Separation of church and state is understood as a fundamental principle in our government structure. Yet, a recent study compiled data from 180,000 clergy across 40 religious Christian denominations, matching 130,000 of them to voter registration records. It found that Christian religious leaders� denominations tend to be statements of their partisanship. Bill Bishop�s famous theory of America�s Big Sort seems to reach not only congregants, but also religious leaders.
A New York Times article summarizes this polarization of political beliefs among religious leaders: Unitarian and African Methodist Episcopal churches and Reformative and Conservative Jewish Synagogues tend to be Democratic, while Evangelical and Baptist Churches lean towards Republican affiliation.
Most religious denominations were deemed significantly consistent in their political alignment. This new research adds to studies that have found correlations between church attendance and party affiliation. Furthermore, the leaders� party affiliation seemed to have a stronger influence over their congregation�s policy views than the overall congregation�s party affiliation.
This article also explores the gender and age breakdown of the pastors (~85% male) within the research study, as well as where they have registered to vote and the median household income of that area.
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