Christian Conservatism as Seen in Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the U.S. Debate on Abortion

Religiously Inspired or Politically Motivated?

Authors

  • Emma Welch Vanderbilt Divinity School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.25444

Keywords:

abortion, faith-based prisons, prisons, conservatism, politics

Abstract

The Experiment presents scholars of religion with an opportunity to draw upon their training to reflect upon a contemporary issue. In this edition, Emma Welch engages with Brad Stoddard’s newly released book Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). Stoddard’s volume examines Florida’s Faith- and Character-Based Institutions (FCBIs) as sites illustrative of the collision of the politics of incarceration, neoliberal economics, and religious freedom in the United States. Drawing from Stoddard’s argument, Emma Welch considers how a similar convergence of U.S. conservative Christian values and political agendas occur around the issue of abortion.

References

“Chaplaincy and Volunteer Services.” n.d. Florida Department of Corrections. http://www.dc.state.fl.us/development/chaplaincy.html

Karwat, Miroslaw. 1982. “Political Values as Ideas of Social Needs.” International Political Science Review / Revue Internationale de Science Politique 3.2: 198–204.

McBride, Dorothy E. and Jennifer L. Keys. 2018. Abortion in the United States: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Nagasawa, Mako A. 2021. Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.

Pew Research Center. 2020. “Pro-Choice Does Not Mean Pro-Abortion: An Argument for Abortion Rights Featuring the Rev. Carlton Veazey.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. https://www.pewforum.org/2008/09/30/pro-choice-does-not-mean-pro-abortion-an-argument-for-abortion-rights-featuring-the-rev-carlton-veazey/

Stoddard, Brad. 2021. Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Published

2023-04-12

How to Cite

Welch, E. (2023). Christian Conservatism as Seen in Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the U.S. Debate on Abortion: Religiously Inspired or Politically Motivated?. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 51(2), 56-61. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.25444