White Protestants Research Articles

Book Review: Black Religion and American Evangelicalism: White Protestants, Plantation Missions, and the Flowering Negro Christianity, 1787–1865

Book Review: Black Religion and American Evangelicalism: White Protestants, Plantation Missions, and the Flowering Negro Christianity, 1787–1865

Music of Northern Independent Black Churches during the Ante-Bellum Period

is directly related to the social values and life styles of the educated and the uneducated black. These life styles were influenced by the social, economic and political patterns of the North. As a result, the religious musical tradition of educated blacks, who were striving to achieve middle class status, was similar to that of the white Protestant. On the other hand, the tradition associated with uneducated blacks, who were struggling to survive, reflected the experiences of the segregated black community. The latter's musical tradition, therefore, was of a different character from the music associated with the white Protestant tradition. In order to understand the circumstances which led to the development of both traditions among northern blacks, it is necessary to provide the reader with general historical data concerning the institution of slavery in the North, the religious status of blacks in the North, the general trends of the white Protestant musical tradition, and the social, economic and political conditions which affected the status of northern blacks after the abolition of slavery.

Social Origins of American Scientists and Scholars

Data from a wide variety of sources reflect geographical, baccalaureate, and social class variations in the production of scientific and scholarly doctorates in the United States. To a significant extent, these variations are associated with the kind of religiousethnic group from which such persons come. Roman Catholics are extremely low producers of scientists and scholars, but fundamentalistic and traditional Protestant faiths (southern white Protestants, Lutherans) are also low producers. Liberal Protestant sects, such as Unitarians and Quakers, and secularized Jewish groups are highly productive, and less liberal faiths are moderately productive. Variations in productivity are reflective of differences in beliefs and values. Highly productive groups share a certain set of values, unproductive groups hold the antithesis of these, and those groups intermediate in productivity possess a mixed blend. Tentatively, the common beliefs and value systems of high producers seem to include naturalism; intrinsic valuation of learning and the individual quest for truth; emphasis on human dignity, goodness, and competence; a life pathway of serious dedication, of service to humanity, of continual striving; humanistic equalitarianism; a pragmatic search for better ways of doing things unfettered by traditional restraints; and a focus on the relatively immediate, foreseeable future which can be affected by personal effort. Historically, the scientists (or their immediate ancestors) have broken away from the traditional orthodoxy, broadened certain values, and retained others. For example, the children of Jewish immigrants to the United States departed from the traditional ritualism of the eastern European Jewish community, broadened the old value of scriptural erudition to include secular learning of all kinds, but maintained emphasis upon personal striving and social responsibility. Also, it appears that eminent scientists often emerge from devout Protestant homes emphasizing learning and responsibility but that such scientists frequently depart from the parental religious faith (31). Psychodynamically, this set of cultural values produces a person with an inquiring cognitive disposition, whose duty it is to strive diligently to improve the human condition. Given a certain level of intellectual talent, and cultural support in educational, scientific, and scholarly institutions, youth will frequently choose careers in scientific and scholarly professions. This same cultural milieu apparently also produces disproportionate numbers of inventors and entrepreneurs; historically, it produced those who activated the industrial revolution and those who generally were responsible for rapid economic growth. The data discussed herein extend only to about 1960, prior to the great social unrest of the 1960's and early 1970's. Speculatively, one might predict that productivity will diminish to the extent that current social movements stressing existential futility, goal attainment "now," or power relationships are successful in penetrating groups which have been highly productive, since these emphases undermine longterm scholarly striving.

