On February 1, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life hosted their annual Wolfe Lecture on Religion and American Politics titled “Parties in the Pews in a Divided Nation.” The lecture featured David Hopkins and Kay Schlozman, Professors of Political Science at Boston College, who set out to examine the changing relationship between religious identity and partisan preference in America.
Schlozman began the lecture by outlining statistics surrounding the political affiliations of different religious groups in the United States, noting that shares of religious affiliations in the U.S. population have changed over time.
Schlozman stated that two thirds of Americans identify as Christian, but that Catholics and mainline Protestants have suffered a decreased adherence and share of the population.
She then noted that although they are outnumbered two to one by Latino Catholics, Latino Evangelicals are a growing share of the population, and that the majority are converts from Catholicism.
Now a quarter of all American adults, Schlozman recognized that the number of religiously unaffiliated persons (atheists, agnostics, and so-called “nones”) have “soared in recent years,” who by number exceed each of the number of Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals.
As for the unaffiliated, Schlozman claimed that they are much more likely to “accept science” and less likely to attend religious services, and that a high proportion of the unaffiliated are educated, white, and young.
Calling differing party loyalties among religious affiliations “nothing new,” Schlozman stated that in the early 1970s the previous New Deal era split between Catholic Democrats and Protestant Republicans shifted to one between “churched” Republicans and “unchurched” Democrats.
After summarizing voting patterns by religious affiliation (and in some cases by ethnicity within each affiliation), Schlozman summarized her half of the lecture by claiming that Republicans “are a party of white Christians,” and that Democrats are “religiously diverse.”
Hopkins followed by proposing to refute three assumptions in the general relationships between religion and politics: that religious identity forms first, religious beliefs are more personal than political affiliations, and that religious beliefs are more strongly reinforced by social connections than political beliefs.
To the first assumption, Hopkins pointed out that adolescents often move away from religion and return after marriage, commonly forming political identities in that period, and that the trend of people marrying later in life exacerbates this trend.
To the second assumption, Hopkins argued that conservatives have increasingly labeled themselves as Evangelicals “even if they don’t subscribe.”
To the third assumption, Hopkins cited a statistic that Americans are less likely to marry someone of the opposite political party than someone of a differing religious affiliation, concluding that Americans are more likely to associate with those with similar political positions more strongly than their likelihood to associate with those with similar religious beliefs.
Hopkins then examined the perceived connection between white Evangelicals and the Republican Party, saying that adoption of an Evangelical identity is now seen “as a political act.”
He noted an increase of non-church attendance among professed Evangelicals, the rise of an “Evangelical” or “born-again” Catholic identity, and President Donald Trump’s switch in affiliation from Presbyterian to non-denominational.
As for the Democratic Party, Hopkins considered how the influence of political affiliation has potentially alienated liberals from churches. On this topic, he highlighted that those who move away from religion over time are proportionally Democrats.
Hopkins cited two “regular church-goers” that speak often of their religiosity—former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden—as exceptions. Pelosi, a self-professed Catholic, was notably notified by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco in May 2022 that she was “not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance.”
Fr. Mark Massa, S.J., Director of the Boisi Center, asked the first question of the question and answer session, asking why public figures he sees to be religious, such as Hillary Clinton, a self-professed Methodist, and Biden, who carries a Rosary and attends daily Mass often, are often portrayed as “godless,” adding: “Is this because of the abortion issue?”
Hopkins hypothesized that Democrats may be wary of talking too much about religion as it could alienate their coalition, with the exception of black Evangelicals, referring back to a statistic earlier presented by Schlozman that black Evangelicals are a very loyal Democratic voting group and her statement that they are the exception to Democrats being “some kind of godless party.”
Adam is a senior from Columbus, Ohio. He previously served as Campus News and Culture Editor, and boasts the title of least cultured to ever serve as the latter. Holding a minor in Biology, he recently converted from STEM and now majors in Philosophy and Classical Studies. He currently leads Una Voce, the Latin Mass society at BC, and sings with the University Chorale of Boston College and the Chorale Chamber Singers. He enjoys Gregorian Chant, relearning the clarinet, and is an unabashed Ohio apologist.
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