Religious authority and political solutions to conflict: experimental evidence from religious leaders in Israel

Abstract How do religious leaders influence support for political compromise in conflicts involving sacred values? While existing literature suggests religious leaders can be effective peace entrepreneurs, their actual influence remains debated. We examine this question through two survey experiments in Israel, varying religious leaders’ religious authority and political credibility to understand their ability to generate support for compromise in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our results reveal important limitations on religious leaders’ influence: while we find modest effects of combined religious and political authority among religious respondents, neither form of authority alone significantly affects support for peace. Our findings suggest religious leaders’ capacity to promote political compromise is more constrained than previously theorized. When effects do emerge, they concentrate among already-religious audiences, suggesting religious leaders may better reinforce than transform political attitudes. These results contribute to understanding conditions under which religious authority shapes political behavior and highlight practical challenges in leveraging religious leadership for conflict resolution.