My research examines religion and politics in the United States, and particularly the connections between religion and politics. Focusing on social influences, my work emphasizes how social contexts of various kinds—including religious congregations, social networks, geographic contexts, and generational and temporal contexts—affect religious and political outcomes. Information on my publications can be found at my Google Scholar and Researchgate pages.

CV

Education

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Areas of Specialization

• Religion
• Politics
• Stratification
• Social Change

Current Research

The proportion of Americans who have no religion has grown tremendously—from 7% in 1990 to roughly one-in-three Americans today. My recent work focuses on this growing population of religiously unaffiliated Americans. For instance, working with colleagues in psychology, I have examined the social-psychological consequences of religious disaffiliation. Our work shows how Americans who leave religion often retain some of the psychological dispositions associated with being religious. We refer to this as the “religious residue effect.”

I am particularly interested in the political perspectives and activities of religiously unaffiliated Americans. My work shows that not only do non-religious Americans differ politically from religious Americans, but that there is considerable variation among the non-religious as well. Some non-religious Americans are relatively liberal while others are more moderate or even conservative. Simply saying one does not have a religion is no longer a marker of left-leaning perspectives for many Americans.

Current Teaching

I teach various courses on religion, including Sociology of Religion, Global Religious Diversity, and a graduate seminar on religion. I also teach Sociological Methods, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Social Problems, and the graduate-level Publications Seminar.

Student Opportunities

I regularly publish with current and former graduate students. For instance, I recently published work with graduate student co-authors on political affiliation and support environmental initiatives, on the association between the religious makeup of a community and the prevalence of hate crimes, on religion and bullying in adolescence, and on how the political makeup of churches influences clergy mental health. I have also collected data on social networks in churches. Using these data, I have published work with student co-authors on how networks in churches impact civic activities. I plan to do more with the data I collected on social networks in churches, with opportunities for student involvement.

Selected Recent Publications

Schwadel, Philip. Forthcoming. “The Social and Political Perspectives of Believing and Non-Believing Religious Nones.” Sociology of Religion.

Van Tongeren, Daryl R., Sam A. Hardy, Emily M. Taylor, and Philip Schwadel. Forthcoming. “Religious Dones Become More Politically Liberal After Leaving Religion.” Journal of Personality. 

Schwadel, Philip, Kelsy Burke, and Emily Kazyak. 2025. “The LGBT Politics of Religious Nones.” Sociology of Religion 86(3):356-381.

 Schwadel, Philip and Amy L. Anderson. 2025. “College Educated Religious Conservatives’ Support for Capital Punishment.” Sociology of Religion 86(1):104-129.

 Coma, Azdren, Erik W. Johnson, and Philip Schwadel. 2024. “Elite Cueing, Gender, and the Partisan Gap in Environmental Support.” The Sociological Quarterly 65(4):448-468. 

Schwadel, Philip. 2020. “The Politics of Religious Nones.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59(1):180-189. 

Johnson, Erik W. and Philip Schwadel. 2019. “Political Polarization and Long-term Change in Public Support for Environmental Spending.” Social Forces 98(2):914-941. 

Schwadel, Philip and Christopher R. H. Garneau. 2019. “Sectarian Religion and Political Tolerance in the United States.” Sociology of Religion 80(2):168-193. 

Schwadel, Philip. 2017. “The Republicanization of Evangelical Protestants in the United States: An Examination of the Sources of Political Realignment” Social Science Research 62:238-254