Supposedly we live in a country where church and state are separated, however, weekly attending a Baptist Church, I have found that some churches just can’t help but get involved in politics. One week the church announced they had printed a voter’s guide with information about the various candidates. Its purpose, or so they stated, was not to tell anyone who to vote for, but simply to inform. Although I felt I knew the major stances of the key contenders, I was curious, so I picked up a copy. One glance at the sheet and I could tell that its intention was not pure information. The front side of the sheet was the Democrats, and has Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards (this was before he dropped out). In columns it then listed eight or so issues, and for every single issue for all three candidates, the response was listed “NO”. Thinking this was strange I took a closer look. Of roughly eight issues, precisely one, was about world and national affairs (Iraq War), the rest were all about social issues like same-sex marriage, education in schools about homosexuality, and abortion. I also found that the issues were described misleadingly, or given double negatives in order to make all of the democratic answers – no. For instance, instead of saying “Against Gun Control” as an issue, they said “Against a ban on bearing arms”. They also misconstrued information on some issues. For instance when referring to an act that would allow homosexual students to talk to a guidance counselor about their sexual orientation, the voter’s guide simply called in, “promoting homosexuality in our schools”. That is NOT the same thing in any shape or form!
I am a person who believes that it is right to stand up for your values, and I think that Christians have as much right to advocate there values as any other organization that backs a political ideology. However, what I think is completely wrong, is an organization as large as church advocating certain candidates and a single party based on manipulated and misleading data.
The Church and the Primaries
By ElenionAncalima - Posted on February 15th, 2008
Wow! I really enjoyed your post! I am agnostic, leaning towards Quaker, but my parents are very conservative Christians. My father is one of those who blindly follows what the church tells him to do. Churches are huge influences in people's lives. The fact that so many of them fear their members' individuality makes me suspicious. What do they think would happen if people were given the truth? Doesn't an informed congregation make for a better church? It makes sense to me.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
See I believe that the church has as much right to state beliefs or back a candidate, as a large organization like the AARP does. What worries me is when people, like you said, blindly follow. What also bothers me is when an organization doesn't admit that they are backing a candidate, and try to pass propaganda off as honest information.
But since I find double posts annoying, I am editing one to say something different. So......
Something different.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Yes I definitely agree. I hate it when ANYBODY tries to spin politics their own way. I'm not attacking churches, I'm just saying that people and institutions should just give facts and not opinions and twisted viewpoints. This applies to schools and newspapers, t.v., radio and the internet. I believe that people should make their own descisions in the light of real information. Yes I agree, that is a major annoyance to me...
-Cheez Out-
I was surprised by your post, but then when I took the time to think about it, I was not as shocked. I am a Catholic and I know that in my church there are also a number of instances when individuals misconstrue information and pass it to believers. I do not want to comment on whether it is intentional or not, but I merely want to say that it is ignorance on behalf of whoever is trying to push views upon people, based on not having a full knowledge themselves. I feel that the message of your article extends beyond politics. As a devote believer, I am disappointed that such events where institutions, especially religious institutions draw conclusions without considering all sides of the situation and understanding all opinions. I think that this is explicitly depicted by the misunderstandings between religions and even sectors of religions, such as the views endorsed by Catholic churches about Baptists and vice versa. I feel that in some instances, such as the one you mentioned, religious institutions are better at separating people and causing divisions, than they are at building unity.
I think that there is a huge difference between promoting your beliefs and accurately informing the public. I feel like churches have a right to back a candidate, but in many cases this definitely can hurt someone as much as it will help them. Though I didn't particularly agree with all of Mitt Romney's views, his speech on the separation of church and state definitely made a few good points! In some cases, too harshly promoting the separation of church and state can cause atheism to be seen as the country's "religion" which is most definitely not the case.
Thanks for this Article!
-- Amber
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/akoenig