• Djupe, Paul A. and Laura R. Olson. 2010. “Religious Liberalism in a Gay Rights Debate: Commitment to Deliberative Values and Practice in ELCA Congregations.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA, Washington D.C.[pdf]

If you have any concerns or questions about this project not addressed on this page, please contact Dr. Paul Djupe (djupe@denison.edu) for questions about the content of the study and the Denison University Institutional Review Board chair (kingt@denison.edu) for any concerns about your rights as project participants.

Click on any of the following frequently asked questions to view our answer.

• Who is conducting this study and why is it being done?
• Who is being surveyed?
• Are my responses confidential?
• May I be notified about the results?
• I don't like the questions or have other concerns with the survey design.
• I have more questions, who should I contact?

• Who is conducting this study and why is it being done?

The project is a collaboration between Paul Djupe at Denison University in Granville, Ohio (and a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, MN) and Laura Olson at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina (who grew up in Racine, WI in an ELCA congregation). Combined we have numerous publications regarding how and the extent to which churches address social and political issue. For example:

• Filled with Spirit and Power: Protestant Clergy in Politics. (By Laura Olson) State University of New York Press, 2000.
• Christian Clergy in American Politics. (By Sue Crawford and Laura Olson, eds) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
• Religious Interests in Community Conflict: Beyond the Culture Wars. (By Paul Djupe and Laura Olson, eds) Baylor University Press, 2007.
• The Prophetic Pulpit: Clergy, Churches, and Communities in American Politics. (By Paul Djupe and Christopher Gilbert) Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

If you wish further information about Paul Djupe click here and for information about Laura Olson click here. 

Our goal for this project is to catalog and explain ELCA clergy and congregational responses to the August 21, 2009 denominational vote to allow openly gay clergy to serve in congregations (if congregations so choose). Our purpose is not to create an expose, but instead to give voice to how congregations and clergy wrestle in serious ways with the demands of their faith, organizational, and interpersonal commitments.

• Who is being surveyed?

You received a survey because your congregation was randomly selected from the entire ELCA roster of congregations and the email invitation was addressed to the head pastor of the congregation (by name if listed). The list was drawn to be representative of the ELCA with enough invitations sent to have statistical power sufficient for publication in academic journals. 

• Are my responses confidential?

Yes. We have protections in place to ensure that identifying information is not attached to your survey responses. These procedures have been reviewed and approved by the Denison University Institutional Review Board on the use of human subjects in research, which oversees all academic research under strict federal guidelines. If you have any questions about this process, please contact the chair of the board, Toni King (kingt@denison.edu).

• May I be notified about the results?

Yes. If you email Paul Djupe (djupe@denison.edu), he will notify you when a summary of the results can be obtained and when any publications are produced from this study. If you do not wish to provide your email to Dr. Djupe, you can check back to this site to monitor any papers that are produced using these results. 

• I don't like the questions or have other concerns with the survey design.

 This is a common problem that people have with survey research. We admittedly have to sacrifice some of the nuance of people's opinions and values in order to gain information that is appropriate to use in a statistical analysis, the most acceptable forms of analysis in political science. So, we ask you to be patient with the survey and afford the questions some latitude for how they describe your views. That said, we welcome your feedback and have provided space at the end of the survey for your additional comments and feedback. You are also free to email either researcher with additional commentary that we would benefit from knowing.

• I have more questions, who should I contact?

If this page has not answered your questions or concerns, please contact Paul Djupe (djupe@denison.edu) with comments on the design of the survey or the content of the project and please contact Toni King (kingt@denison.edu) if you have concerns about your rights as a survey participant. Dr. King is not affiliated with the project and heads the Denison Internal Review Board on the use of human subjects in research, which reviews all academic research to enforce ethical standards and comply with federal guidelines.