What Drives Religious Politicking? An Analysis of 24 Democratic Elections

Why do clergy talk with congregants about elections to a greater extent in Mozambique than Indonesia, or in the United States than Taiwan? Arguing that context shapes religious actors' micro-level incentives to discuss or avoid electoral politics, we seek to explain variation in religious polit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Politics and religion 2021-12, Vol.14 (4), p.735-763
Main Authors: Rosenberg, Emma, Smith, Amy Erica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Campaigns
Clergy
Democracy
Endorsements
Human development
Individual differences
Modernization
National elections
Obama, Barack
Politics
Presidential elections
Religious leaders
Religious pluralism
Same sex marriage
Secularism
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Summary:Why do clergy talk with congregants about elections to a greater extent in Mozambique than Indonesia, or in the United States than Taiwan? Arguing that context shapes religious actors' micro-level incentives to discuss or avoid electoral politics, we seek to explain variation in religious politicking—religious leaders' and organizations' engagement in electoral campaigns. Our framework integrates individual-level and country-level approaches, as well as theories of modernization, secularism, and religious competition. Drawing on survey data from 24 elections in 18 democracies in the Comparative National Elections Project, we find that human development depresses religious politicking, while secularism and religious pluralism boost it. However, “civilizational” differences in levels of religious politicking are muted and inconsistent. Finally, at the individual level, across the globe, citizens with higher levels of education are consistently more likely to receive political messages. Our results suggest the insights obtained from an approach emphasizing individuals embedded in contexts.
ISSN:1755-0483
1755-0491
DOI:10.1017/S1755048320000644