An empirical analysis of religion and social liberalism.
In recent talks with traditional catholic friends, I was constantly reminded of liberal protestant nations. They argued that Protestantism was linked with liberalism and that protestants had no regard for tradition. The pointed out that gay priests are allowed in mainline denominations and that Nordic European countries are fairly left-wing with more exposure to Protestantism. Now, of course, these are fair critiques of many liberal denominations. For instance, as of 2015, they are six mainline protestant denomination that allows same-sex marriage.
Although many protestants indeed have a perverted view of Christianity, I would like to argue that the link between social liberalism and religion is in the other direction. First, let us consult USA polling:
To be fair, Catholics are trending right wing in the USA but they are still lag behind protestants:
A common argument to these polls is that it is only in America and/or places where Catholics are a minority that you will find left wing Catholics. To debunk these arguments we will first look at global polling:
As you can see, the proportion catholic a nation is correlates with these two socially liberal beliefs. This is noticeable even in Latin america where protestants are the minority:
Even in america, Hispanic Catholics are more liberal than Hispanic Protestants:
Regarding tradition, exposure to the Catholic church predicted less importance to tradition:
To some longstanding traditional Catholics who are not following the fad, this is well-known. Their excuse is that Catholicism has been subverted and to some extent I actually agree. However, to the Catholics who hold this position ask yourself this question: If it were the reverse that protestants were more liberal that Catholics, would you give us the benefit of the doubt that this is not the result of Protestantism but due to subversion? I asked this question to five traditional Catholics and they all said “No”. One eventually flipped and said “yes” but still 4/5 still refused to give us this benefit. To be fair, this is a questionable sample size but the point remains.
In summary, Catholics are left of protestants when you control for minority status, ethnicity, and country. Although they are some protestant liberals, they are more than made up for by conservative protestants and that Catholics on a whole vote like mainline protestants. This article is not an attack on catholic beliefs and nothing about this article negates the authenticity of the Roman catholic institution. This article is just a rebuttal to some talking points I heard brought in my discussions. Despite our disagreements, I wish both Catholics and protestants well and I would gladly accept any private discussions in the future.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Philemon 1:25 NKJV
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