THE STUDY DECEMBER 22, 2011
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As the Iowa caucuses draw near, Newt Gingrich—down, but not quite out—is offering a feel-good religious message to primary voters. This comes amid a new story exploring Newt’s conversion to Catholicism, which, as TNR has explained, is pretty typical for American politicians. What factors might explain the levels of religious conversion in a society?
A 2007 paper argues that, among other things, high rates of religious conversion are correlated with high rates of religious diversity. That helps explain why conversion is more common in countries like the United States and less common in, say, Spain or Italy. The paper also verified suspicions that conversions are less common in formerly-Communist countries, since people in those countries tend to place less importance on formal religion affiliation in general. The authors reported one other intriguing finding: Conversion is positively correlated with education. “More educated people are likely to find it easier to change religions,” they write, “because they are better at learning and adjusting to new ways of thinking.” This finding matches a suggestion made by George Mason professor Mark Rozell, who was quoted in the story about Newt’s Catholicism: “Let's not forget this is a Ph.D., a former professor, a man who loves books and loves big ideas, and there is of course a very deep intellectual tradition within Catholicism […] And perhaps Gingrich found a natural connection there. It connects with his persona.” (Newt Gingrich, intellectual? It seems Professor Rozell missed this issue of TNR.)
8 comments
I'm surprised that the post doesn't mention an inquisition. There is, of course, no better way to promote conversion.
- Doug12
December 23, 2011 at 10:19am
I am not a religious believer. Humans are the only animals aware of their mortality. As explained in Ernst Becker's book, DENIAL OF DEATH, this [my interpretation] knowledge drives us crazy. According to Becker [again my interpretation] this knowledge stimulates us to invent Gods who will keep us alive after we die, and also leads to a lot of sociopathic behavior such as genocides. The restless seeking after God, as this post discusses, is preferable to mass murder, don't you think? I am fairly good in this regard, as I am not a vegan nor a vegetarian, and have killed the occasional rabbit and gray squirrel, but have never engaged in murder, much less mass murder. I trust everyone reading this, regardless of religious belief, behaves at least as well as I do.
- skahn
December 24, 2011 at 1:31am
I have no insight into the sincerity of Gingrich's "conversion", but I will comment that he is part of a particular wing of Catholicism, the new evangelical wing of Catholicism; it's the EWTN wing of the Catholic Church, and not representative of Catholics generally. Indeed, I wouldn't say that Gingrich (a Baptist) has come to the Catholic Church; rather, it's more accurate to say that the Catholic Church has come to him, by which I mean the union between evangelical protestants and evangelical Catholics, who believe Christians must unite in a defining struggle against secularism and Islam. It's true that Catholicism has a "deep intellectual tradition", but it's in the Garry Wills' tradition, the one that takes Catholicism seriously, not the one that relies mainly on superstition and prejudice. A prominent professor of religion (and, like Gingrich, a convert to Catholicism) recently said that conversion is a life-long pursuit, not a one-time event, the pursuit including avoidance of those occasions that have in the past resulted in sin; and he observed that in Gingrich's case, the occasion for sin was the pursuit of political power and its unwise use, and suggested that Gingrich should not be pursuing the most powerful political office in the world. I'd put it more bluntly by saying that Gingrich pursuing the office of president is like an alcoholic going to work in a liquor store. Once a sinner, always a sinner.
- rayward
December 24, 2011 at 8:52am
Over Christmas holiday I watched the typical Christmas movies where human concern for one another, particularly children, is a dominant theme. This morning I listened to the plight of bats dying from a fungus, and the billions of dollars lost from their contribution to insect pest control, and the motivated scientists who are confronting the survival of the bat population. Meanwhile, we can't raise the top tax rate because, it appears as a wealth transfer to the undeserving. I thnking we can help the underprivileged but only if they kill enough insects.
- Nusholtz
December 26, 2011 at 2:29pm
No, Nusholtz. Unleash the rabid blood sucking Dracula bats on human kind. That's my "How can we stand ourselves" post-Christmas hangover (though I did not drink alcohol at Christmas) post. Happy New Year to you.
- skahn
December 27, 2011 at 10:31am
Gingrich has demonstrated he holds passionate, but easily changed, points of view. I suspect his conversion to Catholicism reflects going to church with his wife, more than any deep ethical or moral understanding of Christianity. I've heard his wife is very devout. Which is odd, considering they carried on an affair for 6 years before they were actually married. So apparently you can be devoutly devoted to a religion, who's teachings you don't actually follow.
- AllanL5
December 27, 2011 at 11:46am
AllanL5: I have nothing [too much actually] much to add, but I am so delighted by your terse and deadly dissection of Gingrich (who, granted is a splendid bloated bullseye target). Gingrich is in love with being in lust, Gingrich is in love with himself [and the sound of his own voice (I can identify)], and in love with being devoutly devoted to the religion of the person he is currently in lust with. I love the Monty Python movie about the bloated man who eats so much he explodes; is Gingrich the human being most likely to demonstrate that life follows art?
- skahn
December 27, 2011 at 2:30pm
I'd also like to point out, that while Politicians may "convert" to a religion quite often, it's extremely rare for that religion to be Catholicism. Why, John F. Kennedy's BEING a Catholic was made a negative issue in the 1960 election (by John Bircher's, I suppose) because they said he'd be taking orders from the Pope instead of doing what's good for America. This is also an odd idea for Romney, who apparently is some high Bishop in the Mormon church -- no conversion there. So what we have is a group of Fundamentalist Southern Baptist Tea-Partiers, backing a man who LEFT the Southern-Baptist church to BECOME a Catholic, or backing a man who's a dyed-in-the-wool Mormon. It seems they too have very changeable convictions.
- AllanL5
December 28, 2011 at 10:46am