Friday, July 17, 2026
Understand the news faster
Understand the news faster
Visual brief Briefs 1 source

Politics from the pulpit

Pew puts 1,391 regular U.S. worship attenders under a policy lens: two-thirds heard clergy raise at least one issue

Checked against the primary source
Full visual brief
Drawn.News visual brief: What Political Issues Do Americans Hear About in Church
In this brief

Sources & verification

Reporting behind this brief, checked before publication.

Brief text

Most U.S. adults who go to religious services say they’ve recently heard from their clergy about at least one political or social issue.

  1. Frame 1Pew puts 1,391 regular U.S. worship attenders under a policy lens: two-thirds heard clergy raise at least one issue.
  2. Frame 2The April 6-12 survey asked about seven topics, from abortion and Israel to immigration, Iran, the environment, and transgender people.
  3. Frame 3Abortion led at 35%, Israel followed at 34%, and homosexuality was cited by 31% of regular attenders.
  4. Frame 4Direction matters: attenders more often reported anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and pro-Israel messages than the opposite cues.
  5. Frame 5Practical question: Which communities hear which side of each issue when election-year politics enters worship?
How this was checked
Reporting
Checked against the primary source
Claims
We checked the names, dates, numbers, and core facts against the reporting linked above
Artwork
This is an editorial illustration based on the reporting, not source photography
Published
May 27, 8:49 PM EDT
Our standards
Editorial standards and corrections