In the United States, the political utterances of some evangelical leaders can create the impression that their churches are hotbeds of activism and engagment, but that may not be the case.

While, evangelical church members may be politically active, and many leaders can be outspoken, most congregations make significant efforts to keep politics out of the church when they gather, a recent study shows.

Despite persistent tracking of evangelical Christian, Latino Catholic, Muslim, and other religious groups recently, a study released by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research shows that most U.S. congregations are politically inactive.

Nearly half of them actively avoid discussing politics when they gather, Christianity Today reports.

The Hartford report, "Politics in the Pews? Analyzing Congregational Political Engagement," focused on how congregations deal with politics, individuals who are not religious, or their clergy.

"Congregations often get left out of conversations about religion and politics but are inferred to be influential," says Hartford Institute for Religion Research in "Analyzing some of these internal dynamics.

Only 23 percent of congregations self-identified as 'politically active.'

The study used data from more than 15,000 congregations surveyed in early 2020, examining how religious organizations essentially engage in political activities.

CHALLENGES COMMON PERCEPTIONS

"Our findings challenge common perceptions about the relationship between religious institutions and political behavior," said the authors of the study.

About half (48 percent) of congregations reported avoiding discussing political issues when they gather.

"This active avoidance may seem counterintuitive when reading news headlines about how interwoven politics and religion have become for many Americans," said the report.

The report says, "This analysis is not to say that there is no connection between politics and religion.

"What we find, however, is that most congregations are not engaged in political activity in the ways one may expect."

Most may, however, preach about current issues or certain topics that reinforce values that have become markers for a political party.

"This may be indirectly influencing voters or signal how a 'faithful person' should vote, but it is less overt than the assumed direct connection between congregational activity and voting behaviors described in popular rhetoric," said the report.

The report also said that politically active congregations are more likely to be in urban settings, in the mid-Atlantic region, or have at least 50 percent of their participants who are Black or African American.

In 45 percent of congregations, their leaders thought most participants didn't share the same political views, making politics a potentially precarious topic.

Discussing politics is also risky for pastors, the report found, as they can offend members whose views don't coincide.

Unsurprisingly, congregations in which both major U.S. political parties are represented were more likely to shun political discussion than politically homogenous ones, according to the report.