The God Gap

Study shows Republicans far more bent toward God and regular worship than Democrats to which the Episcopal Church might say: "Uh-Oh"

It’s Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. Thanks for being here for another week of Properly Subversive. This week was eventful in history:

1512 — For the first time, the general public was able to view Michelangelo‘s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace; the artwork, above, is among the greatest achievements in Western painting.

1938 — Kristallnacht began, some 48 hours of Nazi-orchestrated anti-Jewish violence erupting throughout Germany and Austria, resulting in the destruction and vandalizing of synagogues and Jewish businesses and the deaths of at least 91 Jews.

1948 — In one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated his Republican challenger, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, by just over two million popular votes. In the days preceding the vote, political analysts and polls were so behind Dewey that on election night, long before all the votes were counted, the Chicago Tribune published an early edition with the banner headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”

1962 — Eleanor Roosevelt—who was first lady of the United States and one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women, known as a diplomat and a humanitarian—died in New York City at age 78.

1983 — President Ronald Reagan signed a bill designating a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., to be observed on the third Monday of January.

1995 — Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, co-recipient with Shimon Peres and Yāsir ʿArafāt of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1994, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist while attending a peace rally.

Christians who rest in the sweet embrace of the liturgical church year celebrate this Sunday as All Saints Day. In addition to remembering those who have gone before, Christians pray that God will grant them the stamina to “run without stumbling” to obtain heavenly promises.

TEC: This Is Your Wake-up Call

A friend passed a piece along to me by Ryan Burge. He writes about religion in America and the growing “God Gap” between Democrats and Republicans.

You can find it here in full.

Mr. Burge reports that in the 1990s, there was little difference in the number of Democrats and Republicans who believed in God and went to church regularly. But in the 2020s, the gap became huge, with far more Republicans than Democrats bent toward God and regular worship.

This trend should trouble the Episcopal Church. (TEC is where I worship. I find hope and glimpses of God and myself there.)

The church’s Presiding Bishop, Sean Rowe, wrote a piece earlier this summer proclaiming that the Episcopal Church was the “resistance” to President Donald Trump and his policies.

I thought it a bonehead move, and said it at the time.

Now I’m sugesting it’s causing trouble, and not the good kind.

You can see it playing out in real time on Episcopal Facebook groups. I found these memes within 10 minutes of scrolling. They are not cherry-picked. They are the norm.

Under the PB’s rubric of “resistance,” one must wonder if this kind of aggression also plays out in parish life? If you walk through the doors of an Episcopal church with a Biden/Harris pin, are you more likely to find a warm group hug than a newcomer wearing a MAGA hat to coffee hour?

Personally, I’d prefer that the church be a “politics-free” zone for hats, pins, and bumperstickers. But the truth is, we all come with our own set of ideas about the politics of the day.

Some like the Democratic approach to government, others favor the Republican approach. Some see 72 genders. Some see two. Biden/Trump. Pepsi/Coke. Packers/Steelers.

The Episcopal Church should be a safe place to respectfully deal with all of that.

But I fear, in light of Ryan Burge’s studies, the Episcopal Church may be becoming increasingly hostile to more than half the country.

My experience as both a journalist and a parish priest is that we often judge people by their fleeting opinions—and too little by their consistent actions. Anyone you meet is likely to hold some views you dislike. No one is as bad as their worst idea, and no belief is set in stone.

So, in light of the “resistance” label coming from the top, coupled with the undeniably toxic environment stemming from church-related social media sites, I’m seriously asking two questions:

• Does the Episcopal Church really welcome Trump supporters?

• Does the Episcopal Church really respect the dignity of every human being?

I worry if this trend is left unaddressed, the answers will soon become a “hard no.”

Laugh a little, avoid soreheads, and always question authority

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