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Introduction
I am an assistant professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of Oklahoma. My research explores the changing dynamics of religious and family life in the United States.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (207)
Though recent research on White racial solidarity has advanced our understanding of White identity politics in the United States, the religious underpinnings of White identity politics remain understudied. Building on the documented conflation of religious, racial, and national identities among White Americans, we propose American Christian nationa...
What undergirds the association between religious and political conservatism and “group-serving pronatalism”; that is, support for childbearing to advance social or political goals rather than for personal fulfillment? Although recent research suggests that Christian nationalism—reflecting a desire to formally privilege conservative Christian value...
This study sheds light on the paradox of the American Christian Right historically emphasizing “character” in political leadership while reporting greater relative support for leaders like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. We do this by re-conceptualizing views on the relationship between Christianity and state (Christian nationalism) as reflecting...
During national emergencies, democratically elected leaders have sought to expand executive power in ways that violate democratic norms, ostensibly to guide their nation through crisis. Drawing from research on democratic backsliding, we anticipate support for such executive privileges may stem from different ideological and contextual factors, but...
This article provides a review and visualization of findings over the last 30 years related to the orgasm gap between men and women in heterosexual encounters. We describe and compare techniques commonly used for measuring orgasm occurrence and frequency patterns, and we summarize the contrast in orgasm rates shown in these studies across different...
How can Americans on the political left and right both claim their views represent those of Jesus? Using nationally-representative data in which Americans rated Jesus on the left-right ideological spectrum, we assess what characteristics are associated with Americans’ ratings and consider arguments about causal ordering. Competing expectations are...
How do Americans evaluate politicians’ religiosity? We theorize extra‐religious “identity congruence,” the perceived correspondence between others’ group identities and our own, will powerfully shape evaluations. We test this expectation using data from two large, nationally representative surveys that ask Americans to rate the religiosity of promi...
Though research has examined pornography viewing frequency and its correlates in national samples, researchers have yet to assess how much pornography use the general population thinks is "average" for men and women. Drawing on data from a nationally representative sample of American adults (Men: N = 1,127; Women = 1,382; total mean age = 50.0, SD...
The recent global pandemic provides a natural experiment “intervention” to examine how differing baseline social dynamics such as gender, education, and politics shaped diverging patterns of well-being during rapidly shifting societal conditions. Using married adults from a nationally representative panel study in the United States from August 2019...
Recent debates about whether educators should teach America's racist history have sparked activism and legislation to ensure students are taught American history in such a way that promotes “patriotism,” amplifying cherished national myths, emphasizing American exceptionalism, and erasing negative historical facts. Building on insights from both so...
Americans are often split along partisan and religious lines regarding which claims they consider “rights,” as well as which of these rights they prioritize over others. Beyond standard political and religious characteristics, we propose that a pervasive ideology that centers conservative religious ethno-culture within America’s deep story and futu...
Since 2016, Americans’ attitudes toward Russia and Vladimir Putin have shifted, with Republicans becoming far more supportive of both. And though condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 remains bipartisan, many Christian‐right leaders still support Putin and Russia. What undergirds this support? Drawing on three national data sets, we...
Building on the insight that American religion is fundamentally “raced” and “complex,” we theorize American religion is so deeply racialized that seemingly “race-neutral” religious claims about national identity are ultimately more oriented toward racial rather than religious considerations. Drawing on recent, nationally representative data, we tes...
Americans are often split along partisan and religious lines regarding which claims they consider "rights" as well as which of these rights they prioritize over others. Beyond standard political and religious characteristics, we propose that a pervasive ideology that centers conservative religious ethno-culture within America's deep story and futur...
Sociologists have proposed numerous theories for declining marriage rates in the United States, often highlighting demographic, economic, and cultural factors. One controversial theory contends that having multiple non-marital sex partners reduces traditional incentives for men to get married and simultaneously undermines their prospects in the mar...
A principal concern regarding nationalist sentiment is the tendency to sanctify “the nation” and support it as chosen and pure regardless of its complicity in injustice. Building on research showing the tendency to whitewash America’s past is primarily localized to white Americans, and particularly those who stress its Christian heritage, we theori...
What fuels both enthusiasm for increasing “American” birth rates and fears about their decline? Citing the prevalence of fertility campaigns in authoritarian regimes characterized by ethno‐nationalist Christianity, we theorize that, in addition to patriarchal attitudes, perceived ethno‐cultural threat and desire for ethno‐cultural dominance substan...
Sociologists have proposed numerous theories for declining marriage rates in the United States, often highlighting demographic, economic, and cultural factors. One controversial theory contends that having multiple non-marital sex partners reduces traditional incentives for men to get married and simultaneously undermines their prospects in the mar...
Americans are increasingly polarized by a variety of metrics. The dimensions, extent, causes, and consequences of that polarization have been the subject of much debate. Yet despite the centrality of religion to early discussions, the analytical focus on America's divides has largely shifted toward partisan identity, political ideology, race, and c...
The deep story of white Christian nationalism was already fully formed by around 1690, nearly three centuries before the emergence of the New Christian Right. It was woven together out of three stories taken from the Christian Bible: the Chosen People story, the End Times story and the Racial Curse story. Who counted as “white,” “Christian,” and “A...
This chapter shows how white Christian nationalism has influenced American politics over the last two decades: the Tea Party movement, the MAGA phenomenon, and the Capitol insurrection. It argues that WCN is the hidden through line that connects all three moments. It then explores the “holy trinity” of WCN: freedom, order, and violence. White freed...
Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021. And bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus Saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me”; Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’s name after storming the Senate chamber. Where...
This chapter uses quantitative data to show how many white Christian nationalists there are, which religious traditions they belong to, and what they believe. WCN is most strongly represented among evangelical Protestants but attracts significant numbers of mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, and even some non-Christians. It also shows that whit...
This chapter explains what white Christian nationalism (WCN) is and is not. It is a deep story about America’s past and a political vision of its future. The story claims that America was founded by and for (white, Protestant) Christians. It warns that America’s power and prosperity are endangered by racial, religious, and foreign-born others. The...
Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021. And bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus Saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me”; Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’s name after storming the Senate chamber. Where...
During late spring 2020, when states were issuing stay-at-home orders, the majority of congregations and Americans followed protocols and avoided in-person worship. Yet a vocal minority of Americans defied protocols and gathered in worship. The authors use national panel data collected in mid-May and August 2020 to assess whether Americans who atte...
White Christian nationalism is fast becoming a serious threat to American democracy. So long as white, native-born Christians were numerically and politically dominant, WCN could coexist with American democracy. As the nation has become less white and more secular, however, WCN has taken an authoritarian turn. The result is an increasing hostility...
IntroductionThough religious conservatives espousing patriarchal views have historically been on the forefront of anti-pornography efforts in the USA, the past few decades have witnessed an increasing secularization of the anti-pornography movement. This shift is characterized by greater rhetorical dependence on scientific studies, secular anti-por...
Though the persistence of voter suppression and disenfranchisement in the US is well-documented, we still know little about their contemporary ideological underpinnings beyond partisanship and racial resentment. Highlighting the Christian Right’s influence in driving anti-democratic sentiment in the post-Civil Rights era, we propose contemporary id...
Of the many changes in daily life brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing efforts and governmentally mandated lockdowns were among the most drastic. Coinciding with these changes, popular pornography websites made some previously premium content available for free, spurring dramatic increases in traffic to these websites. This inc...
Religious right leaders often promulgate views of Christianity's historical preeminence, privilege, and persecution in the United States that are factually incorrect, suggesting credulity, ignorance, or perhaps, a form of ideologically motivated ignorance on the part of their audience. This study examines whether Christian nationalism predicts expl...
Background: Despite the lack of scientific consensus on pornography’s relationship to addiction, sexual functioning, or violence, research has nevertheless documented the increasing deployment of scientific studies to argue that pornography constitutes a “public health crisis” and renew calls for sweeping anti-pornography legislation. This paradoxi...
Sociologists have long identified a “perception gap” between Black and White Americans regarding racial injustice, often emphasizing either “epistemologies of ignorance” or “religio-cultural” mechanisms. Integrating and extending these insights, we theorize that conceptions of America’s religio-cultural heritage and identity are racially coded and...
Although decades old, the terms “anti-racism/antiracism” and “anti-racist/antiracist” have grown in usage by scholars, authors, and activists to convey the necessity of active opposition to racial injustice. But as the terms have become more mainstream, researchers have yet to examine the social and ideological correlates of actually describing one...
Americans are increasingly polarized by a variety of metrics. The dimensions, extent, causes, and consequences of that polarization have been the subject of much debate. Yet despite the centrality of religion to early discussions, the analytical focus on America’s divides has largely shifted toward partisan identity, political ideology, race, and c...
For decades now and particularly during the 2020 presidential campaign, American conservatives have stressed the need to protect “religious freedom.” Building on research documenting a connection between Trump-support, a desire to privilege conservative Christianity, and perceptions that conservative Christianity is persecuted due to its anti-LGT (...
Religious communities in pluralistic societies often hold in tension the task of reinforcing core identities and ideals within the community while negotiating public relations among those outside the community. Christian communities have sought to accomplish both projects materially through Bible modification, with most historically working to esta...
Of the many changes in daily life brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing efforts and governmentally mandated lockdowns were among the most drastic. Coinciding with these changes, popular pornography websites made some previously premium content available for free, spurring dramatic increases in traffic to these websites. This inc...
Christian nationalist ideology was among the strongest predictors of Americans voting for Trump in 2016 and remained a strong predictor of intent to vote for him prior to the 2020 election. This study uses national data to examine whether Christian nationalism could potentially convert the previously-unconverted to supporting Trump or, conversely,...
Religiously conservative Americans consistently demonstrate lower scientific literacy than other Americans. Some argue, however, that Americans’ scientific literacy is contingent on subcultural conflict, showing differences in scientific literacy that emerge only on religiously contested scientific claims. Building on these insights, we find that t...
For decades anti-pornography sentiment and campaigns were driven largely by religious conservatives citing pornography’s “contaminating” moral effects. More recently, however, anti-porn campaigns have sought to support their arguments by appealing to social and cognitive science. This raises the question of whether anti-pornography sentiment is und...
Numerous studies document the connection between American evangelicalism and male insecurity stemming from essentialist, phallocentric conceptions of masculinity. Yet data have often been confined to individuals’ responses in surveys or qualitative interviews. This limits our understanding because individuals may lie about the most personal sources...
A growing body of research has demonstrated how the link between pornography use and various manifestations of psychological distress and dissatisfaction is explained by moral incongruence—the experience of violating one’s deeply held moral values. The predictive power of moral incongruence, however, has yet to be applied to other sexual activities...
Sociologists have proposed numerous theories for declining marriage rates in the United States, generally highlighting demographic, economic, and cultural factors. One controversial theory contends that having multiple non-marital sex partners reduces traditional incentives for men to get married and simultaneously undermines their prospects in the...
We propose contemporary support for sweeping anti-pornography legislation is driven, in large part, by Christian nationalism-an ideology seeking to politically enforce a mythic Christian sexual order, but not one's own sexual behavior. We show Christian nationalism strongly predicts a desire to outlaw pornography, but not actual pornography use. Mo...
During the COVID-19 crisis in March/April of 2020, far-right American political leaders and pundits proffered xenophobic explanations for the pandemic while ignoring that poorer, Black Americans and prison populations were being disproportionately infected. We propose such xenophobic and racist evaluations of COVID-19 drew from and appealed to a pe...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments implemented lockdown restrictions that were tremendously polarizing. Those on the cultural and political left supported restrictions hoping to protect the vulnerable, while those on the cultural and political right challenged restrictions citing threats to the economy and liberty. We theoriz...
Prior research demonstrates that a number of cultural factors-including politics and religion-are significantly associated with anti-vaccine attitudes. This is consequential because herd immunity is compromised when large portions of a population resist vaccination. Using a nationally representative sample of American adults that contains a battery...
America's judicial system is both exceptionally punitive and demonstrably unjust toward racial minorities. While these dual realities are structured into America's institutions, we propose they are also partially sustained by the intersection of ideologies that are both racialized and sacralized. Using multiple waves of the General Social Surveys a...
Religious communities in pluralistic societies often hold in tension the task of reinforcing core identities and ideals within the community while negotiating public relations among those outside the community. Christian communities have sought to accomplish both projects materially through Bible modification, with most historically working to esta...
Coinciding with declining rates of marriage and coupled sex in the U.S., some scholars have proposed that the growing availability of “low-cost sexual gratification” or “cheap sex”—sexual activities such as hookups, pornography use, and masturbation that demand little effort or investment—will lead men to find marital commitment less appealing. Usi...
Numerous studies show biblicist Christianity, religiosity, and conservative political identity are strong predictors of Americans holding skeptical attitudes toward publicly controversial aspects of science, such as human evolution. We show that Christian nationalism—meaning the desire to see particularistic and exclusivist versions of Christian sy...
Explaining the rise of Donald Trump has become a cottage industry for social scientists, and with good reason. Despite relatively strong economic numbers throughout most of his pre-coronavirus administration, Trump’s presidency has been an absolute catastrophe for race relations, the environment, and America’s place in the world, as well as our con...
Discussions of biblical interpretation often proceed under one of two assumptions. Readers’ interpretations are primarily formed (1) inductively, according to the Bible's objective content, or (2) through the lens of preformed ideologies and biases. We assessed the influence of these two factors using two survey experiments with undergraduates. In...
During the COVID‐19 pandemic, Americans’ behavioral responses were quickly politicized. Those on the left stressed precautionary behaviors, while those on the (religious) right were more likely to disregard recommended precautions. We propose the far right response was driven less by partisanship or religiosity per se, but rather by an ideology tha...
pornography use may qualify for the new diagnosis of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in the forthcoming ICD-11. There is also evidence, however, that moral incongruence (i.e., a misalignment of moral beliefs about sexual behavior and actual sexual behavior) may inflate self-reports of problems associated with pornography use. Prior work...
In the United States, pornography use is common, and it is increasingly a clinical concern under some circumstances. Excessive pornography use may qualify for the new diagnosis of compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) in the forthcoming 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases. There is also evidence, however, that moral in...
Some of the strongest predictors of voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election were Christian nationalism and antipathy toward Muslims and immigrants. We examine the interrelated influence of these three factors on Americans’ intentions to vote for Trump in 2020. Consistent with previous research, Christian nationalism and Islamophob...
Numerous studies have examined the association between pornography use and various measures of relationship quality. Yet scholars have also pointed out the limitations of many such studies, including inconsistent findings for men and women, non-representative samples, and negatively-biased measures that could result in misleading findings. The purp...
This chapter explores how Christian nationalism helps explain Americans’ responses toward a host of sociocultural issues. It examines how and why Ambassadors, Accommodators, Resisters, and Rejecters respond differently to disputes over immigration, the refugee crisis, gun control, and arguments over “respecting the flag,” to name a few. It also exp...
In this chapter we explore how Christian nationalism erects and sustains symbolic boundaries concerning race and ethnicity, nativism, citizenship, and religious diversity. Focusing first on racial and ethnic diversity, we show how Christian nationalism actually implies the necessity of maintaining distinct racial boundaries. Ambassadors and Accommo...
This chapter introduces the four categories that encompass the orientations of all Americans toward Christian nationalism. The remaining chapters of the book draw on each of these four categories. This chapter provides empirical descriptions of each group: Ambassadors, Accommodators, Resisters, and Rejecters. The demographics of each group are expl...
This chapter introduces Christian nationalism. It is defined as a conceptual framework—a collection of myths, traditions, symbols, narratives, and value systems—that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life. The chapter also introduces the authors’ measurement of this concept and compares it to other possible measur...
Taking America Back for God conclusively reveals that understanding the current cultural and political climate in the United States requires reckoning with Christian nationalism. Christian ideals and symbols have long played an important role in public life in the United States, but Christian nationalism demands far more than a recognition of relig...
The conclusion provides an overview of the four responses to the Christian nation narrative and the key patterns outlined throughout the book. It rearticulates the main arguments that Christian nationalism is vital to understanding our current social and political context, that it is not synonymous with or a byproduct of other ideologies, and that...
In this chapter we demonstrate how Christian nationalists are deeply invested in ensuring family life in the United States reflects a particular order prioritizing patriarchy, heterosexuality, and cisgender identification. The family is viewed as the building block of society and the ultimate litmus test for any moral decay within a society. Using...
Some of the strongest predictors of voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election were Christian nationalism and antipathy toward Muslims and immigrants. We examine the interrelated influence of these three factors on Americans’ intentions to vote for Trump in 2020. Consistent with previous research, Christian nationalism and Islamophob...
Recent studies demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to “Christian nationalism”―an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life―tend to hold authoritarian, exclusionary, and overtly prejudicial attitudes, particularly regarding ethno-racial minorities. We use data from the 1996 and 2014 General Social...
Numerous studies show biblicist Christianity, religiosity, and conservative political identity are strong predictors of Americans holding skeptical attitudes toward publicly controversial aspects of science, such as human evolution. We show that Christian nationalism—meaning the desire to see particularistic and exclusivist versions of Christian sy...
