Race, risk, and American religious groups' views of Nazi Germany in 1935.

Publisher: published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the London School of Economics and Political Science Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0373126 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1468-4446 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00071315 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Br J Sociol Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: London : published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the London School of Economics and Political Science
Original Publication: London, Published by Routledge & Kegan Paul for London, London School of Economics and Political Science.

National Socialism* ; Religion*; Humans ; United States ; Germany

What explains American religious groups' views of Nazi Germany before the U.S. entered the Second World War? Using a comparative-historical approach, we employ a novel set of data on 25 of America's most prominent religious denominations to answer this question. We find that two factors were crucial in explaining religious elite discourse about Hitler in the U.S. in 1935: whether leaders believed in white supremacy and whether their denominations were incumbents or challengers in the American religious field. Our findings underscore the growing theoretical consensus that racial resentment is key to support for authoritarianism and call attention to religious groups' complicity in its growth, both active and passive.
(© 2023 London School of Economics and Political Science.)

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Keywords: authoritarianism; comparative/historical sociology; race; racism; religion

Date Created: 20230713 Date Completed: 20230904 Latest Revision: 20230904

20240829

10.1111/1468-4446.13020

37438869