ABSTRACT

This paper draws on data from 12 focus group discussions of a faith-based prison ministry program to examine how ordinary Americans talk about the separation of church and state. The focus groups – conducted in Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Boston – revealed that program supporters and opponents draw on different moral frameworks, with supporters focusing on a framework of care and opponents focusing on a framework of justice. The findings affirm the centrality of moral concerns in shaping citizen stances on church-state separation and suggest that meaningful political compromise is possible on the issue of government support of faith-based social services.

摘要

本文借鉴了基于信仰的监狱事工计划的12个焦点小组讨论的数据，以检验普通美国人如何谈论政教分离。焦点小组–在明尼阿波利斯街的休斯敦举行。保罗和波士顿–揭示了计划的支持者和反对者使用了不同的道德框架，支持者关注的是关怀框架，反对者关注的是正义框架。研究结果肯定了道德问题在塑造公民对教会国家分离的立场上的中心地位，并表明在政府支持基于信仰的社会服务的问题上，有意义的政治妥协是可能的。