Clergy Involvement and Support for Police Reform: Experimental Evidence

• In Event: Political Religious Elites and Religious Political Elites

Abstract

Efforts to reform local policing practices remain highly contentious in the United States and comparative contexts. Clergy have often taken part in community oversight initiatives, in part due to their moral authority and institutional access to local governmental structures. While clerical involvement in police reform is well established, there is relatively limited research into how clergy may have unique effects in building public support for such efforts. Could clergy have unique ability to increase broad public support for police reform? Or could their effects be contingent on broader forces in political and religious polarization? We utilize an original experimental design to conduct a uniquely rigorous test of clergy influence on public support for police reform in the United States. Effects are real, but heavily conditioned by factors like partisanship and Christian nationalism, suggesting limits on the ability of clergy to transcend deepening cleavages in American society. We conclude by probing the operation of similar effects in qualitative evidence from two other cases of contentious police practices and religious mobilization: the Philippines and Brazil.

Author

• David T. Buckley, University of Louisville