Religious Predictors Research Articles

Religious Predictors of Catholic Parishioners' Sociopolitical Attitudes: Devotional Style, Closeness to God, Imagery, and Agentic/Communal Religious Identity

Data on 2,667 registered Catholic parishioners surveyed in the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life were used to assess the ability of devotional style, religious imagery, closeness to God, and agentic/communal religious identity to predict the influence of religious values on specific lifestyle and public policy questions and political ideology. Multiple regression analyses suggest that measures of imagery and devotional style are especially important predictors of the sociopolitical positions held by Catholics. In particular, images depicting God as judge are discussed, along with devotional styles that involve patterns of evangelical-style devotion, meeting minimal religious obligations, and exposure to media ministry. Findings are also compared to results obtained from other studies that have used similar variables as predictors of sociopolitical attitudes.