Abstract
In recent decades, same-sex marriage has emerged as a national political issue. As a result, state legislators have sponsored and passed statutes on an array of issues directly related to this topic. This chapter investigates how faith influences an individual legislator's political judgment in the early stages of decision-making related to sponsored bills. The findings suggest that even while legislators' partisanship and ideology largely structure decision-making, conservative Protestant legislators are more likely to respond to threats by sponsoring a bill when issues involve morality.
TopThe Legislative Process
Policy decisions in state legislatures may be influenced by any number of sources known to shape human behavior (Patterson, 1983). To pinpoint the factors of influence upon legislative decision-making, researchers have observed the norms governing legislators' behavior, the roles they assume, and the goals and objectives that motivate them (Clausen, 1994). Chief among these is a member’s ability to sponsor and cosponsor legislation without institutional limit on the type, subject, or number of pieces of legislation.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Whip: An official of a political party appointed to maintain discipline among its members in Congress or Parliament, especially to ensure attendance and voting in debates.
Zero-Sum Beliefs: A general belief system about the antagonistic nature of social relations, shared by people in a society or culture in which one person's winning makes others the losers.
LGBTQ Bias: Prejudice and/or discrimination against people who are or are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ).
Cultural Cleavage: Separates voters into advocates and adversaries on certain issues or voting for a certain party.
Traditionalism: The theory that all moral truth comes from divine revelation passed on by tradition.
Moral Worldview: A worldview is based on the infallible word of God.
Roll Call Vote: A recorded vote in which the names of those voting for and against a motion may be recorded. In many deliberative bodies, questions may be decided by voice vote, but the voice vote does not allow one to determine later which members voted for and against the motion.