Church-State Relations and Civil Liberties: A Collegiate Interpretation

Abstract

liberties on the other. What is being hypothesized, therefore, in its broadest sense is that young people of college age who have a strong commitment to civil liberties may well experience a clas sical cross-pressure should they have a strong commitment to religious education as well. It is further assumed that the methods in which such differences are reconciled are of great interest to students of political behavior and the dynamics of political socialization. The need of the individual for developing a viable belief system through which the myriad environmental cues are filtered and interpreted, thus allowing for the individual to come to grips with reality, and specifically political reality, has been discussed and examined.1 Furthermore, the role of perception in the process of attitude formation and the behavioral ramifications of per ceived political realities have also received studious attention.2 Yet, while political scientists are somewhat familiar with the process of attitude formation and both its dynamics and impli cations for political behavior, they are only vaguely equipped to deal with the resolution of conflicts within the political belief