Triggered to Thinking

There are many examples, both in the past and present, of people advocating for social change or reform or expressing shared ideological goals. Scholars have called these organized efforts “social movements.” In her comprehensive book With God on Our Side: Religion, Social Movements, and Social Change, Anna L. Peterson mentions that the scholarly literature has not adequately explored the extent to which religion does or does not influence these movements. This post will examine theories of social movements and some of the ways in which religion is or is not a key component of them.

I will be examining Peterson’s argument that “first, and most fundamentally, it is impossible to understand movements for social change without analyzing the multiple ways that religion shapes their ideas, communities, and practices. This is true not only of explicitly faith-based movements, since religion often plays a role even in apparently secular activism” (Peterson, 2024, p. 2). I will also examine a scenario that could be a counterpoint to Peterson’s argument: the Save The Venture Bros. movement.

Peterson explains that there is no single, universal definition of a “social movement,” but she provides a few potential definitions. Peterson notes James Jasper and Jeff Goodwin’s assertion that “social movements are conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change some aspect of their society by using extra-institutional means” (as cited in Peterson, 2024, p. 38). Another definition comes from Sidney Tarrow, who writes that social movements are “sequences of contentious politics based on underlying social networks, on resonant collective action frames, and on the capacity to maintain sustained challenges against powerful opponents” (as cited in Peterson, 2024, p. 38).

However, Peterson is also careful to note that social movements cannot simply be reduced to a dichotomy between political elites and disenfranchised others. She notes, “However, while in general social movements are the province of people who are marginalized or excluded from official structures of power, it is important to note that many significant movements do not fall into a dichotomy between ‘elites’ and ‘ordinary people’” (Peterson, 2024, p. 39).

One example of a contemporary social movement in which religion was not a central issue was the Save The Venture Bros. campaign. The desired social change was to bring the television show The Venture Bros. back after its untimely cancellation in September 2020. Many people took part in letter writing campaigns and made social media posts supporting petitions to allow The Venture Bros. to return in some form (Save The Venture Bros., n.d.). Eventually, in May 2021, it was announced that an original Venture Bros. film had been approved (Adult Swim, 2021).

While this movement was not heavily influenced by religion, the desire to bring about social change, even if it was a small change, was present. The fan base felt unjustly wronged because the show was supposed to have an eighth season, and they worked hard to reverse this decision. Even today, many Venture Bros. fans post and advocate for the show’s eventual full return. This may be an example of a social movement in which religion was not a key factor in its growth and spread.

Peterson discusses how religion can be a resource for many social movements. Social movements need resources, and religion can provide an outlet for these movements. Peterson discusses the views of scholars who hold that the civil rights movement relied heavily and, in some settings, almost exclusively on Black churches for material, logistical, financial, and organizational resources, as well as for ideological guidance and moral legitimacy (Peterson, 2024, p. 62).

Peterson further explains:

Reliance on the resources, leaders, and social networks of religious communities is thus built into the model of congregation-based organizing. This approach begins with the sometimes accidental or spontaneous connections between local faith-based groups and social movements and creates a deliberate, systematic way to link the two, taking advantage of the collective structures and identity of existing religious institutions. (Peterson, 2024, p. 63)

This quote and Peterson’s examination of other scholars are vital for examining how the civil rights movement was largely dependent on Black churches. King’s theology, which helped spur the civil rights movement, was largely indebted to the Social Gospel and the work of Walter Rauschenbusch (Kosek, 2017, p. 159). In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes about white churches and white religious leaders: “Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders” (King, 1963/2017, p. 166). King voices his disappointment that many white churches did not grant the civil rights movement greater support. Although some white churches and religious leaders supported the movement, much of its religious and organizational support came from Black churches.

Another component relating to the relationship between social movements and religion is the framing of these movements. Peterson notes:

In the context of social movements, frames are relevant both to the ways activists present their messages to a wider public and to the ways that scholars understand movement strategies and reception. For social movements, frames can provide concise, appealing summaries of their social critiques and goals. (Peterson, 2024, p. 113)

Examples of these movements were the Ghost Dance movements of the 1870s and 1890s. Both movements had the same objective: to restore American Indian societies devastated by conflicts with Europeans (Thornton, 1986, p. xi). The Ghost Dance movement of the 1870s began with a message that a Northern Paiute man named Wodziwob created after falling into a trance. The framing of the movement started by Wodziwob centered on the idea that the spirits of the dead could return and change the earth into a paradise for American Indians (Thornton, 1986, p. 2). His message spread among other Native peoples, and different nations created variations of the message. In some cases, the message included an ideal future with better relations between white people and American Indians and the return of fish and wildlife in abundance (Thornton, 1986, p. 3).

