Christian Conservatism as Seen in Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the U.S. Debate on Abortion

Abstract

The Experiment presents scholars of religion with an opportunity to draw upon their training to reflect upon a contemporary issue. In this edition, Emma Welch engages with Brad Stoddard’s newly released book Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). Stoddard’s volume examines Florida’s Faith- and Character-Based Institutions (FCBIs) as sites illustrative of the collision of the politics of incarceration, neoliberal economics, and religious freedom in the United States. Drawing from Stoddard’s argument, Emma Welch considers how a similar convergence of U.S. conservative Christian values and political agendas occur around the issue of abortion.