Understanding the Interaction of Religious and Political Beliefs Among Latino Evangelicals Organizers and Advocates Brief

Every election year, think pieces and articles are written about the political alignments of Latinos and of Latino evangelicals in particular; however, the sparse information presented tends to be about Latino evangelicals, not by them. This summer, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), UNDIVIDED, and the Heller School at Brandeis University, embarked on a pilot project to address this gap. Five bilingual Latino community co-researchers were trained to collaborate to develop questions, conduct interviews, and analyze data. The co-researchers contributed over 60 collective hours to the project. Eleven pastors participated in a focus group, and 27 congregants from Latino evangelical churches in Central Florida were interviewed. The methodology and findings provide a firm foundation to be built upon in new locations and cultural contexts so that organizers, advocates, and elected officials can begin speaking with Latino evangelicals instead of at them.