Can Politics Help Churches Grow?

What is it about?

Many scholars have suggested that the involvement of religion in politics (especially conservative politics) has turned people in the United States off to religion and even caused them to leave religion altogether. In this article, we argue that this may be true for religion as a whole, but a certain segment of the population actually wants their church to be involved in politics. We provide evidence that churches that are involved in political action may grow (rather than decline) because they appeal to a politically motivated niche market. Thus, politics may be bad for religion as a whole, but it can be an effective growth strategy for certain congregations.

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Why is it important?

Previous scholarship has suggested that involvement in politics is always bad for religion in terms of the number of adherents. Yet this overlooks a segment of the population that actually wants their church to be involved in politics. We show that, while politics may cause religion to decline in the aggregate, congregations that are involved in political activity may experience growth by appealing to a politically motivated niche market.