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Aug. 18, 2006 Recently, with the rise in the evangelical church in America, normal, average citizens are losing perspective of what government means and what role it has in society. Government is supposed to serve all citizens, not just a certain religious affiliation. Christians, while being the dominant sector of believers in this country, are not allowed to intercede in the affairs of the government other than by voting and working with campaigns. The line is drawn on using the pulpit as a place for one candidate or another since, by definition, the tax exeption given to churches mean that they agree to be a non-partisan entity to remain in that status. Once the church chooses sides, not the individual parishoners, it breaks that agreement and, by all means, should lose that exemption status. While I can look past the religiosity of voters, I cannot see where it is the right of a pastor to endorse a candidate or political party while in their church. Sure, it is okay to say that they like one candidate or another while in small talk or whatnot, but some things have gone to far. During the last presidential election, members of churches throughout the country were demoralized and cast out for supporting John Kerry. This is not the right of a pastor. These are people that both believe in God and vote for Democrats. That is there right. It would be like going out to the parking lot and telling anyone who owns a Japanese or European car that they have to leave because the pastor doesn't like foreign automobiles. While they may think it is okay, it goes against the principles of neutrality that a pastor or priest or rabbi should have. They are not there to learn about the political beliefs of a single person. They are there to learn about Jesus and God and what teaching the Bible had. Not about tax breaks and abortion and wars in Iraq. If anything, these people are abusing their people because believers are supposed to be guided by their religious leaders, not taken advantage of to gain political ground. Recently, a Minnesota megachurch pastor came out in favor of keeping politics out of his sermons. Gregory Boyd stood up and, even though he is a conservative-leaning voter, he firmly believes that a line should be drawn between the church and the government. "I'm a conservative when it comes to theology," Boyd said in a New York Times article. "I believe in the Bible, and I preach the Gospel. But the Bible we're to be preaching is not something you can identify just with one party or the other." In aspousing his beliefs, he lost over 1,000 members of his congregation of over 4,000. I guess the price of standing up for what you believe can be very constly. Politics has no place in the pulpit. I don't care what your party affiliation is. If you believe it does then maybe it is time to re-examine the benefits of being a non-profit organization. The government is starting to crack down on this kind of activity and, hopefully, places of worship around the country will realize the implications of choosing sides. While I still get ired from the idea of some pastors, such as Pat Robertson or James Dobson, getting tax exemptions for their mega money-making ventures selling God, I cannot argue the good that the vast majority of chruches do for society. It is just another case of the bad apples. Peace. ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is a long-time journalist who has been a columnist at his college newspaper and is currently a military journalist. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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