“More People? More Power!”: progressive religious activism in the Greater Boston Area
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“More People? More Power!”
Date
2024-05-03
DOI
Authors
Fitzpatrick, Charles
Version
Embargo Date
2024-05-03
OA Version
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Abstract
Boston has an incredibly unique religious composition and an undoubtedly important civil sector. From its start as a hub in a Puritan-dominated colony to its existence today as a cosmopolitan megalopolis, the Boston Metro Area has been at the forefront of religious society within the eastern United States and the country at-large. The dominant narrative across the U.S. is that religion overwhelmingly perpetuates conservative political activism (such as the Christian Nationalist Movement), but this discounts the varied ways in which progressive religiosity has impacted and continues to impact public affairs at all levels. This thesis looks to explain why distinctive constituencies of religious people in the Greater Boston Area (GBA) get involved in interreligious and progressive politics and what allows them to be successful in doing so. 11 members from eight participant religious/spiritual organizations were interviewed about the political issues they/their groups feel most passionate about and the sense of belonging they feel within their communities. The vast majority of participant organizations were members of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), one of Boston’s foremost non-partisan interfaith alliances. The one exception is St. Cecilia Church, a Roman Catholic congregation. Interviewees varied significantly in faith, from ordained Methodist ministers to religiously unaffiliated participants taking part in cultural/community organizations. Research analysis suggests that the religious left in the Greater Boston Area finds comfort in coalition action, using diverse viewpoints in order to inform their activism. Unity and community in the context of the religious left are therefore not presented through cultural identity / shared cultural experience, but instead through the want to be a part of something greater and to be able to help those around them. Although this study only contains Boston-area participants, information from it sets a precedent that the power of the urban religious left is derived from collectivity. In these coalitions, people are not just seen as representatives of their faith, but as community members, each individual with their own strengths and intersectional identities.
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CC0 1.0 Universal