(ANALYSIS) One of the most important components of the Democratic coalition is the Black church. But I have to wonder if there are not cracks beginning to form in the alliance between the Democratic Party and Black Protestant Christianity.
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(ANALYSIS) White evangelicals vote for Trump because White evangelicals are Republicans, and Donald Trump is the standard bearer of the GOP. That’s the same reason they voted for McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012. But have White evangelicals always been Republicans, or is this a very recent phenomenon?
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(ANALYSIS) I read a story a few weeks ago in the Free Press that had an intriguing title, “Latinos are flocking to evangelical Christianity.” The piece was an excerpt from a book called “Latinoland: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority.” The book is based on over 200 interviews with Hispanics from all facets of American society in order to develop a clearer picture of what Hispanic culture looks like in the United States.
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(ANALYSIS) Most “nones” are not atheists. I do, however, believe that atheists are crucial for the future of American society and politics. As I’ve previously written, they are among the most politically active groups in the United States. But how many are there? The Cooperative Election Study can help us with an estimate.
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(ANALYSIS) Here’s a fun fact, the United States Census Bureau is prohibited from asking questions about religion on the decennial census. That’s the big data collection effort that is conducted every decade to get an accurate headcount of the United States for purposes of apportionment.
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But I wanted to test this liberal Christian versus conservative Christian in a much more narrow way — by looking at which group is more politically engaged. Conservative Christians seem convinced that progressive Christians are the ones who are going to marches and working for candidates. Meanwhile, a lot of left of center folks seem convinced that White evangelicals punch way above their weight in the political arena. So, who is right?
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(ANALYSIS) For all the death and destruction that COVID-19 brought to the United States and every other country on Earth, it also gave us a tremendous window into how folks handled mental stress in near real time. Here we look at whether there’s an association between mental illness and religious attendance.
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(ANALYSIS) One thing I’m going to try and be intentional about in the new year is focusing on religion data outside the United States. Any casual reader of this Substack knows that almost all the posts here are focused on religion and politics in the this part of the world. But I have tried to branch out and try something different.
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(ANALYSIS) Among high income folks, the ones who are the most generous are those living in two places — the South and the Mountain West. Arkansas has the highest rate of charitable giving at 6.7% of adjusted gross income. Utah is right behind at 5.8%. There are several other states that are north of 3%, though. They include: Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington state and Washington, D.C.
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(ANALYSIS) White Catholics’ move toward the Republicans is one of the era’s most important political developments (and, as our own tmatt has stressed for years, something appears to be brewing with Hispanic Catholics). Their margin for the GOP is modest but increasingly dependable, and in states like Florida that really matters.
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(ANALYSIS) I have to admit that I was pretty gob smacked when I saw a post on X about the result of the Harvard Crimson’s annual poll of the school’s incoming class that will presumably graduate in 2027. The graph that grabbed all the traffic was about the political persuasion of these 18 year olds at one of the most elite universities in the world.
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(ANALYSIS) The composition of never attenders has also changed as that group has grown so much larger. What I really wanted to do is help readers better conceptualize this group — especially when it comes to politics. One of my hobby horses recently has been trying to convince people that they need to stop thinking about Republicans as incredibly religiously active and Democrats as the ones who have nothing to do with religion.
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Adult churchgoers in the United States infrequently switch churches. But if they make a congregational change, it’s likely they made a residential change first. And those who switch have high expectations for their new congregation.
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(ANALYSIS) Here’s the purpose of this post: figuring out just how many Americans have shed that label in the last several years. The CES asks every single respondent, do you consider yourself a born-again or evangelical Christian or not? Only two response options — yes and no. It’s about as simple and straightforward as you can get. So, let’s get to it.
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(ANALYSIS) American religion is shifting rapidly now. The nones are climbing every single year. Mainline Protestants are losing ground day by day. And evangelicals are still having a huge impact on American culture, religion and politics. The purpose of this post is to give a broad overview of just how much the parties have shifted from the 1970s through today.
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(ANALYSIS) The group that is the most likely to attend services are not the poor, nor the wealthy. Instead, it’s people who are smack in the middle of the income distribution. This analysis points to the following conclusion: The people who are the most likely to attend services this weekend are those with college degrees. In other words, middle class professionals.
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(ANALYSIS) I can take a larger step back from the immediate conflict and talk about Judaism in the United States in a broader way. This is what reporters call “talking on background.” I do these kinds of calls with the media on a regular basis. Just trying to help them get a lay of the land. They aren’t looking for a pithy quote, they are just seeking to understand the topic in a more nuanced and empirically accurate way.
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(ANALYSIS) I wanted to explore that gender gap on marriage a bit. But also I wanted to see how all of that related back to religion. I think it goes without saying that lots of people have found their current spouse at a house of worship. But is being single driving women further away from religion than unmarried men? These are questions worth some analysis and reflection.
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(ANALYSIS) Until the 1960s, more than half of Americans identified with the “mainline” Protestant churches that “have played an outsized role in America’s history,” says a Sept. 13 report from the Public Religion Research Institute. No longer, as is well known among clergy and parishioners who pay attention, scholars and religion journalists.
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(ANALYSIS) Nearly 30% of Americans say they have no religious affiliation. Today the so-called “nones” represent about 30% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans — and they are making their voices heard. Organizations lobby on behalf of atheists, agnostics, secular humanists and other nonreligious people.
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