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The Political And Social Activities Of Mainline Protestant Clergy In The Election Of 2000:, Corwin |Smidt, Sue Crawford, Laura Olson, Melissa Deckman, Donald Gray, Dan Hofrenning, Sherrie Steiner, Beau Weston

Sherrie M Steiner

This study examines clergy across six mainline Protestant denominations in terms of their social characteristics, their theological positions, and their political attitudes and behavior. The analysis is based on data collected through random surveys of clergy in each denomination conducted in 2001 using the same instrument. The predominant focus of the article is on the nature and level of political activities exhibited by mainline Protestant clergy in the election year of 2000. The analysis revealed that mainline Protestant clergy are indeed relatively active politically, but that, despite their commonality of belonging to the same broad religious tradition, the nature and …