Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-04T23:18:31.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Collective Action Framing of Conservative Christian Groups in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2016

Steven Kettell
Steven Kettell*
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Steven Kettell, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, Kirby Corner Road, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. E-mail: s.kettell@warwick.ac.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Conservative Christian groups in Britain have been involved in a number of high profile and controversial policy issues. Scholarly research into the political activities of such groups, however, remains limited. This article addresses this lacuna by exploring the collective action frames deployed by conservative Christian groups in their attempts to influence national level policies and debates. Drawing on elite interviews with group representatives, it argues that these frames have been constructed largely in response to the pressures of secularization, but have, in many respects, become secularized themselves.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 286 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bebbington, D.W. 1989. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bebbington, D.W., and Jones, D.C.. eds. 2013. Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in the United Kingdom during the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Benford, R.D., and Snow, D.A.. 2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology 26:611–639.Google Scholar
Brierley, P. ed. 2014. UK Church Statistics 2. Swindon: Christian Research.Google Scholar
Bruce, S. 1994. “The Inevitable Failure of the New Christian Right.” Sociology of Religion 55:229–242.Google Scholar
Bruce, S. 2013. “Post-Secularity and Religion in Britain: An Empirical Assessment.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 28:369–384.Google Scholar
Burack, C., and Wilson, A.R.. 2009. “Constructing Christian Right Enemies and Allies: US, UK and Eastern Europe.” In Remoralising Britain? Political, Ethical and Theological Perspectives on New Labour, eds. Manley Scott, P., Graham, E.L., and Baker, C.R.. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Chong, D., and Druckman, J.N.. 2007. “Framing Theory.” Annual Review of Political Science 10:103–126.Google Scholar
Christian Institute. 2008. What We Believe. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: The Christian Institute. www.christian.org.uk/wp-content/downloads/what_we_believe_thestate.pdf (Accessed on September 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Christian Institute. 2009. Marginalising Christians. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: The Christian Institute. www.christian.org.uk/wp-content/downloads/marginchristians.pdf (Accessed on September 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Christian Institute. 2011. Twenty Years of Christian Influence. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: The Christian Institute. www.christian.org.uk/wp-content/downloads/twenty-years-of-christian-influence.pdf (Accessed on September 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Christians in Parliament. 2012. “Clearing the Ground Inquiry: Preliminary Report into the Freedom of Christians in the UK.” www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Horrocks,%20Preliminary%20report%20into%20the%20freedom%20of%20Christians%20in%20the%20UK.pdf (Accessed on November 16, 2016).Google Scholar
Clements, B. 2015. Religion and Public Opinion in Britain: Continuity and Change. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Djupe, P.A., Lewis, A.R., and Jelen, T.G.. 2016. “Rights, Reflection, and Reciprocity: Implications of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate for Tolerance and the Political Process.” Politics and Religion 9:630–648.Google Scholar
Durham, M. 2005. “Abortion, Gay Rights and Politics in Britain and America: A Comparison.” Parliamentary Affairs 58:89–103.Google Scholar
Engelke, M. 2009. “Strategic Secularism: Bible Advocacy in England.” Social Analysis 53:39–54.Google Scholar
Evangelical Alliance. 2011. 21st Century Evangelicals: A Snapshot of the Beliefs and Habits of Evangelical Christians in the UK. London: Evangelical Alliance.Google Scholar
