Center for Social Research

Prof. Corwin Smidt and student to publish paper on political cues during worship

Political science professor Corwin Smidt and senior Calvin College student Brian Schaap have co-authored a paper which will be published in a future issue of the Review of Religious Research (RRR). The paper is titled "Public Worship and Public Engagement: Pastoral Cues within the Context of Worship Services". An advance PDF copy of the unpublished working paper is available.

Dr. Corwin Smidt

Brian Schaap

The paper draws on three surveys of clergy in the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America in 1996, 2001 and 2005. Here is the paper’s abstract:

This study analyzes the frequency, form, breadth, and depth of political cue-giving within the context of worship services.  Based on reports from pastors themselves, it examines the kinds of cue-giving activities clergy approve within the confines of Sunday morning worship as well as what the types of cue-giving they actually report doing within such services.  The study is based on data collected through random surveys of clergy, primarily from clergy within two denominations, collected following each of the past three presidential elections; one denomination is linked institutionally to the evangelical Protestant tradition, the other linked institutionally to the mainline Protestant tradition.  The data reveal that clergy engage in a variety of cue-giving activity, that most clergy report engaging in at least one form of such activity, that such endeavors tend to be relatively brief, and that important changes may have occurred in such activities over time.  Multivariate analysis reveals that religious and political factors tend to outweigh social and contextual factors in shaping the likelihood and extent of such cue-giving activity.

Smidt and Schaap’s paper is part of the CSR’s joint project with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship called “Worship, Worldview and Way of Life”, which brought together nine Calvin faculty members to conduct research on the interaction between worship and social and political phenomena. Smidt is Executive Director of the Henry Institute and has also received support from the Bradley Foundation for related work on civic responsibility.

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