Are Online Congregations Representative? Exploring Resource and Political Differences

Abstract

Social scientists are paying a growing amount of attention to the online presence of American congregations and not just because of the COVID-19 shutdowns. In part, text-as-data analytic techniques have made religious communication a viable area of study in addition to existing qualitative methods. Given the existing biases in terms of which congregations post sermons online, an important next step is to investigate potential political biases in which congregations are sharing or streaming their services. Drawing on data from the most recent National Congregations Study wave in 2018 to 2019 as well as reports of political content from individuals in a national survey from October 2020, we document the nature of the biases in which congregations are likely to be online and what the political consequences may be. While resources explain some of the likelihood for being online, we also find evidence for a link between more frequent clergy political speech and a higher likelihood of the congregation having an online presence. As scholars take advantage of the accessibility and availability of online worship services and sermons, it is essential to have a better understanding of which congregations they are sampling and lacking.