The headline from the New York Times on Monday, July 7, jolted me awake before I had finished my strong morning tea:
I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit
In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.
The article, written by David A. Fahrenthold, outlines a narrower settlement with the plaintiffs, who had previously asked for an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members.
No Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rochester will be endorsing political candidates for any office.
Let me say that again, this time in canonical (church legal) language.
Dear Clergy,
This is a pastoral direction from your bishop. No clergy person or vestry on behalf of a parish in the Diocese of Rochester will endorse a candidate for any political office.
– The Rt. Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer
I anticipate the concern: if other churches start doing this, our voices will be lost, and we need “to fight fire with fire,” as the saying goes. I want to hold us to a higher standard, not only because of the founding principles of this country, which separate church and state, but because in this polarized world, it is only relationships that will get us through polarization, hatred, and violence. I believe the gift of political difference in our pews is the gift that God is calling us to use now. Let our churches be communities where people meet, eat, and work together — and keep talking. If we can model civil discourse in an angry and inflamed world, we will not only keep our sanity — we can be a beacon of light, understanding, and unity for the world.
So what can we preach? The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures contain all things necessary. Consider the lessons appointed for Sunday, July 13, the plumb line which God holds up against the nation to determine if they are in line with God’s justice, the story of the Good Samaritan, who goes against religion, culture, and his own self-interest to care for a stranger, and Psalm 82: 1-4:
God takes his stand in the council of heaven;
he gives judgment in the midst of the gods:
"How long will you judge unjustly,
and show favor to the wicked?
Save the weak and the orphan;
defend the humble and needy;
Rescue the weak and the poor;
deliver them from the power of the wicked.
Politics have always been part of faith, as long as people who belong to a society have gathered. That is not going away, nor should it, as every week, the scriptures hold up the politics of different people and different times, to help us navigate these people, at this time, and in this place. May God give us wisdom and strength to continue to be faithful and courageous people in this political world.
