Religion & Law

It is often asserted, and -- it seems to me -- widely believed that "conservative" Evangelical churches and congregations are pervasively and distinctively politicized.  Maybe not.

First, notwithstanding extensive media coverage of political mobilization within conservative churches, conservative white Protestant churches do not stand out in their level of political activity. Catholic and black Protestant churches, overall, are more politically active than either liberal or conservative white Protestants. About three-quarters of Catholics and black Protestants attend churches that engaged in at least one of these eight political activities, compared to about half of white Protestants, either conservative or liberal (Synagogues? political activity rates, by the way, are as high as the Catholic and black Protestant rates).