Religious Service Attendance and Interracial Romance: The Non‐Evangelical Story

ABSTRACT

Religious service attendance is a consistent negative predictor of interracial romance in the United States, yet less is known about how specific religious affiliations shape this relationship. Using the Collaborative Multiracial Post‐Election Survey (CMPS 2020, N  = 7883), this study examines how attendance frequency and religious affiliation predict engagement in interracial romance across a racially diverse national sample. Contrary to expectations in the existing literature, the religiously unaffiliated do not differ significantly from evangelical Protestants once demographic controls are applied. Non‐evangelical Protestants, however, are significantly more likely to be in interracial relationships than evangelicals, net of attendance, congregational racial composition, and other controls. This within‐Protestant variation is concentrated among non‐White respondents and is not explained by congregational diversity, suggesting that theological orientation and denominational culture are the primary religious predictors of racial boundary‐crossing in interracial relationships.