Protestant clergy and laity are far from being of one mind about religion and politics, though most clergy and laypeople agree that their church is not heavily involved in politics, according to a report in the September/October edition of Facts & Trends magazine.
Two studies were conducted by the Phoenix-based Ellison Research company for Facts & Trends, a bimonthly publication of LifeWay Christian Resources. One is a representative sample of 797 Protestant church ministers nationwide, and the other is a companion survey of 1,184 adults who attend Protestant churches at least once a month.
The studies asked each group about their personal political views, as well as how appropriate it is for churches to be politically involved in a number of ways.
Only 6 percent of clergy and 11 percent of laity believe their own church is very involved in local politics or political issues; the numbers are nearly identical for involvement in national politics or political issues.
Among ministers, 36 percent say their church is somewhat involved in local political issues, while 46 percent say it’s not very involved and 11 percent actively try to avoid these issues. On national politics or political issues, 7 percent of clergy say their church is very involved, 41 percent somewhat involved and 40 percent not very involved, while 12 percent try to avoid these issues. Perceptions of the laity involved in these churches are very similar.
Southern Baptists most political
The churches most likely to be involved politically are Pentecostal and Southern Baptist congregations, but even in those denominational groups, few churches go beyond being “somewhat involved” in national or local political issues. Lutheran clergy are the denominational group least likely to report significant political involvement by their church.
Overall, there are no major differences in involvement in local politics according to the pastor’s theology (mainline or evangelical), or the pastor’s personal political views (conservative, moderate or liberal). On national issues, pastors who are evangelical and/or politically conservative are slightly more likely than others to report some political involvement, but the difference is small.
What is appropriate?
One reason for this lack of involvement in politics is likely that there is so little agreement among clergy or laity as to what is an appropriate mixture of religion and politics. The studies asked respondents from both groups to rate how appropriate it is for local churches to be politically involved in a number of ways, using a scale of 1 (not at all appropriate) to 5 (extremely appropriate). Clergy and laity are almost equally divided among all five points of the scale on some of the issues.
The only type of political involvement deemed appropriate (a rating of 4 or 5) by a majority of ministers and laypeople is encouraging the congregation to vote – 88 percent of ministers and 65 percent of laity feel this is appropriate for local churches to do. Sixty-five percent of pastors also believe discussing controversial issues such as “gay marriage,” abortion or the war in Iraq from the pulpit is appropriate, although only 47 percent of their laity agree with them.
About half of all pastors surveyed said it is appropriate for their church to serve as a polling place during an election, hold voter registration drives, publish information about what individual politicians stand for, or work with politicians to address local issues. But only about one-third of all laypeople agree.
Less likely to be seen as appropriate in churches are encouraging people how to vote on certain issues (41 percent of ministers and 24 percent of laity), encouraging people to protest or get personally involved in controversial issues (35 percent of ministers and 23 percent of laity) and inviting political candidates to speak in church (just 14 percent of ministers and 20 percent of laity).
In many of these areas, pastors and laity who are either politically conservative or who are evangelical (or both), are more likely to see involvement by local churches as appropriate. For instance, 34 percent of evangelical ministers believe publishing information on what individual politicians stand for is extremely appropriate, while only 12 percent think this is not at all appropriate. Among mainline ministers, 36 percent of politically conservative pastors believe this is extremely appropriate, compared to 13 percent of moderates and 17 percent of liberals.
Evangelical ministers also are more likely than their mainline counterparts to see as extremely appropriate encouraging the congregation to vote (74 percent to 62 percent), discussing controversial issues from the pulpit (43 percent to 27 percent) and encouraging people how to vote on certain issues (24 percent to 12 percent).
People who attend evangelical churches also show these same differences from their mainline counterparts, along with a greater willingness for the church to encourage people to protest or get involved in controversial issues. Still, although these differences exist, it is important to note that only a minority of pastors and laity see most of these areas as highly appropriate for a local church.
Laity more moderate
Personally, 62 percent of all senior pastors in Protestant churches describe themselves as politically conservative, while 23 percent are moderate, and 15 percent are liberal.
This varies quite a bit by denominational group. Conservatives represent 86 percent of Southern Baptist ministers, 79 percent of ministers from other Baptist groups and 73 percent of Pentecostal ministers. Lutherans are divided among conservatives (43 percent), moderates (28 percent) and liberals (29 percent). Even more divided are Presbyterians (38 percent conservatives, 27 percent moderates and 35 percent liberals) and Methodists (27 percent conservatives, 38 percent moderates and 35 percent liberals).
The people in the pews are substantially more likely to consider themselves politically moderate than are the people in the pulpits. Among all adults who regularly attend Protestant churches, 38 percent describe themselves as politically conservative, 45 percent as moderate, and 17 percent as liberal.
The political gap between clergy and laity is particularly large in Baptist and Pentecostal churches. Among Southern Baptist laity, 47 percent are politically conservative, 39 percent moderate and 14 percent liberal, while 86 percent of Southern Baptist pastors are conservative. In other Baptist denominations, 40 percent of laity are conservative, 46 percent moderate and 14 percent liberal, while 79 percent of other Baptist ministers are conservative. Similarly, in Pentecostal churches, 49 percent of laity are conservative, 40 percent moderate and 11 percent liberal, while 73 percent of ministers are conservative.
Lutheran and Methodist churches also show a gap between clergy and laity, but in the other direction. While 29 percent of all Lutheran clergy are politically liberal, only 14 percent of laity describe themselves in this manner. Among Methodist laity, just 12 percent are politically liberal, while the figure is 35 percent among Methodist clergy. Presbyterians are the only major denominational group in which the political positions of clergy and laity are much the same (about equally divided among conservative, moderate and liberal).
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, noted that these findings bring to light the struggle surrounding the mixture of politics and churches. “In describing how appropriate various levels of political involvement are, leaders and laypeople are all over the board,” Sellers said. “There is virtually no consensus among either clergy or laity as to what is appropriate for a church to do, beyond general agreement that it’s okay to encourage people to vote, but not a great idea to have political candidates speak in the church.”
Sellers also noted that a lack of consensus is true among a wide range of denominational, theological and political perspectives.