It appears more churches are adhering to the idea that religion and politics don’t mix.
Research from an Indiana University professor shows the percentage of politically active churches in the United States has decreased at the same time the percentage involved in service activities has increased. In addition, the most substantial decrease in political participation occurred in evangelical churches, while political participation among liberal churches has increased.
This was not what researcher Brad Fulton expected to find before he started analyzing data from the National Congregations Study. The professor in IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs said he thought evangelical churches would be more politically active. Instead, he found that in 1998, nearly 20 percent of evangelical churches distributed voter guides, while only 11 percent did so in 2012.
During the same time period, the percentage promoting opportunities to participate politically decreased from about 21 percent to about 7 percent.
Fulton thinks this decrease is at least partly driven by a decoupling of the relationship between Republicans and the religious right.
Recently, faith and religion haven’t been as much a part of the Republican dialogue as in the past. In the 1980s and 1990s, Republicans and the religious right went hand in hand, Fulton said. Lately, there hasn’t been a leader to really galvanize that demographic.
“Ted Cruz was the closest one to explicitly courting evangelicals, but even he didn’t have a strong allegiance from evangelicals,” Fulton said.