The Limits of American Desire for Blending Religion and Politics

• In Event: The Politics of Church and State

Abstract

Given worries around retrenchment of longstanding American democratic institutions upholding the separation of church and state, our study seeks to understand the extent of popular support for blending religion and politics in American institutions at the local and national levels. Do Americans today want to see politics in the pulpit—for their congregational leaders and religious leadership to openly discuss political issues? Do Americans want a less strict separation of church and state? Is there broad popular support for Christian nationalist revisions to American institutions? To answer these questions, we fielded two nationally representative surveys totaling over 6,000 U.S. adults, with large oversamples for minority religious groups, from September 2023 to January 2024.

We find that around half of Americans do not want religious leaders to discuss political issues during services or endorse candidates during elections. Instead, most religious Americans turn to their faith traditions or communities to deepen relationship with God, find comfort and belonging, not for political expression. 4 in 10 Americans want religious leaders to provide guidance on how to navigate political division, talk to people with different views, and navigate demographic changes; these proportions are even higher among Muslims and Generation Z. As for who are the trusted messengers to lead these sensitive democracy and political discussions, we find the highest trust in religious leaders at the most local level—e.g., at one’s church or synagogue—across religious groups, and especially for Evangelical Christians. Among Catholics, trust in bishops and the Vatican is also high, though lower than at the local level. Trust in religious leaders is positively correlated with religiosity.

Beyond the local level, we find very limited support for weakening American institutions that maintain separation of church and state, and limited support for other sentiments and policies that can be characterized as Christian nationalist. 1 in 4 Americans say “The US should be a nation governed by people of my faith” (26%); Evangelical Christians are most likely to agree with this statement (50% vs. 23% of Mainline Protestants, 27% of Catholics, 14% of Jews, 33% of Muslims, and 10% of non-religious Americans). Support for this statement is positively correlated with religiosity. Most Americans agree that “The United States should be a place where individuals of all religious beliefs and no religious beliefs feel that they belong” (81%); only 3% disagree. Most Americans agree that “It is important to ensure financial and organizational separation of religious institutions from government institutions in the United States.” (68%); only 7% disagree. These results suggest little popular support for a coherent political movement to dial back the separation of church and state or to oppose religious pluralism in America.

Authors

• Ashley Fabrizio, Stanford University

• Coco Xu