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Hearing Clergy Speak About Social and Political Issues: Examining the Effects of Religious Tradition and Personal Interest *
Author(s) -
Scheitle Christopher P.,
Cornell Nicole
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12139
Subject(s) - respondent , abortion , politics , social psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , psychology , general social survey , sociology , political science , law , pregnancy , biology , computer science , genetics , programming language
Objective The goal of this research is to identify factors that affect the likelihood that a congregational attendee will report hearing their clergyperson speak about certain social or political issues. Methods The data used for this research come from the 2010 Religion and Public Life Survey. We examine three outcomes measuring whether the respondent reports hearing his or her clergy speak about abortion, homosexuality, or the environment. Results We find that an individual's personal interest in particular social issues increases the likelihood of reporting hearing about those issues from his or her clergyperson. There are also significant religious tradition effects, with Catholics being most likely to report hearing about abortion. Conclusion These findings shed light on what congregational attendees say they are hearing from their clergy about key social and political issues, which could be very different from what clergy report they are saying, as attendees’ reports will be shaped by their attention to, interest in, and interpretation of the clergy's messages.