Most churches did not talk about politics during election season, says Pew study

Most American churches avoided explicit discussion about politics during the election period, according to a new study.

According to the study released by Pew Research Center last Tuesday, 14 percent of the voters who attended religious services at least once a month have said that their church provided information about the political parties or candidates. Only five percent were told by clergy to vote a certain way.

The survey results revealed that Catholic and white evangelicals are more likely than white mainline Protestants to say that their places of worship provided information related to the election.

Twenty-two percent of Catholics who attend mass at least once a month said that there was information about political parties or candidates in their parishes. Among white evangelical protestants who attend church monthly, 16 percent admitted receiving information about the election within the church. Only five percent of white mainline protestants said the same.

A related survey published by LifeWay Research in October revealed that pastors were reluctant to endorse politicians during religious services. Ninety eight percent of the pastors who participated in the study said they have not endorsed a particular candidate.

Only one percent admitted endorsing a candidate and another one percent said they were not sure.

Twenty-two percent of the pastors said that they endorsed a candidate outside the church while 77 percent said they did not.

The support for endorsing candidates from the pulpit has decreased compared to the survey results in 2012. That year, 10 percent of Protestant pastors agreed that clergy should endorse a candidate inside the church while 87 percent disagreed. Forty-four percent said they endorsed a candidate outside the church while 52 percent said they have not.

Tax-exempt non-profit organizations such as churches are not allowed to engage in political campaigns under the Johnson Amendment, which was sponsored by Lyndon Johnson in 1954.

President-elect Donald Trump promised to repeal the law last July.

"You are absolutely shunned if you're an evangelical if you want to talk religion, you lose your tax-exempt status," said Trump.

"We're going to get rid of that horrible Johnson amendment and we're going to let evangelicals, we're going to let Christians and Jews and people of religion talk without being afraid to talk," he added.