Ask Americans whether Jesus was liberal or conservative, and the answer mostly reflects their own politics. A study using nationally representative data finds that people’s ideological identity, together with their views on Christian nationalism, predicts where they place Jesus, while their religious commitment does not.
The paper is by Samuel L. Perry, Joshua B. Grubbs and Cyrus Schleifer. It was published online in the Review of Religious Research on March 20, 2024.
Politics first, religion nowhere
The authors start from a puzzle: Americans on both the left and the right claim their views represent those of Jesus. Using survey data in which respondents rated Jesus on the left-right spectrum, they tested which personal traits went with those ratings.
Among Christians, the strongest predictor was their own ideological identity, followed closely by their views on Christian nationalism. No other religious, racial or partisan characteristic was linked to where Christians placed Jesus.
To get at the direction of the link, the researchers checked whether the pattern changed with religious commitment. The patterns were identical regardless of how religious people were. They were also nearly identical among non-Christians.
A Jesus in our own image
The authors weighed two explanations. One, from research on images of God, holds that people’s picture of the divine shapes their views. The other holds that political identities shape people’s religious characteristics.
Because placing Jesus on the political map had so little to do with religious identity or commitment, the findings favour the second. Christians and non-Christians alike, the authors conclude, project their own ideology and their views on Christian nationalism onto Jesus, rather than taking their politics from a settled image of him.
Study Details:
- Title: In Our Own Image: How Americans Rate Jesus on the Ideological Spectrum
- Authors: Samuel L. Perry, Joshua B. Grubbs, Cyrus Schleifer
- Journal: Review of Religious Research
- Publication Date: March 20, 2024
- DOI: 10.1177/0034673X241239570