The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy

When Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the Religious Right claimed a major role in their defeat and House Speaker Newt Gingrich credited the organized Christian vote with the Republican victory. Ministers from many political persuasions have long been active in American politics, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has seemed impossible to find any political controversy that did not involve the clergy -- often on both sides of the issue.In this first major study of clergy and politics in more than twenty years, five social scientists tell how and why the theological orthodoxy and modernism that divides American Protestants into two camps increasingly correlates with today's political climate. Drawing on two decades of extensive survey research conducted with thousands of ministers nationwide, they explore the political attitudes and behavior of the clergy in eight mainline and evangelical Protestant denominations -- including Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, United Methodist, and Presbyterian.In addressing the nature and extent of clerical participation, The Bully Pulpit asks the following questions: How do different groups of ministers see their role in politics? What kinds of activities do they approve or disapprove? How active are contemporary Protestant clergy in politics? What factors account for the level and kinds of participation? It also questions whether analyses of clerical activism made in the 1960s and 1970s can be said to apply to Protestants today.The authors' findings reveal that traditionalists who seek moral reform tend to make pronouncements in religious settings, while modernists interested in social justice are more active in a wide range ofpolitical activities. They also indicate that the New Breed liberals are just as active as the Religious Right, citing the long heritage of mainline Protestant politics that continues in the tradition of activist ministers of the 1960s and 1970s. Their book offers an unbiased