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Conservatism |
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Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism.[1][2] Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutions, such as traditional family structures, gender roles, sexual relations, national patriotism, and religious traditions.[3][4] Social conservatism is usually skeptical of social change, instead tending to support the status quo concerning social issues.[4]
Social conservatives also value the rights of religious institutions to participate in the public sphere, thus often supporting government-religious endorsement and opposing state atheism, and in some cases opposing secularism.[5][6][7]
Social conservatism, as a movement, is largely an outgrowth of traditionalist conservatism. The key difference is that traditional conservatism is broader and includes philosophical considerations, whereas social conservatism is largely focused on just moralism.
Social conservatism often opposes state-atheism, however not necessarily atheism itself. They believe that if we allow states to stop believing in God, that societal order will simply break down as a result.