Mark Chaves: American politics has become increasingly polarized. Has theology?

Duke Divinity Call & Response Blog: Mark Chaves: American politics has become increasingly polarized. Has theology?

This post is three months old, but I just came across it at Presbyweb. Fascinating.

… In particular, in denominations with the highest profile national conflicts over including homosexuals in church life and leadership, are people more likely now to sort themselves into different congregations based on this issue? Are more and more churches self-consciously “liberal” or “conservative” than they used to be — not because many people have altered their views in one direction or the other, but because these views are now more visible within some denominations, and so people’s opinions on the subject are more salient to their religious lives and decisions? …

… We do not know exactly why a church leader who described his or her congregation for the NCS chose the theological category that they chose, so I can’t say for sure that this declining middle represents a response to national debates over homosexuality. Two additional facts, however, suggest that this might be what is behind this shift. First, there is no such trend for these three denominations (or any others) when we look at how their leaders describe the congregations’ political as opposed to theological leanings. So the declining middle in these denominations concerns something specifically theological rather than something broadly political. Second, Methodist congregations move in the other direction — a significant increase in the percent of congregations described as theologically right in the middle. Perhaps this is because, although the United Methodist Church has fought about homosexuality as much as these other groups, the UMC’s national governing body, unlike national bodies within the Episcopal Church, the PC(USA), or the ELCA, consistently has voted on the conservative side of the issue.

In short, it seems that in the Episcopal Church, the PC(USA), and the ELCA, churches that lean in the conservative direction on homosexuality may have been pushed by national developments within these denominations to declare themselves to be more theologically conservative, even though their views may not have become more conservative over the last decade. If people within a denomination now are more likely to sort themselves into congregations based on those congregations’ stand on homosexuality, this could produce fewer churches with theologically middle-of-the-road identities. If churches are forced to choose sides on an issue, people will be more likely to choose churches based on which side they are on. …