Research Seminar on Diversity and Development

A new series of the ICSID-CSDSI regular seminar on Diversity and Development started on September 11, 2018. Anand Sokhey's presentation "Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: The Christian Nationalism of the Gun Control Debate" opened the seminar series this new academic year. The event was held jointly with the seminar “Political Economy” and Economic Development and Growth Research Group.

Anand Sokhey is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Sockey was invited to HSE to give a guest talk in the HSE School of Political Science, but he also found time to present his research at the seminar on Diversity and Development.

Abstract: The U.S. has the 31st highest rate of non-conflict gun violence in the world, far outpacing its socio-economic peers. And, over the past decade, public debate over gun control in the United States has grown immensely. However, despite public outcry, there has been almost no traction on gun control. We investigate a previously understudied mechanism to address this puzzle: religion. Do Christian nationalist values impede many religious Americans from supporting gun control?  In this paper we present multifaceted approach to the relationship between religion and gun control, drawing upon the integration of Christian nationalist views, partisanship, and clergy messaging. Our data comes from a May 2018 national sample of the United States, and we make comparisons to a 2007 national sample to assess consistency and change.