Study: Liberal congregations more politically active than conservative ones

Yonat Shimron Religious News Service

(RNS) — White evangelicals who comprise President Trump’s core base have attracted the lion’s share of attention for their political clout these past few years.

But a new study of 1,262 congregations across the United States shows it is liberal congregations, and particularly Black churches, that have become substantially more engaged in political activity compared to their conservative counterparts.

“Overall, it seems that, since 2012 and possibly since 1998, the political mobilization of congregations on the left has increased more than the political mobilization of congregations on the right,” wrote Mark Chaves, a professor of sociology, religious studies and divinity at Duke University, and Kraig Beyerlein, professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, in a paper for the December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

https://religionnews.com/2020/09/18/study-liberal-congregations-far-more-politically- active-than-conservative-ones/