Christian Sociological Influence

The Christian Sociological parts, have influenced each other in the past. Christian churches in U.S. society still maintain importance because "approximately 80 percent of Americans...identify themselves as Christian; many of the new immigrants in fact are Christian, e.g., those from Haiti, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Central America" (Caiazza, 2010, p. 190). In terms of their role in the Christian Sociological model, Stuckenberg (1880) holds that the individual "in society is a representative of Christ and of" the "Gospel" (Matt. 5:13-15) where their testimony leads the world to judge Christianity (p. 266). Their "conduct before others should be in harmony with his true worth and dignity" (Stuchenberg, 1880, p. 267). At furthest sacrifice, "the

Indeed, some assert "that the underlying unifying aspect of American religiosity is not some form of Christianity, but what" is referred "to as 'Gnosticism ' " (Bloom in Caiazza, 2010, p. 191). If this is the case it may provide an explanation as to why "the decline of the influence of the Protestant religion in America was followed by a plethora of negative social consequences which reached a 'frenzied apex ' in the '60s and '70s including mass sex murders, an explosion of teenage pregnancies, and abortion" (Caiazza, 2010, p. 200). The "broad acceptance of the collapse of public moral standards exemplified in the vulgarity of popular entertainment, high divorce and illegitimacy rates, cohabitation among couples, and the legitimizing of alternate lifestyles, e.g., gay marriage" have come with the disconnect of religious virtues (Caiazza, 2010, p. 201). Instead of a move back towards religious virtues, these types of lifestyles have become legitimized via the passing of laws. Still, some note that at present "divorce rates have stabilized, and general attitudes now reflect pro-life more than a pro-choice sensibility, so that pro-life politicians no longer fear that their antiabortion stance has doomed their candidacy" (Caiazza,

As mentioned earlier, the Christian understands the political arena as existing to serve society. However, the state does not operate in a vacuum, or by itself, and therefore is influenced by society as a whole. Nomination for Supreme Court justices is primarily done by the elected president. This fact demonstrates that politics indeed do influence society in deep ways. Hall and Ura (2015) mention that "the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of important public laws tends to promote majoritarian interests. The Court is less likely to invalidate important statutes that enjoy greater support among current lawmakers (p. 4). Further, "...the data show that this majoritarian pattern is the product of the Court’s decisions at the agenda setting stage; the Court rarely invalidates important laws with strong majority support because the justices rarely hear challenges to such laws" (Hall & Ura, 2015, pp. 4-5). The Supreme Court 's recent ruling on marriage equality may be an example of this process where the justices were split down the middle on the issue both in numbers and in terms of their nominating parties. Of the nine justices, four opposing justices were nominated by Republican presidents and four pro justices were nominated by Democrats, where the outlier that tipped the ruling was nominated by a Republican president