Kettering Foundation appoints Andrew Whitehead as research fellows to confront democracy’s challenges

Andrew Whitehead, Executive Co-Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives, was recently named a distinguished research fellow by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. As a research fellow, Whitehead will help advance inclusive forms of democracy by equipping the public, policymakers, and civic leaders with essential knowledge needed to understand the forces destabilizing democracy. He will support the foundation’s efforts to combat the complex forces undermining democracy today, illuminating the erosion of democratic norms, the rise of authoritarianism, and the roles that religion and social movements play in shaping democratic futures.

Whitehead, along with two other fellows, will contribute to the national conversation on democracy through the From Many, We blog series, The Context podcast, The Stakes video series and other Kettering publications.

The Charles F. Kettering Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, operating foundation rooted in the American tradition of inventive research. Founded in 1927 “to sponsor and carry out scientific research for the benefit of humanity,” the foundation is inspired by the innovativeness and ingenuity of its founder, the American inventor Charles F. Kettering. For the past four decades, the foundation’s research and programs have focused on the needs of democracy worldwide. Today, the organization is committing itself to advancing inclusive democracies by fostering citizen engagement, promoting government accountability, and countering authoritarianism.

Andrew L. Whitehead is Professor of Sociology at Indiana University Indianapolis. He is one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States. He is the author of American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, winner of the 2024 Gold Medal Book Award for Religion from Foreword Reviews and the 2024 Midwest Book Award winner for Religion and Philosophy. Whitehead, along with Samuel Perry, coauthored Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, which won the 2021 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Whitehead serves as Executive Co-Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives, the world’s largest online religion data archive, at the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture.

Read the full press release at the Kettering Foundation.