Christian Right Not Responsible for People Leaving Church, Study Finds

Contrary to popular opinion and previous research, the Christian Right was not responsible for people leaving their church, a new study finds.

While those who have left the Church appear to mostly have sympathies on the left side of the political spectrum, a correlation between those who have left the Church and views of the Christian Right does not imply that the Christian Right caused them to leave, according to researchers Paul Djupe, associate professor of political science at Denison University, and Jacob Neiheisel, assistant professor of political science at University of Buffalo, SUNY.

In their paper, "The Choice That Matters: Politics in the Role of Leaving Congregations," presented Aug. 30 at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Djupe and Neiheisel found that politics was related to the reason some chose to leave their congregations, but not in the way many imagine. Read more