Church attendance habits have long been one of the best predictors of voting patterns. That means those who attend regularly support Republicans by a wide margin, while those who never or rarely attend stick to Democrats. But a new study reveals a notable exception to this rule: Black churchgoers in the United States.
In fact, just the opposite of whites, black churchgoers are more likely to support Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris than black Americans who don't attend church at all.
That said, this phenomenon is largely just a correlation and may be explained by the demographics of Black church attendees.
Is the designer a Christian?
The study in question is the 2024 American Values ​​Survey. Axios reports:
According to a survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution, white Americans who attend religious services weekly or more favor Trump (76%) over Harris (21%). Much more likely.
Among black Americans, attending religious services is counterproductive. Those who attend religious services more regularly are less likely to support Trump (13%) and overwhelmingly support Harris (85%). Somewhat similar to white Americans, Latinos who attend religious services weekly or more say they are more likely to vote for Trump (55%) than Harris (41%).
Yes, but: White Americans who rarely or never attend religious services are more likely to support Harris than Trump.
Among black Americans who rarely or never attend religious services, support for Trump was nearly twice as high at 23% as among black Americans who frequently attend church. The poll found that Latinos who rarely or never attend religious services are significantly more likely to support Harris (65%) than Trump (33%).
And the children will (and perhaps should) lead them?
However, causation and correlation are two different things. A commenter on a related article in American Thinker makes a sharp point about this. Black Americans who don't attend church, he writes, are “likely younger and less influenced by a lifetime of experiences and stories.”
In fact, like white churchgoers, regular attendees are older. It is precisely these older blacks who are most likely to support Harris. Consider the results of a related September NAACP poll.
Reuters reported that “26% of black men under 50 said they supported Trump, compared to 49% who supported Harris.” Among black men over 50, 77% said they supported Harris.
This astonishing nearly 30-point generation gap in support for Harris also runs counter to trends in society as a whole. As announced by Pew Research Center on October 10:
Voters under 50 are more likely to prefer Harris over Trump (50% vs. 41%), while voters over 50 prefer Trump (52% vs. 46%).
So why are young black men more likely to lean toward President Trump than their elders? Could youth rebelliousness come into play here? Could it be that young black Americans are more likely to get their information from anti-establishment alternative media?Are they also rebelling against the overbearing woke culture? Is it partly because they are more likely to have had friends of other races or grown up interacting with other races? The explanation is definitely multifaceted. But is one of these aspects the influence of the “black church”?
a poisonous sermon
Commentator Olivia Murray pulls no punches and knows where she stands. Regarding Black churchgoers' support for Harris, she writes:
What a sad situation. The pulpits of black churches are tragically filled with “shepherds” leading lambs to the slaughter. But what do you expect when people like Jeremiah Wright and Al Sharpton step into the pulpit? What is especially sad is that Democratic policies disproportionately harm black Americans (cost of living, illegal immigration, abortion) and are doubly offensive.
There are no Christians who vote Democratic. Because voting Democrat means not walking with Jesus Christ or obeying His commands. The Lord who knits together the “terribly wonderfully made” child in the womb does not want that little child to be torn apart by the vacuum suction, the abortionist's couch clamp, or the tools of the “gender-affirming” surgeon. –And I will. There is no doubt that somewhere in the Christian scriptures there is an important list that clearly states what not to do, such as stealing and murder. These are essentially the Democratic Party's platform of raising taxes, laundering money through foreign aid and big spending. Bill, inflation, open borders, child mutilation “trans” care, abortion. (As the joke goes, heaven has strict immigration policies, but hell has open borders.)
Is it better not to attend?
Indeed, Jesse Lee Peterson, the black pastor who founded the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny (BOND), agrees. Referring to the flaws in the black church, he said in a 2009 sermon that “most black preachers are not called of God.” Rather, it is called “to mom.”
What does Peterson mean? He explained that many black boys are pressured by their mothers and grandmothers to become preachers. (Being a pastor has traditionally given credibility to the black community.)
As a result, these “preachers” “love money and power more than anything else,” Peterson warned later in his sermon. “And most of them are racists anyway.” They have “hate in their hearts.”
According to Peterson, how much of a negative influence are these pastors having? “I think we need to start a movement to close down black churches,” he said.
Of course, if you give Kamala Harris enough power, she might do this for him. Not only does she have a longstanding anti-Catholic bias, but she also told two students who proclaimed, “Christ is King!” When I stopped by on a recent campaign trip, they said they were “at the wrong rally.”
Considering this, if your pastor supports an anti-Christian candidate, could you be in the wrong church?
