A POLITICAL RANT

It’s the silly season in Florida again. Election campaigning is in full swing. I have to keep my eyes open for campaign signs springing up in the church lawn like mushrooms after a rain. If we aren’t careful, campaign workers storm the parking lot during services and stick literature on every windshield. Then I have to spend the next Sunday explaining how the church is not backing any candidate. A few colleagues in the community have attended workshops on how to construct voter guides that seem to examine the candidates’ views, but in reality are endorsements for a particular candidate. I hate that kind of chicanery.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a candidate addressed to “Pastor”which ends with these sentences: “I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for faithful ministers and stewards of the Gospel like you who care about our nation–a country founded by God and upon his Word. I look forward to continuing the fight for what we believe.”

Of course this is a blatant appeal for political support which a not-for-profit organization cannot give. I could, of course, send my own money to the “Christian” candidate if I wanted (using the handy contribution form enclosed), but reading his literature certainly doesn’t lead me to do so. The candidate is a defender of property rights and gun ownership, neither of which can be identified with the teachings of Jesus. The candidate also favors a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. I do agree that’s what Jesus meant when he talked of marriage. It seems to me, however, that Jesus’ concern with marriage was not defining it, but strengthening it by condemning adultery and divorce. Those problems aren’t dealt with in the campaign literature. I studied the material thoroughly, but found nothing about helping the poor or feeding the hungry, both of which were major concerns of Jesus.

Sigh, it’s one more attempt to use religious-sounding issues as a means for political gain. I am so tired of politicians claiming to be the “Christian” candidate when Jesus himself wouldn’t have recognized what they espouse as his teachings.

I highly recommend the book by Jim Wallis, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, as a good discussion of religion and politics in the present age.

In the meanwhile, this weary Pilgrim hopes not to confront too many “Christian” candidates on the way before the silly season is over.

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne