Bean, L., & Martinez, B. C.: Sunday school teacher, culture warrior: The politics of lay leaders in three religious traditions.

Bean, L., & Martinez, B. C.

Sunday school teacher, culture warrior: The politics of lay leaders in three religious traditions.

Volume 96(1), 133-147. (2015).

Within the United States, many organizations contribute to political debate and political action. Leaders in the Christian church, in particular, have influence over the issues that are discussed within the church, help to set the tone of the discussions, and can sway the direction of the conversation. The authors posit that non-ordained clergy, or "lay leaders," have an important impact on the church's political discussions and are often overlooked in favor of research that examines the role of ordained clergy instead.

The authors examined data collected by Gallup in 2005, using the Baylor Religion Survey (BRS). They compared the results of evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, and Catholics. The authors found that lay leaders in all three religious traditions are more politically active than the average church attender. Additionally, lay leaders in all three religious traditions tend to hold political beliefs that differ from the

beliefs of the average church attender. Limitations for the study include a broad research design that did not gather sufficient information at the individual level.