Solar Heating and Cooling

Data from a wide variety of sources reflect geographical, baccalaureate, and social class variations in the production of scientific and scholarly doctorates in the United States. To a significant extent, these variations are associated with the kind of religiousethnic group from which such persons come. Roman Catholics are extremely low producers of scientists and scholars, but fundamentalistic and traditional Protestant faiths (southern white Protestants, Lutherans) are also low producers. Liberal Protestant sects, such as Unitarians and Quakers, and secularized Jewish groups are highly productive, and less liberal faiths are moderately productive. Variations in productivity are reflective of differences in beliefs and values. Highly productive groups share a certain set of values, unproductive groups hold the antithesis of these, and those groups intermediate in productivity possess a mixed blend. Tentatively, the common beliefs and value systems of high producers seem to include naturalism; intrinsic valuation of learning and the individual quest for truth; emphasis on human dignity, goodness, and competence; a life pathway of serious dedication, of service to humanity, of continual striving; humanistic equalitarianism; a pragmatic search for better ways of doing things unfettered by traditional restraints; and a focus on the relatively immediate, foreseeable future which can be affected by personal effort. Historically, the scientists (or their immediate ancestors) have broken away from the traditional orthodoxy, broadened certain values, and retained others. For example, the children of Jewish immigrants to the United States departed from the traditional ritualism of the eastern European Jewish community, broadened the old value of scriptural erudition to include secular learning of all kinds, but maintained emphasis upon personal striving and social responsibility. Also, it appears that eminent scientists often emerge from devout Protestant homes emphasizing learning and responsibility but that such scientists frequently depart from the parental religious faith (31). Psychodynamically, this set of cultural values produces a person with an inquiring cognitive disposition, whose duty it is to strive diligently to improve the human condition. Given a certain level of intellectual talent, and cultural support in educational, scientific, and scholarly institutions, youth will frequently choose careers in scientific and scholarly professions. This same cultural milieu apparently also produces disproportionate numbers of inventors and entrepreneurs; historically, it produced those who activated the industrial revolution and those who generally were responsible for rapid economic growth. The data discussed herein extend only to about 1960, prior to the great social unrest of the 1960's and early 1970's. Speculatively, one might predict that productivity will diminish to the extent that current social movements stressing existential futility, goal attainment "now," or power relationships are successful in penetrating groups which have been highly productive, since these emphases undermine long longterm scholarly striving.

Minority Group Status and Self-evaluated Class

Self-evaluated class status is shown to vary among white Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and black Protestants. Holding economic status constant, Jews are most likely to select the middle- (or upper-) class label, followed by white Protestants, white Catholics, and black Protestants. Thus, the independent effect of minority status on self-evaluated class status reinforces the ranking directly attributable to the economic levels of each of the four groups. Also, the congruence between self-identified class and objective economic status is closer among Jews and white Protestants than among white Catholics or black Protestants. The hypothesis that affiliation with a minority necessarily reduces class consciousness was, therefore, not supported.

Attitudes of White Protestants and Catholics toward Nonmarital Sex

Attitudes of White Protestants and Catholics toward Nonmarital Sex

The Terrors of Ideological Politics: Liberal Historians in a Conservative Mood

is clear, to begin with, that since the late 1930s Jews have remained the most knowledgable about international affairs and generally the most enthusiastic about American involvement abroad. Secondly, a remarkable shift has occurred among Catholics since the late 1930s. Once the least informed and least 'internationalist* of the religious groups, they had by the late 1960s become somewhat better informed than Protestants and no less internationally minded. Thirdly, by the mid-1960s white Protestants constituted the 'most internationally conservative ethno-religious group in the country/ in contrast to Catholics and Jews, who were significantly more inclined to opt for 'dovish' (the description is mine, not Hero's) policy preferences such as cooperation with the communist world, greater involvement in the United Nations, and more non-military foreign aid. Fourthly, there appears to be no consistent relationship between domestic policy preferences, whether 'liberal' or 'conservative/ and foreign policy preferences. Lastly, public stances on foreign affairs adopted by Christian church organizations have had some effect on the clergy but relatively little effect on most of the laity. Sober in tone and carefully argued, this is an instructive study which tells us a good deal about a relatively neglected subject and which demonstrates the usefulness for scholarly purposes of opinion data on a wide range of issues compiled over a long period of time by a variety of polling organizations. It is a product of mature scholarship and is informed by Hero's conviction that the Christian churches can and should do more to provide an ethical dimension for public thinking and discussion relating to foreign affairs.

Intellectualism and Religious Attendance of Metropolitan Residents

An apparent inverse relationship between intellectualism and attendance at religious services is examined in a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected in 1963-1964 in a sample of New York City residents. There is no relationship between intellectualism and attendance when religious group is controlled. Jewish respondents, in particular, displayed decreasing rates of religious attendance and increasing rates of intellectualism when analyzed by generation. A decreasing rate of attendance by generation was more characteristic of Jews low on intellectualism than those high on intellectualism. Among white Protestants, attendance diminished across generation for those low on intellectualism, while it increased for those high on intellectualism. Data are also reported for white Catholics and for blacks of all faith. The differences are among generational categories at a single point in time.

Tabulations from the 1957 Current Population Survey on Religion: A Contribution to the Demography of American Religion

This paper presents some previously unpublished data from the Current Population Survey's 1957 interview sample on religion. All of the available data from this sample have now been published. Our review of these data indicates that there has been a structural convergence between white Protestants and Catholics, but that the Jews and blacks have not been parties to this convergence. The necessity for future questions on religion on both the monthly Current Population Survey and the decennial census is discussed.

