpits and politics: Clergy and the 2000 presidential election. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, G. A. (2008). Politics in the parish: The political influence of catholic priests. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sniderman, P. M., Brody, R. A., & Tetlock, P. E. (1991). Reasoning and choice: Explorations in political psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sniderman, P. M., & Theriault, S. M. (2004). The dynamics of political argument and the logic of issue framing. In W. E. Saris & P. M. Sniderman (Eds.), Studies in public opinion: Gauging attitudes, nonattitudes, measurement error and change. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sowle Cahill, L. (1994). Love your enemies: Discipleship, pacifism and just war. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R., & Finke, R. (2000). Acts of faith: Explaining the human side of religion. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R., Foster, B. D., Glock, C. Y., & Quinley, H. (1971). Wayward shepherds: Prejudice and the protestant clergy. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R., & Glock, C. Y. (1968). American piety: The nature of religious commitment. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taber, C. S., & Lodge, M. (2006). Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 755–769.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American, 232, 96–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, D. M., & Moghaddam, F. M. (1994). Theories of intergroup relations: International social psychological perspectives. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, M. M., Zanna, M. P., & Griffin, D. W. (1995). Let’s not be indifferent about (attitudinal) ambivalence. In R. E. Petty & J. A. Krosnick (Eds.), Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tocqueville, A. D. (1994/1840). Democracy in America (Vol. 2). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

  • Todorov, A., & Mandisodsa, A. N. (2004). Public opinion on foreign policy: The multilateral public that perceives itself as unilateral. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68, 323–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Transue, J. E. (2007). Identity salience, identity acceptance, and racial policy attitudes: American national identity as a uniting force. American Journal of Political Science, 51(1), 78–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Troeltsch, E. (1931). The social teaching of the Christian churches. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volf, M. (1996). Exclusion and embrace: A theological exploration of identity, otherness, and reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wald, K. D., Owen, D., & Hill, S. (1988). Churches as political communities. American Political Science Review, 82, 531–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, B. E. (2009). Religiosity and attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: A meta-analysis. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19, 21–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T. D., & Dunn, E. W. (2004). Self-knowledge: Its limits, value, and potential for improvement. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 493–518.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T. D., Kraft, D., & Dunn, D. S. (1989). The disruptive effects of explaining attitudes: The moderating effect of knowledge about the attitude object. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 379–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittkopf, E. R. (1986). On the foreign policy beliefs of the American people: A critique and some evidence. International Studies Quarterly, 30, 425–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wuthnow, R. (1988). The restructuring of American religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wuthnow, R. (1998). After heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaller, J. R. (1991). Information, values, and opinion. American Political Science Review, 85(4), 1215–1237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaller, J. R. (1992). The nature and origins of mass opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaller, J., & Feldman, S. (1992). A simple theory of the survey response: Answering questions versus revealing preferences. American Political Science Review, 36(3), 579–616.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Phaik See Lim, Kris Kanthak, and Cathy Johnson for their assistance with this project, and David Barker, Jeff Kurtz, Dave Peterson, David Woodyard, and Ted Jelen for helpful suggestions along the way. We also thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers for a very productive review process.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Denison University, Granville, OH, 43230, USA

    Paul A. Djupe

  2. Department of Political Science, Missouri State University, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO, 65897, USA

    Brian R. Calfano

Authors
  1. Paul A. Djupe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian R. Calfano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul A. Djupe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Djupe, P.A., Calfano, B.R. Divine Intervention? The Influence of Religious Value Communication on U.S. Intervention Policy. Polit Behav 35, 643–663 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-012-9211-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-012-9211-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation