March 28, 2018
Ted Brader (University of Michigan)
Tensions over religions diversity and claims of religious discrimination have alternatively simmered or raged throughout the course of American history. Recent developments have brought such conflicts to the fore again. But how do Americans perceive these religious conflicts? In particular, how do they perceive claims of religious discrimination and accommodation? What role is played by individuals’ own religious identities and convictions, adherence to principles (e.g., religious liberty, equal treatment, scope of government), and pragmatic situational considerations (safety, convenience, financial hardship, etc.) In what we anticipate is the first of several forays into this topic, we focus especially on the role of religious identity and principle in competing claims over religious freedom and equal treatment in the delivery of commercial services. Theories of social identity and group conflict lead us to expect that individuals will be much more concerned about ‘religious liberty’ (rather than ‘discrimination’) when it is their group claiming liberty. In contrast, discrimination concerns are more likely to rise to the fore when other religious groups attempt to claim exemptions. This is at odds with what many consider the normatively optimal response in constitutional democracies, which is to make principled judgements about the reach of religious liberty and claims of discrimination, regardless of the group involved. We conducted a national survey experiment with over 2,000 respondents, manipulating two dimensions of a religious dispute: the religion of an individual proprietor refusing service (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Mormon) and the discriminatory nature of the claim (whether services are denied due to the identity or the behavior of the client). We consider the extent to which reactions are shaped by religious identity, religiosity, principle, partisanship and prior exposure to religious diversity. A secondary purpose of the survey is to assess new instrumentation designed to tap the embrace of specific constitutional principles and religious literacy.