Paul Djupe

The rates that show growth are of the whole population not relative to other groups. They’re still hard to measure with all the non-denoms, but they’re growing fast.

The Good and Bad News about FDI Can private foreign investors fill the gap left by foreign aid cuts?

Can foreign direct investment substitute for foreign aid? I offer my take in my latest Substack post.

open.substack.com/pub/mileswil...

Join us Tuesday, August 5, at 1:00 PM ET for a conversation on charismatic Christians’ influence in American politics. We will be joined by experts @drleahpayne.bsky.social, @pauldjupe.bsky.social, Dara Delgado, Ph.D., and @melissadeckman.bsky.social.
Register now: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

With Pete Hegseth in the pews, a Christian nationalist church plant launches in DC WASHINGTON (RNS) — Christ Kirk DC is the latest example of pastor Doug Wilson's growing sphere of influence among a cadre of conservatives sometimes described as the 'New Right.'

NEW from me: My dispatch from the first worship service of Christian nationalist Doug Wilson’s new church plant in DC over the weekend, where Pete Hegseth sat near the front and the pastor preached beneath an American flag.

“Worship is warfare,” the pastor said. religionnews.com/2025/07/14/w...

I'll bet some react that way, but I also expect that others will feel like they need to adapt to the new (ab)normal. Could be some polarization in worldviews like Christian nationalism.

The Johnson Effect: How the New Speaker Sparked a Religious Rhetoric Surge By Alena Smith and Julianna J. Thomson [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons] After Mike Johnson (R-LA) became Speaker of the House in October 2023, Republican legislators started using significantly mo…

New at RIP from @alenasmith13.bsky.social and ​​@julthomson.bsky.social. Elevating Spkr Mike Johnson was a symbolic permission structure that pushed House GOP to use religious language more in their newsletters to constituents.
religioninpublic.blog/2025/07/14/t...

OK, journal publishers are baaaad, but this is another level of hell. We can't even see Springer journal content unless we consent to a high level of individualized tracking or else pay you money? How about I just not publish in or cite work in your journals? I'll do that for free. How about that?

The academic’s mid-summer crisis is a mid-life crisis in miniature:

You realize summer is half gone, & not only that: you see that the longest & least burdened days came early, & they are well past. You compare all you thought you’d do against the days remaining & grieve for what never will be

Delighted to help put this together - there’s excellent work in this collection that makes a big jump forward in religion + politics in American congregations.

Fellowship in the Fiery Furnace: A Research Note on How Christian Persecution Beliefs Transcend Racial Divides This study aims to investigate the relationship between Christian persecution beliefs (CPBs) and race. Existing CPB research has asserted that CPBs constitute a socially appropriate tool to signal Wh....

What do #Christian persecution beliefs (CPBs) reveal about racial boundaries? Walker, @pauldjupe.bsky.social, & Calfano explore the question ➡️ Do CPBs vary by #race in their adoption, constitution, & consequences? #OpenAccess in the @jssreligion.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fun research project with the indomitable @brooklynwalker.bsky.social

Researchers need to show the bivariate or at least note when model results flip signs on an IV. Then they need a good reason (+data) to document why it's a real and not a suppression effect. Without that, they need to stop making unqualified, population-level claims about, e.g., attendance effects.

A Search for Liberalizing Religion: Political Asymmetry in the American Religious Landscape This study explores potential heterogeneity in the relationship between religion and politics in the United States. Rather than assume all religion is conservatizing, it conducts a broad preliminary ...

