Misunderstood Megachurches

This past weekend, John McCain and Barack Obama stood together, if briefly, in a house of God. A big house of God, that is — best-selling author Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., which touts a 20,000-plus member congregation.

Four years ago, it would have been — dare I say — sacrilegious, or at the very least downright strange, to picture Democratic nominee John Kerry and President Bush (the evangelical heavy-hitter) meeting together in a megachurch. In 2004, of course, the GOP still owned the God vote, and Democrats had not figured out a way to lay claim to the faithful in a country that is still heavily religious.

But isn't the kumbaya moment on Saturday still a fish-out-of-water appearance — with Obama being the fish? Not really. Obama has his own religious bona fides, and the Democratic Party seems to have made inroads with God-fearing Americans. The fact is that megachurches aren't — and never have been — solely grandiose political pens in which only Republican elephants lumber about.

Most outside observers might think it is commonplace to mix religion and politics in megachurches (which are defined as Protestant Christian congregations with 2,000 or more weekly attendees). After all, much of the religion coverage in this election has centered around two high-profile megachurch pastors — Jeremiah Wright with Obama and John Hagee with McCain — who no doubt created long, nagging headaches for both nominees. (I'm guessing Obama's was closer to a migraine.)

But such high profile incidents distort the reality of the role of politics in a majority of America's megachurches. My national research and experiences with these very large churches since the late 1980s tell a very different story. The research data refute a number of myths that are prominent in society's perception of political activity in megachurches. Here are three doozies: …