If you read a textbook-style account of conflicts centering around the Protestant Reformation(s), it'll probably focus on theological disputes: justification by faith, the lay chalice, baptism, the meaning of "hoc est corpus meum," predestination... kind of thing.

But a lot of the most persuasive work – at least IMHO – on religious conflicts in the 16th and 17th cautions against focusing too much on "ideational content." https://t.co/j1nkhjvqTE
There are a variety of pitfalls here. One of them is that most of the people fighting over religion probably didn't to that point by carefully weighing the finer points of theological disputes. Dynamics of community, identity, and ritual probably played a more important role.
I've been thinking about this as we approach election day. American politics scholars understand very well that, for most Americans, partisanship drives ideology. Scholars of ethnic politics see familiar patterns in U.S. political polarization (cc @sstroschein2).
Political movements embrace conversion (!!) narratives as validations of their beliefs, and the converted stress ideas and epiphanies. But it doesn't take much poking around to see the crucial role if identity, belonging, and social affirmation.
This is a common refrain in studies about "redpilling" into IDW and alt-ideologies.

But it's also true of more 'mainstream' conversions.
On Twitter, you can watch this unfold in real time – and with prominent figures – as departure from orthodoxies meets with escalating attacks from the in-group and kudos from the out-group.
Indeed, the way that groups police their boundaries can be a double-edged sword. Especially if stigmas begin to erode.
Why do you think conservatives have sunk *so* much effort into hashtags, messaging, and spotlighting designed to imply an exodus of specific subgroups from the Democratic coalition?
A lot of liberal commentary (sometimes it me) dismisses this activity as targeted almost exclusively at wavering whites. But after years of these kinds of appeals, it does seem like the social stigma that's kept some conservative minorities in the Democratic fold is wavering.
Sorry, that was a bit of tangent.

The tl;dr community, identity, social affirmation, & ritual matter for all of our politics. It's important to keep this in mind as we come to climax one of the few remaining civic rituals that, in theory, binds all Americans together.
Welp. The number of typos in that thread strongly suggests I need another dose of my ADHD medicine. 🤦‍♂️

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Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.

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