Evangelical Alliance. 2012. 21st Century Evangelicals: A Snapshot of the Beliefs and Habits of Evangelical Christians in the UK. www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/21st-century-evangelicals.cfm (Accessed on September 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Evangelical Alliance. 2013. “Religious Beliefs Need Common Sense Protection — Response to European Court Judgement.” www.eauk.org/current-affairs/news/religious-beliefs-need-common-sense-protection.cfm (Accessed on September 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Evangelical Alliance. 2015. 21st Century Evangelicals: Faith in Politics? London: Evangelical Alliance.Google Scholar
Field, C.D. 2014. “Another Window on British Secularization: Public Attitudes to Church and Clergy since the 1960s.” Contemporary British History 28:190–218.Google Scholar
Gamson, J. 1997. “Messages of Exclusion: Gender, Movements, and Symbolic Boundaries.” Gender and Society 11:178–199.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 2013. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Christian Theology in a Post-Secular Age. London: SCM Press.Google Scholar
Hackett, C., and Lindsay, D.M.. 2008. “Measuring Evangelicalism: Consequences of Different Operationalization Strategies.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47:499–514.Google Scholar
Hunt, S.J. 2010. “The Rhetoric of Rights in the UK Christian Churches Regarding Nonheterosexual Citizenship.” Politics and Religion 2:183–200.Google Scholar
Hunt, S.J. 2014. “Christian Lobbyist Groups and the Negotiation of Sexual Rights in the UK.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 29:121–136.Google Scholar
Jelen, T.G. 2005. “Political Esperanto: Rhetorical Resources and Limitations of the Christian Right in the United States.” Sociology of Religion 66:303–321.Google Scholar
Kettell, S. 2009. “Did Secularism Win Out? The Debate over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.” Political Quarterly 80:67–75.Google Scholar
Kettell, S. 2013. “I Do, Thou Shalt Not: Religious Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage in Britain.” Political Quarterly 84:247–55.Google Scholar
Klemp, N.J. 2010. “The Christian Right: Engaged Citizens or Theocratic Crusaders?” Politics and Religion 3:1–27.Google Scholar
Knutson, K.E. 2011. “Breaking the Chains? Constraint and the Political Rhetoric of Religious Interest Groups.” Politics and Religion 4:312–337.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. 2016. “Learning the Value of Rights: Abortion Politics and the Liberalization of Evangelical Free Speech Advocacy.” Politics and Religion 9:309–331.Google Scholar
Lichterman, P. 1999. “Talking Identity in the Public Sphere: Broad Visions and Small Spaces in Sexual Identity Politics.” Theory and Society 28:101–141.Google Scholar
Lichterman, P. 2008. “Religion and the Construction of Civic Identity.” American Sociological Review 73:83–104.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics. 2011. “Religion in England and Wales 2011.” December.Google Scholar
Polletta, F., and Jasper, J.. 2001. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27:283–305.Google Scholar
Premier Christian Media. 2011. Report on the Marginalisation of Christianity in British Public Life 2007–2011 London: PCM Trust.Google Scholar
Rohlinger, D.A., and Quadagno, J.. 2009. “Framing Faith: Explaining Cooperation and Conflict in the US Conservative Christian Political Movement.” Social Movement Studies 8:341–358.Google Scholar
Strhan, A. 2015. Aliens and Strangers? The Struggle for Coherence in the Everyday Lives of Evangelicals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Strhan, A. 2016. “English Evangelicals and the Claims of Equality.” In Religion, Equalities, and Inequalities, eds. Llewellyn, D., and Sharma, S.. London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Stuart, H., and Ahmed, H.. 2012. Faith in the Public Sphere. London: The Henry Jackson Society.Google Scholar
Thomas, J.N. 2013. “Outsourcing Moral Authority: The Internal Secularization of Evangelicals’ Anti-Pornography Narratives.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 52:457–475.Google Scholar
Thomas, J.N., and Olson, D.V.A.. 2012. “Evangelical Elites’ Changing Responses to Homosexuality 1960–2009.” Sociology of Religion 73:239–272.Google Scholar
Thompson, T. 2009. “The Evangelical Alliance, Religious Liberty, and the Evangelical Conscience in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Journal of Religious History 33:49–65.Google Scholar
Walton, A., Hatcher, A., and Spencer, N.. 2013. “Is there a ‘Religious Right’ in Britain?” Theos, February.Google Scholar
Wolffe, J. ed. 1995. Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal: Evangelicals and Society in Britain 1780–1980. London: SPCK.Google Scholar
Ysseldyk, R., Matheson, K., and Anisman, H.. 2010. “Religiosity as Identity: Toward an Understanding of Religion from a Social Identity Perspective.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14:60–71.Google Scholar