{"id":1581,"date":"2008-09-15T22:01:49","date_gmt":"2008-09-16T03:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2008-09-15T22:01:49","modified_gmt":"2008-09-16T03:01:49","slug":"do-church-and-politics-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=1581","title":{"rendered":"Do church and politics mix?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a survey on August 21 which reveals that for the first time in a decade, the majority of United States residents believe churches should stay out of politics. The overview of the survey begins with these words:<\/p>\n

Some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters. For a decade, majorities of Americans had voiced support for religious institutions speaking out on such issues.<\/p>\n

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that most of the reconsideration of the desirability of religious involvement in politics has occurred among conservatives. Four years ago, just 30% of conservatives believed that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics. Today, 50% of conservatives express this view.<\/p>\n

As a result, conservatives’ views on this issue are much more in line with the views of moderates and liberals than was previously the case. Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared….<\/p>\n

Full report<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m part of the majority that believes that churches should stay out of electoral politics. I don’t think churches or clergy should support individual candidates, nor do I think that churches or clergy should even do things like host presidential debates (yeah, I mean you, Rick Warren). Speaking in my role as a minister, I don’t believe that I should get involved in supporting or promoting any candidate or political party, at the local, state, or national level. (Frankly, I don’t even want to be in close proximity to politicains — oh wait, that’s my personal revulsion creeping in — go back into your cave, personal revulsion, this is a serious post!)<\/p>\n

My reasons for wanting to stay out of politics are religious reasons. No political party or candidate lives up to my religious ideals. For example, my religion tells me to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, which means I cannot ignore anyone — whereas politicians can safely ignore those who cannot or do not vote, such as non-citizens, the poor, and the disenchanted. Or here’s another example — both major presidential candidates have proposed health care initiatives that will not cover large numbers of Americans, but I find this unacceptable because my religious values tell me that all persons should have equal access to decent health care.<\/p>\n

But while I’m part of the majority that believes churches should stay out of electoral politics, it’s only a narrow majority. What’s your<\/em> opinion — should churches stay out of politics, or not? You can write your answer in the comments section below — and if you do, tell us what your reasoning is for your answer….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a survey on August 21 which reveals that for the first time in a decade, the majority of United States residents believe churches should stay out of politics. The overview of the survey begins with these words: Some Americans are having a change of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberal-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1581"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}