Lara Rusch ~ 6
church compared to Catholics (322). They also report that statistically Hispanics have
lower rates of participation compared to Anglo-whites and African Americans, despite
high rates of church attendance. The authors hypothesize that Catholics in general are not
as active in church-related activities in part because “most Protestant denominations are
organized on a congregational basis with authority vested in the congregation itself rather
than in a church hierarchy.” Additionally, Protestants generally allow greater lay
participation in the liturgy, enabling more skill-building opportunities.
2
In response, Jones-Correa and Leal (2001) argue that if Catholicism makes the
difference, they would expect to find that Catholic Latinos are less politically active than
their Protestant counterparts. Analyzing national surveys of Latinos, the authors find
there is no significant difference between Catholic and Protestant Latinos’ non-electoral
participation. In fact their findings indicate, “Latino Catholics may receive greater
encouragement than their Protestant counterparts in electoral turnout.” Additionally,
Jones-Correa and Leal found that church attendance matters more than religiosity for
Latinos’ non-electoral and electoral political participation (757). The act of attendance,
and whatever activities it entails, supports their civic and political engagement
elsewhere.
3
Pointing to the centrality of the Catholic Church in the lives of Latino
immigrants, and their relative isolation from other Catholics in U.S. parishes, the authors
propose that Catholic churches “may serve as ethnic associations as much as they do
religious institutions” for Latino immigrants (764).
2
While examining the difference between men and women’s participatory factors gained in church, Burns,
Schlozman, and Verba (2001) report that denominational differences stand out more clearly than the gender
differences. Their findings support Verba et al’s hypothesis that Catholic churches are less “skill
endowing” than Protestant churches, though Catholics are equally as likely to be politically recruited (238).
3
Interestingly, the outcome is different for Anglos, whose reporting a religious experience correlates
positively with civic participation but negatively with electoral participation variables (762).
Convention