Collaborative Research: Local Government Officials and the Management of Religion-State Relationships

宗教与政府之间互动的日常管理落在了数十万地方官员的肩上，他们的决策影响到所有美国公民。这项针对地方官员的全国性混合方法研究调查了不同社区的地方政府官员如何理解和管理宗教与国家关系。该项目旨在帮助公众了解地方官员如何支持多元化并解决当地社区的冲突。该项目制作了一个公共使用的数据集和贸易书籍，并支持妇女和代表性不足的少数群体参与科学。这项研究通过大规模调查和对民选官员的深入访谈来探讨宗教与政府的相互作用。这项调查针对 2500 名民选和任命的地方官员，询问他们对宗教、国家以及两者之间互动的态度和行为。该调查代表了全国三种政府形式（市、县和学区）和五个治理领域（行政、治安、公共卫生、分区和教育）的官员。该项目还根据调查中的 150 名地方官员的（非）宗教信仰和当地背景对他们进行了深入访谈。定量和定性数据被合并和分析，产生方法报告、公用数据集和研究结果。该研究首次对地方官员与宗教的互动和宗教偏好进行了实证研究，并探讨了这些宗教-国家偏好如何受到关键个人因素（信仰、归属、背景）和背景（地区、城市规模、当地人口统计）的影响。最终，该研究展示了政府官员如何就如何引导和管理宗教问题以及解决潜在冲突做出决定，这些政府官员在宗教问题上通常拥有充足的自由裁量权，但正式指导有限。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The day-to-day management of interaction between religion and government falls to hundreds of thousands of local officials, who are entrusted with decisions that impact all American citizens. This mixed-methods, nationwide study of local officials investigates how local government officials, across diverse communities, understand and manage religion-state relations. This project is designed to help the public understand how local officials can support pluralism and resolve conflicts in local communities. The project produces a public-use dataset and trade book, and it supports the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in science.This study addresses the interaction of religion and government through a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews with elected officials. The survey is of 2500 local officials, both elected and appointed, asking about their attitudes and actions regarding religion, the state, and interaction between the two. The survey is nationally representative of officials across three forms of government (municipalities, counties, and school districts) and five governance domains (administration, policing, public health, zoning, and education). The project also includes in-depth interviews with 150 local officials sampled from the survey based on their (non)religiosity and local context. The quantitative and qualitative data are merged and analyzed, resulting in a methodological report, a public-use dataset, and research findings. The study provides the first empirical portrait of local officials’ interactions with and preferences about religion, and it examines how those religion-state preferences are patterned by key individual factors (beliefs, affiliations, background) and contexts (region, municipal size, local demography). Ultimately, the research demonstrates how government officials, who often have ample discretion but limited formal guidance when it comes to religion, make decisions about how to navigate and manage religious questions and resolve potential conflicts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.