As a clergy person who is often accused of being “too political”, I am treading carefully today. My response to those accusations is that I am political like Jesus was (and He was, considering that the outcome of His ministry got Him murdered by the Empire), so I will take my chances. As so many theologians have said, if Jesus is the Son of God, then Caesar is not. In fact, any time we talk about the Kingdom of God, we are being political, since many Christians believe that that kingdom will make all others meaningless. So sure, I deal with political issues if you believe that morality and ethics intersect with politics. Anyone who reads the news can see that this happens every day. And the Bible – lots of politics there too.
I recently read an article titled “Far Right ‘Pastors for Trump’ trashed by Evangelical leaders for flirting with Christian Nationalism.” The gist of the article is that supporting the former president as if he were a devout Christian (some even view him as messianic) who should be president for that reason is not just idolatry; it perverts Christian teaching and attempts to destroy democracy, which is the very definition of Christian Nationalism/White Supremacy. This doesn’t mean that people of faith can’t vote for him or any other candidate, but that being partisan is a dangerous thing for people in our position. And they are right; while I have always encouraged church members to vote, I have never once told them who or what they should vote for. My exact words, almost every time, are, “If you don’t vote, you should change places with someone in a totalitarian country who will.” Voting is a right and a privilege that too many Americans ignore. It is what our ancestors fought and died for; an (almost) sacred duty.
There should never be any group that calls itself “Pastors for” any politician. It is, first of all, immoral, and secondly, it puts us in danger of losing our tax exemption because it crosses the line between religious freedom and secular government. And let me be clear; I think these uber-rich prosperity preachers should lose their exemption. They cross that line all the time. My task – and theirs, supposedly – is to talk about what Jesus did and said, and how we can try to follow Him by doing and saying the same things. That means that we should be addressing structures and systems that are biased; we should be speaking up for people who are oppressed; we must help the poor and advocate for children and widows. We should never be on the side of tax breaks for the wealthy or attempts to dismantle public schools. Manipulative language like “a real Christian would vote only for ________ candidates” does not capture the nuances and complexities of real life. We, as clergy, need to speak truth to power and respect our member’s intelligence and moral strength. We aren’t the boss of them.
It doesn’t matter where we as clergy are in our personal lives on political matters; we cannot be partisan. I regularly get asked to attend political events that are clearly (sometimes not so clearly) partisan, and I politely decline. I work with politicians to give my input about projects that enhance the lives of the entire community. I pray at public events (when appropriate) with interfaith language because it is not my place to impose my faith on those who aren’t willing to hear about it. That’s spiritual abuse. And as I have said thousands of times, whenever religion and politics get into bed together, only bad things happen. My ordination vows are very clear – do good always, and refrain from evil. These far-right clergy should heed that call as well.
Prayer – Your kingdom come, Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Help us, God of all people, to be respectful of others in all we do. Amen.