In a society already ideologically polarized, many
believers go to church in hopes of a respite from conflict. But
recent surveys show similar political disparities straining the
Christian community. There are huge gaps in political affiliation
between clergy and laity, especially in the oldline Protestant
denominations. The divide between oldline and evangelical
Protestant leaders remains exceedingly wide. The much publicized
evangelical left, purporting to bridge that divide with a fusion
of evangelical theology and liberal politics, remains
statistically insignificant.
It is little wonder that debilitating conflicts have
wracked the oldline denominations, contributing to the loss of
one-third of their membership over the past 45 years. Oldline
church bodies typically depend upon the cooperative endeavors of
clergy and lay leadership. But those two leadership groups are
pointed in different directions politically and
ideologically.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the best documented
example. The denomination’s research office recently released the
results of an exhaustive survey of 3,500 PCUSA members and
leaders. Presbyterians in the pews leaned one way politically: 46
percent identified themselves as Republicans, while only 31
percent were Democrats. But pastors leaned sharply in the
opposite direction: 23 percent Republicans versus 50 percent
Democrats. Specialized clergy, among whom are many top PCUSA
officials, were even more lopsided in their partisan allegiances.
Only 13 percent were Republicans, as against 65 percent
Democrats.
Comparing a 2008 survey of “Clergy Voices” by Public
Religion Research with 2008 polling of church members by the Pew
Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals similar clergy-laity
gaps in other denominations. In the United Church of Christ
(UCC), a stunning 77 percent of the ministers call themselves
Democrats; only 51 percent of UCC members do the same. Among
Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran (ELCA) clergy, Democrats
outnumber Republicans by 3:1. Yet Episcopal and ELCA members are
divided almost down the middle.
The United Methodist Church and the American Baptist
Churches are the only oldline denominations where pastors and
members are even close to being on the same page politically. In
both cases, clergy and laity show fairly even splits between
Democrats and Republicans. Thus, at least politically, these two
denominations are truly “mainline.”
Where political diversity is an accepted fact, clergy and
lay leaders will more often understand the futility of trying to
impose anyone’s political agenda as the mission of the church.
Church unity will have to come through the teachings and work of
Christ. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the United Methodists
and the American Baptists are the two oldline denominations that
seem most likely to hold firm in traditional Christian
doctrines.
The situation is different in other oldline denominations,
where overwhelmingly left-leaning clergy often imagine themselves
to be “prophets” leading their people into a promised land of
social justice and world peace. Clergy elites may possess the
institutional power to impose this political agenda; however, by
doing so they instigate a rift with their church members. To the
extent that politics becomes a focus in church life, the divide
grows deeper and more damaging. Peter Smith of the Louisville
Courier-Journal described the situation succinctly: “Red
pew, blue pulpit.”
Evangelical denominations are another world: red pew,
redder pulpit. Evangelical ministers are far more heavily
Republican than the oldline clergy are Democratic. According to
the Paul B. Henry Institute at Calvin College, Republicans
outnumber Democrats by an astounding 66-4 percent among Southern
Baptist pastors. In the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the
margin is 64-4. In the Assemblies of God, it is 74 percent
Republicans versus a mere 1 percent Democrats.
There do seem to be a significant number of independents
among these evangelical clergy, but Democrats are practically
non-existent. It may be that the Democratic Party’s
identification with the cultural left — on issues such as
abortion and homosexuality — has become so prominent that a
Democratic identification is no longer tenable for most
evangelical clergy. Evangelical left figures such as the Rev. Jim
Wallis of Sojourners may make a media splash; however, they have
few imitators in evangelical pulpits.
One finds Democrats in evangelical pews, but they are a
distinct minority. The proportion of Democratic members ranged
from 28 percent in the Assemblies of God to 37 percent among
Southern Baptists. Republicans held clear majorities in all three
evangelical denominations.
Thus it seems most evangelical pastors — unlike most
oldline pastors — are preaching to congregations that lean in
the same direction as them politically. But they would do well to
remember that perhaps a third of those in the pews hold a
different partisan loyalty. Even in a solidly conservative
evangelical church, it would be unwise for the pastor to
emphasize a political agenda. Church unity there, as in the
oldline churches, will have to come through the teachings and
work of Jesus Christ.
