BY : Michael Foust ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor
Mainline churches are defined as the historic, traditional denominations in the United States and are to be differentiated from more evangelical denominations. The Southern Baptist Convention, for example, is not a mainline denomination.
The survey polled clergy and churchgoers from seven mainline denominations: the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the American Baptist Churches USA, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Solid majorities of clergy in five denominations self‐identify as liberal: United Church of Christ (84 percent), PCUSA (70 percent), Episcopal (69 percent), ELCA (68 percent), and Disciples of Christ (62 percent). Clergy within the United Methodist Church (44 percent) and ABCUSA (26 percent) are less likely to identify as liberal.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that mainline clergy are “much more likely to identify as Democrat than Republican.”
The poll found that 49 percent of mainline church clergy call themselves Democrat, while 28 percent say they’re Independent and 14 percent Republican. That’s compared to 30 percent of churchgoers who ID as Democrat, 26 percent as independent, and 34 percent as Republican.
The United Church of Christ has the “highest share of clergy who identify as Democrat” (71 percent), followed by PCUSA (61 percent), Episcopalian (60 percent), Disciples of Christ (60 percent), ELCA clergy (59 percent). United Methodist Church (38 percent) and ABCUSA (31 percent).
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Kobus Louw
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