Metro-evangelization: faiths, religion, and social capital in American metropolitan politics

This paper examines the intersection of suburban growth, public morality, and regional politics in the United States. The shape of American metropolitan areas is changing, and so are the policy solutions for problem in interdependent region. A better understanding of how and why religious groups interact with these developments is needed. Starting with a contextual analysis of suburban religious engagement through the 20th century, I explain how strong hierarchies are crucial to social engagement, especially among suburban congregations. I use Reinhold Niebuhr\u27s ideas about self-interest in society to frame a discussion of the factor that motivate religious involvement in the evolving arena of regional politics. The politics of self-interest and the morality of faith are often at odds, and churches are constantly faced with the question of how and whether to manifest their beliefs in public policy. My case studies of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul and San Antonio regions present different ways in which policymakers, religious leaders, and faith communities have cooperated to shape metropolitan policy. The two regions are different geographically, culturally, and politically, and the organizational models of their religious lobbying groups have little in common. Still, I find similarities in how regional policy can be used to manifest God\u27s word in the public sphere. My thesis is that religious groups, working in concert with astute coalitions of policymakers, can simultaneously advance regional equity and spread their visions of the common good in society