Christianity in Politics : Churches, Congregations and the Role of Ministers

Abstract

Religion affects politics at multiple levels and demonstrating those influences is vital to understanding religion's entanglement upon politics. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to shed light on this relationship. First, it employs using the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by Pew Research. This study indicates shows how individuals in Christian traditions and denominations support political parties in the United States. Looking at the historical context of these denominations and considering other important demographics at both the traditional and denominational levels, religion plays a significant role in how individuals support political parties. Moving away from the individual, Pew's results are compared to denominational leadership structures and training to see whether these influences political parties they were found not to play a significant role. Lastly, using content analysis, churches and their leaders' communications are examined, and a typology is created to examine how religious leaders and churches communicate politically to influence their members. Leadership and structures do demonstrate some relationship to how and what religious organizations communicate. By analyzing religion at these multiple levels, this study demonstrates the different ways in which religion influences politics and provides the broader picture of how this relationship is manifested in American politics.