There may be isolated circumstances where more frequent attenders are more liberal, but we need communication data to document how that link is made because it is incredibly rare. Others could not find it either. 3/4

Our new article in Political Behavior argues that suppression effects are rampant in work on Christian nationalism, which is highly correlated with attendance. Attenders say they're conservative, talk like conservatives, walk like conservatives. We need a strong reason to indicate otherwise. 2/4

Attending Church Encourages Acceptance of Atheists? No, It’s A Suppression Effect By Paul A. Djupe, Amanda J. Friesen, Anand E. Sokhey, and Jacob R. Neiheisel In new research out at Political Behavior (open access!), we investigate whether attending church encourages greater acc…

We saw research showing Christian nationalism promoted anti-immigrant views but more frequent church attendance promoted pro-immigrant views and thought that finding was implausible. The same method showed that attendance promoted more positive feelings toward atheists. And that's bonkers. 1/4

Attending Church Encourages Acceptance of Atheists? Suppression Effects in Religion and Politics Research - Political Behavior A proliferation of religion variables presents opportunities for those studying religion and politics in the U.S. However, many studies in this growing subfield demonstrate the pitfalls of reporting t...

New study from @pauldjupe.bsky.social et al. out in @polbehavior.bsky.social. We've often found Christian nationalism & churchgoing are signed in opposite directions in regressions. Authors propose viewing such findings as suppression effects & explore implications.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Minnesota Shooter is Not Alone By Jacob R. Neiheisel and Paul A. Djupe In the early morning hours of June 14th, a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were shot and killed in what Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described as “what app…

Many have remarked on the charismatic religious training of the MN shooter and remarked on whether spiritual warfare is confined to the unseen realm.

But we have data!

No, believers in spiritual warfare connect it to the physical here and now and support violence to make desired changes.

A.

Here's the kicker - higher Christian persecution beliefs are linked to more support granting exemptions if a business doesn't want to serve a LGBT customer OR a customer of ANOTHER RACE if it would violate their religious beliefs. We can't ignore the Christian persecution industrial complex.

We show Whites, Blacks, and Latinos have ~ the same level of belief that Christians are being persecuted in the US and the same factors explain levels of those beliefs across race (2022 data, oversamples of racial minorities). They have a strong correlation with Christian Nationalism across race 2/3

Fellowship in the Fiery Furnace: Do Christian Persecution Narratives Transcend Racial Divides? By Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe “Section 1. Purpose and Policy. It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the…

Brand New Research! We (@Brooklyn Walker) continue to push back on the concatenation of "White Christian nationalism". That framing drastically underestimates the threat to the US. Our new article shows a common support base for a more extensively subscribed Christian nationalism across race.
1/3

Good call - we’ve had that on the docket to assess in the next survey.

What we found is a LOT of complementarianism (conservative gender ideology) among Christians and strong relationships to the desire to ban abortion and use force to take back America. That is, the elite activist rhetoric is matched by patterns among Christians in the US (as of January 2024).

The Gender Ideology Behind Christian Nationalism and the Anti-Abortion Movement By Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker [Image credit: Tennessee Lookout] A recent story from NPR helps make the connections between extraordinarily restrictive anti-abortion policies and a broader mo…

After reading excellent reporting from @oyousef.bsky.social on NPR about the violent gender ideology behind the anti-abortion movement, we (@brooklynwalker.bsky.social + I) had to dig into our data to see whether this exists in the mass (Christian) public. 1/2

religioninpublic.blog/2025/05/16/t...

We suspect that this pattern helps explain why Trump moderated his views on abortion temporarily during the 2024 campaign. It seems likely he would pay no tariff for that border crossing and allay some fears from those typically on the other side.

Opposition to abortion is soft among Christian nationalists. That doesn't mean they are moderates, CNs are simply divided. On the other side, those who reject CN are considerably united in rejecting a Constitutional amendment banning abortion and supporting one that enshrines abortion rights. 2/3

The Moderate Abortion Politics of Christian Nationalism? By Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe [Image credit: Georgetown Gender + Justice Initiative] Despite initially receiving ambivalent reactions, Roe v. Wade soon divided the country. Anti-abortion pol…

It has been conventional wisdom for so long that abortion is one of a few mobilizing issues on the Right. So much so that it didn't seem worth investigating. Good thing we did (w @brooklynwalker.bsky.social). 1/3
religioninpublic.blog/2025/04/22/t...

Check out this excellent review of the Christian nationalist advance in Texas where legislation is openly touted that it will bring kids to Christ.

The sociologist may be living in America (and I agree with the analysis), but he sure can't communicate in it.

Sesame? For the people?