I got involved in politics at the ripe old age of 12. I rode my bike around my little town – handing out bumper stickers for a friend of my mom’s who was running for the Virginia House of Delegates.
By the time I was 18, I had already spent complete days driving state candidates around and had been chosen by my county to be a delegate to a state nominating convention. In my 20’s I campaigned for Ronald Reagan over and over again. In my 30’s I campaigned so much for Jeb Bush that people thought I was Jeb Bush.
And then abruptly, my politicking stopped.
Why? I stopped being active in politics because I became a pastor of a church.
You see, the law says that churches and their pastors cannot be politically partisan. It violates campaign laws and infringes on the so-called separation of church and state. Churches can risk losing tax-exempt status if they are involved in supporting specific candidates for specific offices.
I guess President Obama believes himself above the law. I looked the other way when he incessantly campaigned in churches – that is done a lot. However, his latest gimmick is beyond the pale.
President Obama has asked churches to re-elect him. He has asked them to organize. He has asked them to appoint congregation captains. He is asking them to break the law.
The media needs to report on this. The IRS needs to hold these churches accountable. The Attorney General needs to hold the president accountable. Oh wait – the media is in the tank and the president runs those two agencies.
Okay – the people need to hold him accountable. Maybe in November they just will.
I'm as much against politicians enlisting churches to stump for them now as I was when President Bush and the Republicans did it during the 2000s. I'm sure you were aggressively calling them out back then too, right?
ReplyDeleteFirst, it is an illegitimate argument to justify bad behavior by pointing to others' bad behavior.
ReplyDeleteHowever, show me an instance of where the Bush campaign was actively involved in soliciting specific campaign organizational help from churches...
First, if you had actually read what I posted you would have noticed that I was agreeing with you whole-heartedly. I did not attempt to justify anything, in fact I specifically pointed out that I was against this behavior.
ReplyDeleteOn top of this, I attended churches during the Bush presidency that handed out these voter guides. I have heard clergy speak from the pulpit in favor of a political party and I have heard them demonize the opposition. As I said before, I was against it then and I'm against it now.
As to the latter:
"Bush Campaign Seeking Help from Congregations" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/us/bush-campaign-seeking-help-from-congregations.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm (which I'm sure you'll disregard because its from the New York Times)
"Bush campaign pursues 'friendly congregations'" http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040603/news_1n3churches.html
I'm sure you will find a reason to discount these articles; in fact, I would guess that your carefully chosen wording was a forward assault on this particular story (since I can't imagine you really didn't know about it) and you will explain how this is really not the same as what you accuse President Obama's political campaign of doing. To that end, could you please provide some sort of evidence to support your claims as I have done?
Chris - you are right. You did not "justify" this bad behavior. My apologies for misrepresenting what you said.
ReplyDeleteFirst, note that the voter guides are/were not party-based or candidate-specific, but issues-based with appraisals of where candidates stood on the issues.
Secondly, we can agree that rogue pastors from both sides politick from the pulpit - and it is flat wrong.
However, there is a difference between what President Bush did and what President Obama is doing. President Bush sought out individuals who were members of a faith community - who could then network with others they went to church with for the purpose of disseminating information.
President Obama's website says that they are looking for people to "organize congregations."
My question is though - where are the New York Times and Barry Lynn now?
Sorry Charles, the voter guides I got were very specific about which candidates to vote for, and all were Republicans. Of course you think there was a difference between what President Bush did and what you are accusing President Obama of doing, I wouldn't suspect you to feel any differently. I don't agree with you, but I'm not at all surprised.
ReplyDeleteYou still haven't responded to my request to provide some sort of evidence to support your claims that the current President is doing what you accuse him of. You said, "President Obama has asked churches to re-elect him. He has asked them to organize. He has asked them to appoint congregation captains. He is asking them to break the law." Prove it.
If the voter guides were candidate/party-specific - they were illegal.
ReplyDeleteAs far as evidence - it is all on the candidate's campaign website. Specifically asks for "Congregation Captain" volunteers to "Organize congregations."
I have to admit I don't approve of this strategy. I do disagree, however, that this is any different than what President Bush's campaign did. You said, "President Bush sought out individuals who were members of a faith community - who could then network with others they went to church with for the purpose of disseminating information." How is this different than asking members of a church to become so-called congregation captains and create networks that encourage support for President Obama? Again, I don't agree with the tactic but I didn't agree with it when President Bush did it either and you seem to think it was OK then. From the NY Times article I posted above,
ReplyDelete"The Bush campaign is seeking to enlist thousands of religious congregations around the country in distributing campaign information and registering voters, according to an e-mail message sent to many members of the clergy and others in Pennsylvania."
Are you insinuating that the Bush campaign was encouraging congregations to distribute campaign information for both candidates in a non-partisan fashion? It was bad practice then, and it's bad practice now.