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

White Protestant Americans: From National Origins to Religious Group

Journal Article White Protestant Americans: From National Origins to Religious Group. By Charles H. Anderson. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970. xx + 188 pp. Tables, notes, appendixes, and index. Cloth, $6.95; paper, $2.95.) Get access Rudolph J. Vecoli Rudolph J. Vecoli University of Minnesota Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 58, Issue 1, June 1971, Pages 126–127, https://doi.org/10.2307/1890088 Published: 01 June 1971

Life with God: Some Variations of Religious Experience in a Modern City

between believers and God. Six aspects of that relationship appeared as orthogonal factors in responses obtained from a random sample of adults in metropolitan Detroit. All six were found in three sub-samples: black Protestants, white Protestants, and white Roman Catholics. Compensatory and evolutionary theories of religious experience were found to be of little use in explaining the variance of respondents' scores on these factors. Hypotheses derived from a sociological perspective on religious experience showed greater power in explaining that variance.

The New Triple Melting Pot: Herberg Revisited

The relative permeability of the boundaries between white Protestants and white Catholics, Jews and (white) gentiles, and blacks and whites is assessed in five institutional areas: marriage, friendship, residence, occupations, and politics. Where possible, the data are examined in a time series perspective. The review of the literature generated by this outline indicates that the categories implied in Herberg's Protestant, Catholic, Jew must be modified. The new set of categories is white Christian, white non-Christian, and black. One of the best-known books ever written about religion in America is Herberg's Protestant, Catholic, Jew (1955; rev. ed., 1960). Starting from a review of this nation's immigrant history, Herberg analyzes the process of religious change in this country from the standpoint of ethnic assimilation. His argument, later echoed by Gordon (1964), is two-pronged. First, Herberg argues, religious boundary lines have replaced national origin lines as the significant form of ethnic differentiation among whites in American society. Social interaction tends to be confined to one's own religious group, and there are only three religious groupings that are important to consider in this way--the three that form the title of his book. Herberg's second major thesis concerns the way American society has solved the problem of religious pluralism. (For good theoretical treatments of the sociological problems created by religious pluralism, see Lenski, 1965, and Yinger, 1970. Descriptive materials about religious pluralism in other societies are presented for Lebanon by Gulick, 1965, for the Netherlands by Moberg, 1961, and Lijphart, 1968.) Taking the Durkheimian stance that all societies must have some religious base to continue to exist, Herberg (1960) distinguishes between the formal religious structure of a society (the Church or the churches) and the society's operative religion, the set of beliefs and practices that actually perform the Durkheimian task of societal integration. Herberg's (1960: 78-79) second the-

Black Power and White Protestantism: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism. By Joseph C. Hough, Jr. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. 228 pp. $5.75

Journal Article Black Power and White Protestantism: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism. By Joseph C. Hough, Jr. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. 228 pp. $5.75 Get access Thomas T. Love Thomas T. Love Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Church and State, Volume 12, Issue 3, Autumn 1970, Pages 508–509, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/12.3.508 Published: 01 October 1970

A Social-Psychological Model of Political Legitimacy and Its Relevance to Black and White Student Protest Movements†

A Social-Psychological Model of Political Legitimacy and Its Relevance to Black and White Student Protest Movements^†

Book Reviews and Notices: Black Power and White Protestants

Book Reviews and Notices: Black Power and White Protestants

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

Black Power and White Protestants: A Christian Response to the New Negro Pluralism

Religious Communality and Party Preference

A tradition of religious voting in the U.S. has been maintained to the present day. Since it is highly improbable that religious voting is an extension of doctrinal differences among the laity, and since major class differences among religious groups have been reduced or eliminated, other possible sources of the relationship between religion and party preference must be probed. It is hypothesized that a person's degree of involvement in his religious community is positively related to the chance that he will prefer the traditional majority party within his religious group regardless of social class position. The effect of religious communality on party preference must also be independent of political socialization proper, another important determinant of political values. Analysis of data collected on samples of white Protestants and Mormons supported the hypothesis, but the major hypothesis was not sustained in the case of Catholics.

Religious Communality Among White Protestants, Catholics, and Mormons

Theoretical discussions of religious communality in America have received scant attention in empirical research in regard to white Protestants and Catholics. The notion of a multiple melting pot with religious boundaries has not yet been corroborated for the two major religious faiths. This paper attempts to contribute to the empirical literature on the subject of white Protestant and Catholic communality, and introduces the problem of communality as it relates to Mormons. A survey of three cities revealed that substantial segments of each faith were highly involved in their respective socioreligious communities.