ABSTRACT
In any consideration of religion and politics in the United States today, women merit special attention. Of course, American women exhibit great variety in their spiritual interests, attitudes toward religion, and their politics, but gender is a particularly powerful predictor of participation in religious and spiritual life. This chapter considers the facts about women's involvement in religion in the United States. It discusses some of the ways in which female religious activists involve themselves in political life. The chapter explores the religious and political attitudes of ordinary American women in the pews and on other spiritual journeys. The role of conservative religious women in promoting and defending a traditional "family agenda" may turn out to be as influential as the more progressive voices of feminist religious elites. It is noted that religious women often are divided in their orientations toward feminism, as is the case in the population at large.