Wovoka was a Northern Paiute man and the prophet for another Ghost Dance movement in the 1890s. He also fell into a trance and began spreading the message to his fellow Native peoples that they should perform a dance to help bring about a new world (Martin, 2001, p. 85). Wovoka’s disciples believed in a new millennium in which the old world would be replaced by a new world with the resurrection of the buffalo and horses (Warren, 2017, p. 7).

Related to Peterson’s comments about how scholars understand social movements, Bernard Barber understood the Ghost Dance as a “nativistic movement.” Ralph Linton describes such a movement as “any conscious, organized attempt on the part of a society’s members to revive or perpetuate selected aspects of its culture” (as cited in Lessa & Vogt, 1979, p. 497). The Ghost Dance was a movement, but it could also be considered a religion. It is an example of how social movements and their leaders used spiritual and religious messages to allow for the movement’s spread.

In relation to frames, this raises a question that I would like to explore: How are new religious movements, also sometimes called cults, related or not related to theories about the origins of social movements? Peterson explains that social movements can be created in response to grievances involving social, economic, or environmental harms (Peterson, 2024, p. 40). Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple could be an example. Jones began preaching a message that the King James Bible was “full of contradictions and errors” (Johnstone, 1997, p. 89). In new religious movements, a charismatic leader may be able to convince others to accept new messages. Jones started as a minister in an established Christian church but eventually began to preach an entirely different message (Johnstone, 1997, p. 89). Jones’s movement came to a tragic end with the deaths of more than 900 people connected to Peoples Temple, despite the objections of some members to his plan (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007).

Peterson makes the statement that “in other cases, religious movements or activists can pursue their goals only in cooperation with secular social movements. There are many examples of such cooperation, including the work of progressive Catholics in Latin America, who often combined forces with political organizations” (Peterson, 2024, p. 157). Religion, and in particular the Catholic Church, has been a strong voice within the movement against abortion. Ziad Munson notes that the movement “originated in Catholic opposition to the liberalization of abortion law beginning in the 1950s, and accelerated rapidly after 1973 when abortion was legalized nationwide by the Supreme Court” (Munson, 2019, para. 1).

The wider movement against abortion has also seen support from secular activists such as Secular Pro Life. This movement hosts speakers such as Herb Geraghty, who is described as “an atheist pro life activist and educator” (Secular Pro Life, n.d.). A distinction is needed: activists against abortion do not necessarily need to work with groups such as Secular Pro Life. However, the existence of secular groups shows how social movements can converge around similar ideas despite different religious beliefs.

References

Adult Swim [@adultswim]. (2021, May 12). This original film has been green-lit. Any complaints and we’re turning this internet around and going home [Post]. X. https://x.com/adultswim/status/1392509980302004227

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2007, November 16). Jonestown. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/jonestown

Johnstone, R. L. (1997). Religion in society: A sociology of religion. Prentice Hall.

King, M. L., Jr. (2017). Letter from Birmingham Jail. In J. K. Kosek (Ed.), American religion, American politics: An anthology (pp. 160–169). Yale University Press. (Original work published 1963)

Kosek, J. K. (Ed.). (2017). American religion, American politics: An anthology. Yale University Press.

Lessa, W. A., & Vogt, E. Z. (Eds.). (1979). Reader in comparative religion: An anthropological approach (4th ed.). Harper & Row.

Martin, J. W. (2001). The land looks after us: A history of Native American religion. Oxford University Press.

Munson, Z. (2019). Protest and religion: The U.S. pro-life movement. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.684

Peterson, A. L. (2024). With God on our side: Religion, social movements, and social change. De Gruyter.

Save The Venture Bros. (n.d.). [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheVentureBros/

Secular Pro Life. (n.d.). SPL speakers. https://secularprolife.org/speakers/

Thornton, R. (1986). We shall live again: The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance movements as demographic revitalization. Cambridge University Press.

Warren, L. S. (2017). God’s red son: The Ghost Dance religion and the making of modern America. Basic Books.