Want to know how someone might vote?

Church attendance is a proven indicator of voting behavior, says professor Josh Dunn, director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

“We know religious affiliation can have a substantial effect on people’s political attitudes,” he said. “It certainly matters.”

Among white evangelical voters, a record 81% selected President Donald Trump in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. And 56% of nonevangelical Christian voters backed Trump.

The presidential outcome four years ago reflected little change in the political alignment of U.S. religious groups, the Pew Center concluded.

In general, the majority of white Catholics, Mormons and nonevangelical Christians also supported Trump.

And groups that traditionally have favored Democratic candidates, such as Jews, Hispanic Catholics, Blacks and religious “nones,” stood their ground.

That could change on Nov. 3, said Dunn, who is also chair of the UCCS Department of Political Science.

“There is a chance religion could be a pretty significant factor getting into the last few weeks before the election,” he said, particularly given the anticipated battle over the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If Democrats turn Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholic faith into a major point of contention, that could have unintended consequences on the presidential selection, Dunn believes.

“Some of the things she has said have been boilerplate to those familiar with the Catholic Church,” he said. “To those unfamiliar with Christianity or Catholicism, it may not seem standard-issue.

“There’s a danger for Democrats if they make too much of it about religion — it could alienate some voters.”

But then there’s this: Democratic candidate Joe Biden is a lifelong member of the Catholic Church, which some political analysts say could shift the white Catholic vote from the Republican leanings it has held for the past four presidential elections.

And progressive Christian groups such as The New Moral Majority are pushing for the Biden/Harris ticket, saying they object to Trump’s morals and behavior.

Some religious sectors might remain loyal, though. A Pew Research Center poll conducted in June showed about eight in 10 white evangelical Protestants would vote for Trump. About six-in-10 nonevangelical Christians and white Catholics indicated they would favor Trump.

Today’s conflicts could be seen as echoing the warring Christians President Abraham Lincoln saw all around him during the Civil War: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other.”

Churches promote stances on issues

Trump and Biden are actively wooing the Christian vote in the heated presidential race.

A 1954 provision to the U.S. tax code prohibits churches, religious organizations and other 501(c)(3) nonprofits from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

But churches can — without violating the law — make their congregants aware of stances on issues, Dunn said.

With the presidential office, key congressional seats and 11 statewide proposals on Colorado’s ballot, churches are delivering appeals from the pulpit, releasing voter guides, erecting yard signs and encouraging members to register to vote.

“The church’s involvement in politics is not to take sides but to present information and let people make their own decision as a Christian,” said Bishop Kevin Foreman, pastor of Harvest Church, which has locations in Aurora and Atlanta.

It’s part of a church leader’s job to talk about elections, said Foreman.

“To be silent on that issue is to obfuscate an important duty as a leader — not whom to vote for but to take advantage of the right we have in this country to vote,” he said during a recent roundtable of faith leaders addressing Colorado’s Biden for President group.

The nation is in a place similar to when societal uprising ended slavery and gave Blacks and women the right to vote, said Rabbi Rachel Kobrin, the spiritual leader of Congregation Rodef Shalom in Denver.

Then as now, it’s imperative for religious leaders to speak out, she said during the roundtable of Democratic faith leaders.

“The religious right claims they speak for God and the Bible,” she said. “For those who are on the religious left, there’s an importance in us speaking out and being vocal in where our word and ethics lie.”

Members of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs, who include Christians, Jews, Buddhists and other persuasions, count on hearing about political issues at church, said the Rev. Nori Rost.

“The congregation is very attuned and socially active, so they expect it,” she said. “It’s how you vote that shows how you believe.”

Rost encourages congregants to vote with their values, “whether it’s the worth and dignity of every human or respect for our Earth and combating climate change.”

Electing officials and deciding changes to government and laws, Rost said, are “important to people in their everyday lives, who often don’t get a voice except for that one vote.”

All Souls members work on voter registration drives, write postcards to elected leaders and volunteer to pick up and deliver others’ ballots to election boxes.

This year, Rost will speak at services against a statewide measure that would ban abortion after 22 weeks gestation, with exceptions if the life of the mother is at risk or if the fetus has died in utero. Rost said she’ll encourage members to uphold a woman’s right to choose reproductive health.

On other matters, “I’ll appeal to research the candidates and issues and vote for those who align most closely with each congregant’s values,” she said. “I’ll advocate using your vote as your voice to create a society that’s just for all.”

Voting according to values

Colorado’s 832,300 Catholics, constituting about 15% of the population or one in six residents, are receiving pulpit appeals from priests.

