Barry McNamara  |   Published March 23, 2022

Catholics and Politics

University of Notre Dame department chair Geoffrey Layman to speak on the topic March 29 in person and via Zoom.

MONMOUTH, Ill. – Assigning a political stereotype to the largest religious denomination in the United States is no easy feat, and that will be one of the themes presented by a guest speaker at Monmouth College.

GEOFFREY LAYMAN: Guest speaker on campus March 29 is chair of the political science department at... GEOFFREY LAYMAN: Guest speaker on campus March 29 is chair of the political science department at the University of Notre Dame.Geoffrey Layman, chair of the political science department at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver a talk titled “Cross-Pressures: Catholics in American Politics” at 7 p.m. March 29. He’ll present the talk in Room 276 of the College’s Center for Science and Business, and the lecture will also be available via Zoom at this link.

“Catholics do not fit neatly with the values of one political party,” said Monmouth political science professor Andre Audette, who invited Layman to campus. “Geoff and his co-authors have new research about the political psychology of what are known as ‘seamless garment’ Catholics, a position that is particularly popular among Hispanic Catholics.”

Audette said Layman’s talk should appeal especially to those interested in political psychology, religion and politics, Latino politics or general American politics.

Layman is the co-editor of the journal Political Behavior. His research focuses on political behavior, political parties, and religion and politics, with a particular emphasis on long-term changes in the parties and their electoral coalitions.

His most recent book, written with David Campbell and John Green, is Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics. Layman also is the author of The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. He has published numerous articles in the discipline’s leading journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science and the Annual Review of Political Science.

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