Smith, Christian : University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Christian Smith is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving (1998) and Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement (1996).

"This book is a major contribution, both substantively and methodologically, to understanding America's religious landscape."

--Publishers Weekly

"An important book, especially during this Presidential election year."

--Library Journal

"Who's afraid of the big bad evangelicals? Not Christian Smith, and he suggests that other people shouldn't be, either. Smith's cool-headed and readable book indicates that in this aspect of American life, at least, the sky isn't falling."

--Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

"Smith's book is based on a three-year national study involving more than 200 extended interviews, as well as polling data. He quickly identifies four fallacies that have distorted many descriptions of evangelicals: that their views can be equated with those of a supposedly united evangelical political elite; that their views are accurately represented by the formulations used in public opinion polling; that their views are ideologically consistent, and that they form a monolithic religious bloc rather than a conglomeration of often bickering subgroups. Professor Smith did not shy from the hot-button questions."

--Peter Steinfels, New York Times

"This book clearly demonstrates how important it is to listen. Smith's work provides us with broad and systematic confirmation of what a decade of ethnographic studies had anticipated--when we get past our stereotypes long enough to listen to ordinary evangelicals, we find a much more diverse and ambivalent family than the 'mighty charging army' of culture war rhetoric. Serious attention to the findings reported here can be an important ingredient in building the civil and tolerant society we say we want."

--Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Bible Believers

""This volume captures the common sense views of thousands of grass-roots evangelicals about the role of politics and pluralism in contemporary America. It shows that evangelicals speak not with one voice, but reflect a wide range of options on most issues of pressing cultural importance. Smith's subtle and wide-ranging work will significantly define--and redefine--the discussion of religion in America at the turn of the twentieth century."

--Grant Wacker, Duke University

"In this well-researched and highly readable book, Christian Smith explodes many of the stereotypes associated with evangelicals. Contrary to the view presented in the media and shared by many liberals, Smith conclusively demonstrates that the typical evangelical is not a political extremist, nor does he or she believe in forcing their world view on others. Instead, most evangelicals share the same cultural values of tolerance and individualism that are common to mainstream America. This landmark study, drawing on extensive survey data and hundreds of in-depth interviews, will redefine our view of evangelicalism"

--Donald E. Miller, author of Reinventing American Protestantism

University of California Press Web Site, July, 2002

In recent decades Protestant evangelicalism has become a conspicuous and--to many Americans, worrisome--part of this country's cultural and political landscape. But just how unified is the supposed constituency of the Christian Coalition? And who exactly are the people the Christian Right claims to represent? In the most extensive study of American evangelicals ever conducted, Christian Smith explores the beliefs, values, commitments, and goals of the ordinary men and women who make up this often misunderstood religious group. The result is a much-needed contribution to the discussion of issues surrounding fundamental American freedoms and the basic identity of the United States as a pluralistic nation.

Based on data from a three-year national study, including more than 200 in-depth interviews of evangelicals around the country, Christian America? assesses the common stereotype of evangelicals as intolerant, right-wing, religious zealots seeking to impose a Christian moral order through political force. What Smith finds instead are people vastly more diverse and ambivalent than this stereotype suggests. On issues such as religion in education, "family values," Christian political activism, and tolerance of other religions and moralities, evangelicals are highly disparate and conflicted. As the voices of interviewees make clear, the labels "conservative" and "liberal" are too simplistic for understanding their approaches to public life and political action.