It is commonly argued and believed that religion leads to intolerance. However, in causal models religious belief, belonging, and behavior have not demonstrated a direct link to political tolerance; any negative influence is typically indirect. Yet the direct religion-intolerance link persists. There are three reasons for the conflicting views on the religion-political tolerance relationship. First, there are differences in how religion is measured or assessed. Second, there are differences in the conceptualization and measurement of political tolerance. Finally, choice of statistical modeling strategies influence our ability to assess direct versus indirect influences in the religion-political tolerance link.