Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm Shane Morris.

Talk to the average critic of the evangelical church, perhaps someone who has deconstructed

and now resents their religious upbringing. And one of the first complaints they have is that

Christians are too political, especially since 2016. It has become common

to smear conservative Christians for being more interested in making America great again than in

making disciples. This perception of evangelicals that their churches are too political

is so strong that sociologist Christian Smith cited it in his recent book, Why Religion Went

Obsolete, as one of the main reasons for the long-term decline in church attendance.

Here's the irony. Evangelical churches aren't, in fact, that political by the typical definition

of the term, nor do their members want them to be. That public perception is basically a myth.

Summarizing several recent and large surveys, statistician Ryan Burge showed that very few houses of worship are talking

about political issues on a regular basis. And even the recognizable pastors on social media

who were doing a lot of culture warring, they outliers. In its 2022 Health of Congregations

Survey, the Public Religion Research Institute asked regular church attenders how often their

pastors talk about a variety of issues. 90% said their clergy never or rarely talk about election

or voter fraud. 92% said their churches never or rarely talk about President Trump.

Only 9% said their clergy often bring up abortion,

while 58% said the topic never or rarely comes up.

The most frequently discussed political topics

across all congregations were poverty and inequality, with 66% saying their churches

sometimes or often bring up these subjects. But that could just be from reading the Gospels.

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