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Politics isn’t always welcome in church pews. Even so, American culture and media frequently treat Christianity and conservative politics as though they go hand in hand – especially evangelical churches. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as the Mormon church, also tend to lean toward the GOP.
So it might be surprising to hear LDS leaders discouraging straight-ticket voting. But that’s precisely what they did last month in a letter read during worship services. “Merely voting a straight ticket or voting based on ‘tradition’ without careful study of candidates and their positions on important issues is a threat to democracy and inconsistent with revealed standards,” the church’s top three authorities wrote.
Why now? Political scientist David Campbell, author of several books on religion and politics, looks to the rapid decline of religious membership in the U.S. For some Americans, the association between religion and the Republican Party has kept them away from church. Would more two-partyism start to change that?
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A golden sculpture of the angel Moroni atop the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rexburg, Idaho.
Natalie Behring/Getty Images
David Campbell, University of Notre Dame
The faith’s association with conservative politics has stayed strong for decades, but could become a liability, a political scientist argues.
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Ethics + Religion
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Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College
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Politics + Society
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Mark Satta, Wayne State University
A number of judges who considered challenges to anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by state lawmakers in 2023 had strong words for how the laws violated the First Amendment.
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Science + Technology
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Synphane Gibbs-Shelton, University of Virginia
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Francisco José Machín Jiménez, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Borja Aguiar González, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
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International
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Matt Williams, The Conversation
Leaders of the Western military alliance meet in Lithuania with the ongoing war in Ukraine as a backdrop.
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Environment + Energy
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Mathew Barlow, UMass Lowell
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Janey Camp, Vanderbilt University
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David Shiffman, Arizona State University
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Health + Medicine
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Bryan Steitz, Vanderbilt University; CT Lin, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
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Economy + Business
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Yannick Thams, Florida Atlantic University; Luis Alfonso Dau, Northeastern University
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