Nearly half of Christians in America are unaware of the political views of their pastors according to a new study.

The Pew centre conducted a survey of over 6,000 US church goers and found 45 per cent of people who attend services at least a few times a year did not know if their leaders were Democrats or Republicans. 

Over a quarter said their church leadership was a mix of both conservative and liberal perspectives.

According to the research they are also not so comfortable with churches speaking out on political issues or endorsing specific candidates.

Of those who said they were sure of their pastor's political leanings, five per cent more appeared to be Republican than Democrat while 62 per cent of those surveyed "generally agree" with their pastor's political views.

The think tank says these findings indicate that "churches and other houses of worship are not strongly political environments, at least according to the people in the pews" with nearly two thirds of congregations agreeing that places of worship should not get involved with political matters.