ABSTRACT
American politics has changed dramatically in the past generation. The days when the friendly precinct captain knocked on doors to ask for votes have long since passed, and television is now a major source of information for citizens. Political parties no longer play the intermediary role that they did formerly. Churches now have the potential to fill the void, for Americans are more involved in churches than in any other voluntary organization. Berger and Neuhaus (1977) emphasize this importance of churches as intermediaries between individuals and public life. Roozen, McKinney, and Carroll (1984, 27–28) make a similar point: "Relatively few institutions can 'mediate' effectively between society's megastructures and individuals, but congregations are clearly among them. They mediate in the sense that they intersect with both worlds: the 'outer' world of structures, institutions, and social movements and the 'inner' world of individual meaning and purpose." And, as Wald, Owen, and Hill (1988, 532–33) have demonstrated, church congregations function quite effectively as political communities in shaping the viewpoints of members. Overt political messages and subtext are often interwoven in the conversations among parishioners, the context of church bulletins, and other symbols (e.g., artwork and posters) of a congregation's collective stance on sociopolitical issues. All reinforce the orientation being transmitted.
