Pulpit Politics: Clergy Crusades, Implied Innuendos, or Nothing at All?

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Evangelical Churches and Political Participation in the United States

Abstract

The robust link between the frequency of worship service attendance and conservative political views has lead scholars to examine the role clergy play in shaping the political attitudes of their parishioners. However, research in this area is riddled with confounding findings. Scholarly analyses of sermon content and clergy themselves report regular pulpit politicking in American congregations. Recent surveys of congregants find that political talk from the pulpit is rare and generally unwelcome. These inconsistencies suggest a considerable mismatch between what clergy say and what congregants hear. Using data collected at a midsized Midwestern Evangelical church, this study examines the frequency of pulpit politicking reported by congregants and compares it to a content analysis of 12 months of Sunday sermons covering the 2012 presidential election. I find that although there were no candidate endorsements or overt support for specific policies, more subtle, right-leaning political talk from the pulpit regularly occurred. Further, most congregants underestimated the amount of pulpit politicking, with more conservative congregants and those born again in childhood or adolescence perceiving less political talk than their more liberal and adult born again counterparts. These findings suggest that there is systematic variation in what congregants consider “political,” and survey items alone cannot capture this variation in perception. Findings from this study can shed light on how clergy, churches, and religious participation influence political attitudes.

Author

• Emily E. Wurgler, Indiana University