The website of the Colorado Catholic Conference, a lobbying group representing interests of the Archdiocese of Denver, the Diocese of Colorado Springs and the Diocese of Pueblo, offers a guide outlining the church’s top 10 values for Catholics to consider when voting.

Protecting “the sanctity of life,” which includes opposing abortion and the death penalty, is the preeminent value for believers, said Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference.

Catholics were among evangelical Christians and secular groups who helped put the late-term abortion ban on the ballot by collecting signatures, she said, and continue to advocate for voters to pass the proposition.

Supporting “the sanctity of life” issues, which cover from conception to natural death, has been a Catholic decree for centuries — longer than American partisan politics, Vessely said.

The information being distributed promotes what the church teaches and encourages people to vote with “a well-formed conscience.”

Pro-choice Catholics such as Biden and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also a Democrat, aren’t adhering to Catholic teachings, Vessely said.

“We need to start holding our lawmakers on the state and federal levels who profess the Catholic faith accountable,” she said.

Members of a group called Catholics for Biden also uphold pro-choice rights.

Catholics who reject the anti-abortion stance aren’t “informed” Catholics, said John Pearring, author of the Homeless Catholic website, blog and book.

“You see there’s wiggle room, but there’s not,” he said.

“In a religious setting, believers largely accept the revelation of God as sacred and more serious than national governance,” Pearring said.

“If you listen to your heart, where God lives within you, it’s going to affect your voting.”

No Democrats or Republicans in the Bible

Henry Allen doesn’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says people should be a Democrat or a Republican.

“God looks at us as people, and that’s where I think we should keep our faith at,” said Allen, president of the Pikes Peak Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization Martin Luther King Jr. founded.

The regional chapter has more than 1,000 members, making it the fastest-growing branch west of the Mississippi, Allen said.

When Allen, a deacon at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Colorado Springs, casts his vote, it’s not about choosing between Democratic or Republican sides.

“I research. I pray. I look at what I think and what I believe God is guiding me to do.”

Neither he nor the organization support pastors delivering political messages at church.

“I’m always cautious when churches or anyone who preaches the gospel start using politics as the way they share the Bible,” he said.

The Pikes Peak Southern Leadership Conference does promote registering residents to vote, however, since “voting is a voice, a constitutional right.”

And, “You’re in violation of individual rights if you chastise anyone on how they vote.”

Allen views the nation as being in “a very troubling time,” and he thinks it’s time for churches to not be silent on issues such as police practices.

“I have always believed, as much as Dr. King believed, that the church plays a large role in shaping our communities,” he said. “We’re in a time when God is calling churches to take the lead on some of the things going on.

“Leaders will continue to be in turmoil, until the churches rise up and take control over what’s happening.”

The Mormon church also remains neutral on politics but encourages members to become engaged, study the issues and “seek out wise women and men who are aspiring for political office,” said David McConkie, president of the Colorado Springs East Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has about 3,200 members.

About 61% of Mormons voted for Trump for president in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center.

“We don’t steer toward particular candidates, platforms or parties,” McConkie said.

The church does “opine on issues of moral consequence,” but does not mention specific ballot measures or legislation.

McConkie said it’s important for people to align their voting with “the values, morals and commandments” God gave.

On complex issues such as abortion, stewardship of the environment and immigration, “We trust individuals to study their own views and let their faith inform their decisions.

“Governments, we believe, are instituted by God for the benefit of man, and He holds men accountable for their acts and relation to government both in making laws and administering them for the good and safety of society.”

McConkie also laments “the level of divisiveness and incivility” the country is experiencing. “We’re better than that as a people, as American citizens,” he said. “We’re capable of civility despite disagreements.”

How would Jesus vote?

“How would Jesus vote?” is an interesting question to ponder, pastors agree.

“Given the Christian belief that Jesus is already ruling at the right hand of God and that his kingdom is coming in its fullness, I’m not sure he would be all that interested in voting for anyone in the 2020 election,” replies the Rev. Bob Kaylor, lead pastor at Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church in Monument.

Jesus would have followers “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” he said, “but the Caesars du jour come and go.”

Kaylor offers parishioners voting advice that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, gave to members during parliamentary elections in England in 1774:

— Vote for the person you judge most worthy.

— Speak no evil of the person you voted against.

— Take care your spirits are not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.

Kaylor said his church had yard signs printed with the advice and distributed them around the Monument area “as a helpful reminder to folks to vote their conscience but to be civil to one another.”

Writer Steve Rabey contributed to this article.