UCCS has established a new center that aims to study the connection between religious ideologies and political allegiances.
The center, created earlier this fall by philosophy professor Jeffrey Scholes and his colleagues, said it’s focused on what evangelicalism means to each individual person — evangelicals and non-evangelicals alike. As the director, Scholes said the center will research evangelicalism through wide range of studies, including anthropology, history, religious studies and political science.
Along with Scholes, the center was founded by Distinguished Professor of history Paul Harvey and Assistant Professor of anthropology George Bayuga.
“[The goal as scholars] is to understand your object of study. And with this, it happens our object of study is evangelicals, and so we want to understand it … we just want to illuminate what it is,” Scholes said.
In the past two elections, Donald Trump has received a staggering number of votes from evangelicals — more than George W. Bush, an avowed evangelical who was mainstream in U.S. politics. This pattern is expected to continue in the upcoming election, so the center is interested in researching the political ramifications of the Christian belief system. Additionally, the center wants to research the extent to which religion should influence politics.
Research is centered around historic and contemporary questions about religion and religious diversity and public life. For a start, the center is creating an ethnographic documentary about the history of religious life and evangelicalism in Colorado Springs. This project, composed primarily of oral interviews, will be used as a resource for any future research projects.
Another project the center is working on is an archival project focused on the less-documented, nuanced parts of Colorado Springs’ religious history. This project aims to provide a more complete understanding by including the history of the LGBTQ community and people of color. Scholes said he did not know when the project will be released.
The center’s first event was held at the Ent Center in early October and featured Tim Alberta, a staff writer for The Atlantic and the former chief political correspondent for POLITICO. The event focused on how evangelists interact with politics in the modern day.
The center is partnering with undergraduate and graduate students to work on set projects and hopes to eventually fund undergraduate and graduate work. With enough funding, the center can establish a “standing scholarly” for students to propose and test their own research questions, according to Ben Slightom, the post-doctoral fellow for the Center for Religious Diversity in Public Life.
The center is primarily funded by a $300,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, but Scholes and the other founders are working on acquiring federal grants and applying for funding through other private organizations, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation.
Slightom said they’re also fundraising for the center, and a grant they have will match the first $10,000 raised. Donations are accepted at the Center for Religious Diversity and Public Life Fund website.
Photo courtesy of the UCCS Photography Database.