An evaluation of church member perceptions of clergy political speech. Far less is known about the connections that ordinary citizens make between faith and politics as part of their daily lives. Over 90 percent of Americans believe in God and three-fourths belong to a church. Through this project we will discover what political issues are addressed in churches, how much political knowledge and guidance members receive from their ministers, and how this knowledge and guidance influence members' political activities. Members with an interest in political issues report their clergy to be more political than the clergy think they are.
Clergy talk about political issues that are in the news.
Clergy deliver more political messages when their congregations disagree with them. But members who disagree are more likely to tune the clergy out on those issues. Church-state separation misunderstood 3,000 ministers and members of fifty selected congregations in both denominations received surveys asking for their political views, the extent of their political activism, and the degree to which their religious beliefs and church activities affect these political views and actions. A book summarizing their findings is expected to be published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2001. Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of the Episcopal Church's Office of News and Information.