A new Pew Research survey finds that pastors are speaking about political candidates from the pulpit, along with other political issues. Additionally, more than 6 in 10 (64%) say they’ve heard clergy speak out about political issues.
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Fewer recent churchgoers (14%) say they heard their clergy speak directly in support of or against a specific presidential candidate in the months leading up to the survey. Despite significant, organized efforts over the past few years to persuade pastors to violate the rules of their tax-exempt status and endorse candidates from the pulpit; despite a current push to repeal those rules; and despite the fact that the IRS rarely if ever investigates or penalizes houses of worship for pulpit electioneering, only around 10% of churchgoers report hearing about candidates from the pulpit.
Not only can ministers speak out on the issues of the day without endorsing candidates, they can do so more effectively that way. Twenty-nine percent say they’ve heard the issue brought up.
The same study shows that some 20 percent of black Protestant church pastors have come out against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Hot topics included religious liberty and homosexuality, with about 40 percent of recent churchgoers saying they’d heard about either one of those two topics. Forty percent total have heard the issue mentioned. These were followed by abortion and immigration, both hovering around the 3 in 10 mark, with the environment and economic inequality at the bottom of the survey list for those having heard about them in church, at 22 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Among those who heard about religious freedom, 32 percent reported their pastors defending religious liberty, and only 2 percent said their pastor did not believe it was under attack.
White evangelicals and Catholics were more likely than white mainline Protestants and black Protestants to have heard their clergy talk about abortion, the survey said, with 36 percent of both white evangelicals and Catholics having heard about abortion from the pulpit, compared with 21 percent of white mainline Protestants and 16 percent of black Protestants.
Pulpit talk was more mixed on homosexuality: Twenty percent had heard critical views of homosexuality, while 12 percent heard messages encouraging acceptance of LGBT people.
John Green, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of Akron, said these findings confirm what many political analysts suspected: Religious liberty is a key issue this election season for politicians, judges and faith leaders alike.
And even though almost everyone you know has an opinion about the presidential candidates, the clergy steered mostly clear of taking a position on their relative virtues and vices, the Pew survey found.
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The survey of 4,602 adults nationwide was conducted online and by mail from June 5 to July 7.
