William Lindsey 

Political scientist Ryan Burge reports on exhaustive polling data which find that "the more people go to church, the less liberal they are." This is true across the board, from evangelical Christian churches to mainline ones to Catholic ones: "Higher attendance means less liberalism."

#churches #ChurchAttendance #religion #Republicans #USA #politics
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https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/there-is-almost-no-liberalizing-religion

There Is Almost No 'Liberalizing Religion' in the United States

The more people attend, the less liberal they are

Graphs about Religion
Jul 29, 2024 at 2:37pmWeb
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Jul 29, 2024

Even among churchgoing Democrats, political views become more closely aligned with the Republican party the more those Democrats go to church.
In short, "There is almost no 'liberalizing religion' in the United States."

#churches #ChurchAttendance #religion #Republicans #USA #politics
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Show threadParanoid FactoidJul 29, 2024

@wdlindsy I was raised in a liberal Episcopalian congregation. The pastor had earned a PhD in theology from Harvard Divinity and there was no hint of extremism in his teachings. Went to Sunday school. Read the material taught.

Christian Nationalists teachings are nothing like the sermons I remember or the New Testament Gospels I was taught from.

None of which discounts the survey results reported here.

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Jul 29, 2024
@ParanoidFactoid Burge does say that the Episcopal church (and I assume he means ECUSA) is one of the exceptions to what he's talking about here. As an outsider to that group, I see local ECUSA churches as an interesting mix of many folks who have left evangelical churches because those churches are too right-wing, and movers and shakers of the corporate world who are resolutely to the political right.
Show threadParanoid FactoidJul 29, 2024
@wdlindsy The pastor's sermons were a snore and nobody in my church could sing. I've concluded: the better the choir, the crazier the church. 🤣
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Jul 29, 2024
@ParanoidFactoid The better the choir, the crazier the church sounds like a good rule of thumb. Though as I type that, I think of the Black churches I've visited throughout my life, where I've heard choirs that absolutely took the top of my head off with amazement and delight — and there was nothing crazy about them, I have to say.
Show threadAnnieJul 29, 2024

@wdlindsy The final three paragraphs kind of drop the bottom out of the whole article, though, conceding that much of liberal social change in the recent past came from religious movements, and what they may be measuring is merely a pendulum swing.

I look at this data and think, people who regularly gather in groups create echo chambers that are led by the strongest leaders in the group. Since there's no data presented for other kinds of regular group gatherings/commitments, I can't really generalize and say that regular religious gatherings/commitments specifically breed conservatives, however tempting that might be. It's clearly true for right now--but why? and compared to what?

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Jul 29, 2024
@anne I don't read the final three paragraphs as dropping the bottom out of the article. I read them as providing an instructive contrast to the current situation by pointing out that there was a time in which liberal, reformist movements were strong in U.S. Christianity, whereas no really informed observer today would say that liberal tendencies characterize large sectors of American Christianity, particularly those with the most regular churchgoers.