In Religion for Realists, Samuel L. Perry argues that, as people in the West self-sort into partisan tribes, we need the scientific study of religion--the rational, data-driven analysis of religious life--now more than ever. This book presents a practical roadmap for ensuring that its insights are widely available, accessible, and impactful.

Samuel L. Perry is Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. He is the co-author, with Philip S. Gorski, of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy (OUP 2022), and, with Andrew L. Whitehead, of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (OUP 2020), as well as the author of Addicted to Lust: Pornography in the Lives of Conservative Protestants (OUP 2019). He is a frequent contributor to TIME magazine and other mainstream outlets.

Preface
Introduction: Real, but Different
1. We Were All Wrong: Anglo-Protestant Misconceptions
2. Belongers Before Believers: Group Identity and Norms
3. Evangelism The Old-Fashioned Way: Population Dynamics
4. Come Over Here And Make Me: The Power of Structure
5. More Than Benign Disinterest: (Why) Is Religion Research Marginalized?
6. Fulfilling the Promise: What Religion Scholars Owe the Public
Notes
References
Index