English Bible translations are often classified along two axes: (1) whether their translation approach pursues “formal correspondence” (prioritizing literalness) or “functional equivalence” (prioritizing meaning); and (2) whether their translation approach emphasizes “gender-traditionalism” (translating gendered language literally) or “gender-inclu...
Despite controversies about the diagnosis, the World Health Organization recently elected to include compulsive sexual behavior disorder in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases. Both recent and remote works have suggested that various cultural factors such as personal religiousness and morality can influence both the exp...
Recent studies have found that state-level religious and political conservatism is positively associated with various aggregate indicators of interest in pornography. Such studies have been limited, however, in that they either did not include data measuring actual consumption patterns and/or did not include data on individuals (risking the ecologi...
Over 60 percent of Americans have some sort of family pet. Although studies have explored the personality and demographic correlates of pet ownership, none have considered whether religious characteristics may influence not only pet ownership, but the kind of pet Americans own. Drawing on data from the 2018 General Social Survey, we examine the rel...
Invited commentary on the Target Article:
Leonhardt, N. D., Spencer, T. J., Butler, M. H., & Theobald, A. C. (2018). An organizational
framework for sexual media’s influence on short-term versus long-term sexual quality.
Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi: 10.1007/s10508-018-1209-4
Early religion scholars stressed the importance of institutionalized “rites of passage” to integrate and reinvigorate groups themselves. Surprisingly, little work, however, has explored the efficacy of such rites for the religious lives of individuals. Although research has examined the transformative role of semi‐institutionalized rites like short...
Recent studies demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to “Christian nationalism”―an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life―tend to hold authoritarian, exclusionary, and overtly prejudicial attitudes, particularly regarding ethno-racial minorities. In light of the public resurgence of white nation...
Sociologists whose research intersects with American Christianity recognize the critical importance of the Bible to understanding many Americans' beliefs, values, and behaviors, but their operative approach to the Bible generally ignores that "the Bible" is as much a product of interpretive communities as it is a symbolic marker of identity or shap...
Chapter 1 provides a historical and statistical overview of how the relationship between conservative Protestantism and pornography has changed over time. Conservative Protestants generally did not seek to confront pornography as a threat to the church until the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, conservative Protestants wanted to ban pornography through...
Chapter 2 explains the paradox of conservative Protestants’ interpretations of pornography use and masturbation. Though pornography and masturbation are functionally related, conservative Protestants seem to draw a distinction between the two. Conservative Protestants typically condemn pornography unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms,...
Few other cultural issues alarm conservative Protestant families and communities more than the seemingly ubiquitous threat of pornography. Thanks to widespread access to the internet, conservative Protestants now face a reality in which every Christian man, woman, and child with a smartphone can access limitless pornography in his or her bathroom,...
Chapter 6 describes how conservative Protestants approach the challenge of trying to stop using pornography. It begins with the observation that different groups within conservative Protestantism advocate for different approaches to quitting pornography use. Some advocate more practical approaches based on contemporary psychology. Others advocate a...
The conclusion briefly recapitulates and integrates previous chapters in order to outline implications both for research on pornography use and for religious life in the United States. It ends by drawing out important takeaways and challenges for conservative Protestant communities for whom pornography is not only a moral problem but also one that...
Chapter 4 considers how the influence of complementarian gender ideology differentially shapes the experiences of conservative Protestant men and women who view pornography. While the moral incongruence involving pornography use can often be crippling for conservative Protestant men, this chapter shows that conservative Protestant women often exper...
Chapter 5 shows how pornography use shapes the romantic and family relationships of conservative Protestants in ways that are uniquely destructive. Specifically, he chapter draws on both quantitative data and qualitative interviews to explain why the sex lives and relationship quality of conservative Protestants tends to suffer more from pornograph...
Chapter 3 explores the consequences of the dissonance conservative Protestants experience in porn use, shaping their religious lives and even mental health. The chapter goes deeper into the history and prevalence of what the author calls “sexual exceptionalism” among conservative Protestants, focusing on porn use in particular. The chapter then dra...
The book’s introduction begins by describing the growing use and acceptance of pornography in the United States in order to frame the dilemma confronting conservative Protestants. Conservative Protestants’ connections to modern media and technology leave them vulnerable to the allure of pornography. Today, Christian leaders lament that many young C...
