The political endorsement was clear, although the words were carefully chosen.<\/p>\n
New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church\u2019s first openly gay bishop clearly wanted to inspire his supporters, even his own priests, to back Sen. Barack Obama. Still, he stressed that his endorsement was personal, not corporate.<\/p>\n
\u201dI will not be speaking about the campaign from the pulpit or at any church function,\u201d the bishop told reporters, in a 2007 conference call that drew low-key, calm news coverage. \u201dThat is completely inappropriate. But as a private citizen, I will be at campaign events and help in any way that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reaction was different after the Rev. Luke Emrich preached to about 100 evangelicals at New Life Church this past weekend, near Milwaukee. Veering from scripture into politics, he said his beliefs about abortion would control his vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you straight up, I would choose life,\u201d said Emrich, in a text that is being sent to the Internal Revenue Service. \u201cI would cast a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. \u2026 But friends, it\u2019s your choice to make, it\u2019s not my choice. I won\u2019t be in the voting booth with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the liberal Episcopal bishop, Emrich openly endorsed a candidate. And, like the bishop, he made it clear he was speaking for himself. The difference was that Emrich spoke from a pulpit, not a desk at the top of a church hierarchy.<\/p>\n
Legal or illegal? That\u2019s a matter of location, location, location.<\/p>\n
Emrich is one of 33 pastors nationwide who signed up for \u201cPulpit Freedom Sunday,\u201d an attempt by the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge IRS code language that says nonprofit, tax-exempt entities \u2014 including churches \u2014 may not \u201cparticipate in, or intervene in \u2026 any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.\u201d<\/p>\n
While all the sermons during this initiative mentioned candidates, some of the ministers used different approaches, said Erik Stanley, the Alliance Defense Fund\u2019s senior legal counsel. The organization is voluntarily sending the sermons to the IRS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not mandate for these pastors what they should or shouldn\u2019t say. We didn\u2019t write the sermons,\u201d he said. \u201cI know that we had pastors who said, \u2018I would not vote for so and so.\u2019 I know others said, \u2018I urge you not to vote for so and so.\u2019 Some said, \u2018I plan to vote for so and so, but I\u2019m only speaking for myself.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the rub. For decades, many clerics \u2014 liberal and conservative \u2014 have practiced a variety of wink-wink endorsement strategies. For example:<\/p>\n
* Supporters of abortion rights have long challenged the \u201cRespect Life Sunday\u201d events in Catholic parishes in early October. However, some priests use this day to stress Vatican pronouncements on the uniquely evil nature of abortion, which can be seen as a nod to Republicans. Meanwhile, other priests proclaim a broader \u201cCulture of Life\u201d agenda, stressing health care, the environment and issues that may favor Democrats.<\/p>\n
* Some clergy, in a various ethnic churches and doctrinal camps, have invited politicians into services, where they are openly embraced and honored them with cheers that \u201cthis candidate is one of us.\u201d The congregation applauds and shouts \u201camen.\u201d Is this an endorsement?<\/p>\n
* Pastors may deliver sermons that stick to a moral or religious issue and then say that it\u2019s sinful to support politicians \u2014 while avoiding names \u2014 who violate what the pastor says is the biblical stand on that issue. In this case, it doesn\u2019t matter if the issue being discussed is the war in Iraq, abortion, immigration or gay rights.<\/p>\n
* Some religious leaders merely \u201crecommend\u201d candidates, rather than offering explicit \u201cendorsements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, what if an endorsement is delivered from an office at the heart of a sacred bureaucracy, rather than from the pulpit in a sanctuary?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the big question, said Stanley. When do winks and nods become illegal? Are the rules applied the same way for liberals and conservatives?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we\u2019re trying to find out,\u201d he said. \u201cHow is a pastor supposed to know what he can and cannot do? Many pastors are afraid of crossing some line out there and they censor themselves, because they don\u2019t know exactly where it is. They want to address these great moral issues from a biblical perspective, but they don\u2019t know how far the IRS will let them go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The political endorsement was clear, although the words were carefully chosen. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church\u2019s first openly gay bishop clearly wanted to inspire his supporters, even his own priests, to back Sen. Barack Obama. Still, he stressed that his endorsement was personal, not corporate. \u201dI will not be speaking about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,16,21,23,25],"tags":[225,330,1534,1544],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglicanism","category-mainline-churches","category-politics","category-religion","category-social-issues","tag-church-state-relations","tag-episcopalians","tag-evangelicals","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n