Politics and the Pulpit
By Tanya L. Green, J.D.
November/December 2001 Family Voice

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Pastor Dan Little of the Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, New York, challenged Bible-believing Christians. His church placed full-page openletters in The Washington Times and USA Today headlined “Christian Beware,” criticizing then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s un-Biblical support of abortion, homosexual rights, and condom distribution in public schools. The letters rhetorically asked how a Christian could vote for Clinton.

In response, the Internal Revenue Service investigated, concluding with the revocation of the church’s tax-exempt status in 1995. The IRS said the church had violated the law that prohibits churches from endorsing or opposing political candidates. In turn, the church sued the IRS.

Finally, in 1999, after much wrangling, the IRS decision remained intact. But the church maintained its tax-exempt status because, in the words of attorney Colby May of the American Center for Law and Justice (who represented the church) “a church is a church is a church.” In other words, Little’s church was one in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense and therefore was automatically tax-exempt.

“There was absolutely no punitive action,” Little told Family Voice of the final outcome, “no fines, no taxes. I was very satisfied.”

Biblical Roots
This illustration represents the quagmire of church and politics. Judeo-Christian values have been integral to our government from its inception. Our legal system is based on the Mosaic law. Yet, the role of religion in politics is hotly contested.

“The language of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution comes from Scripture,” said David Barton, president of the educational organization WallBuilders, and author of Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion. “The Declaration of Independence talks about the laws of nature and nature’s God. The laws of nature’s God are the written laws of the God who created nature, which is the revealed Scripture.

“The Founders believed it was the duty of the government to encourage religion and morality,” he told Family Voice. “The church’s domain was to evangelize and disciple people, and to handle doctrinal matters. The state was to bear the sword, so it did not let the church do civil punishment. The only prohibition on the government was that it could not establish a national religion.”

Pastor Thomas Breuner, a former public school teacher in Washington, D.C., agreed. “... Religion has every right and protection under the First Amendment to influence … government,” he said.

Culture Shapers
The church has indeed influenced the government and culture through its involvement in such historical events as the American Revolution, the abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights movement. Little’s outspokenness would have been expected following the Revolution.

“After the Constitution’s adoption, pastors called presidential candidates by name and used the Bible as the basis for voting or not voting for a particular candidate,” Barton said, noting that 27 of the Constitution’s signers held seminary degrees. Many ministers and theologians attended the Constitutional Convention. They also served as civic leaders, and in Congress and state legislatures.

“Ministers were the fiery pulpit that flamed the principles and beliefs of America,” he said. “They were chaplains and leaders in the military. They carried Bibles, as well as guns. They shaped the culture from the pulpit.”

Rev. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was one such fiery minister. In 1776, Muhlenberg stood in his Virginia pulpit and frequently challenged his congregation to stand and preserve religious and civil liberty. After one Sunday service, he revealed beneath his clerical robe his full officer’s uniform for the Continental Army. He asked who would join him in the fight to protect those liberties. Three hundred men answered the call, forming the 8th Virginia Brigade.

Barton said the Revolution was also the turning point in the nation’s attitude, including its attitude toward slavery. Calling it “the voice of abolition” of slavery, Barton said the church played a significant role. First, in the 1750s, the Quakers began to point out the error of this evil institution in light of Scripture. Then, in the 1770s, other denominations spoke out against it. Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania were among the first states to abolish slavery, beginning in 1776.

The church has also been a voice for the oppressed, especially in the Black community. Years after the ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, which abolished slavery, conferred citizenship, and protected voting rights, Blacks still faced gross inequality in public accommodations, transportation, voting and other areas.

The Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in 1955, the start of the modern Civil Rights movement, was anchored in the church. Led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., pastors and laity organized and funded the movement.

Alveda King Tookes, niece of the slain leader, said the church was essential to the movement.

“It would have been just another uprising that would not have prevailed,” she told Family Voice, adding that the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As pastors, her grandfather and father were also leaders in the movement and “approached everything with prayer, Biblical understanding and faith.”

Black churches organized mass demonstrations, meetings, and sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, and participated in nonviolent marches. Black pastors served sacrificially.

“They were on the front lines. They were marching. They were going to jail. Their homes … [and] churches were being bombed,” said Tookes.

Undoubtedly, the victories of the Civil Rights movement, resulting in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, were largely due to the church.

Politicking from the Pulpit
Clearly, the church has had a powerful affect on our culture and public policy. But its voice is small today, compared to what it had been prior to the early 1950s.

“[The government] is trying to protect anything [it] does from any kind of religious influence, which means that the church is relegated to a small corner in society,” said Breuner. Barton said the church has become guilty of fostering an attitude of “compartmentalization.”

“The court has told the church to keep her faith private and out of the schools, government, business, medicine, and public arena,” he said. “The church has bought into this so that faith is no longer practical.”

How You Can Help

Pray that Christians in the public arena will speak more boldly about their faith.  Praise God for pastors who speak on moral and political issues from the pulpit.  Act Urge your representative in the U.S. Congress to support H.R. 2357.

Sidebar: The “Jones Bill”: Renewing Religious Liberty

Barton said Christians must become more knowledgeable about Scripture, and church and American history.

For Tookes, faith is important to politics. “To say we need to keep God out of politics is ludicrous,” she said, herself an evangelist and former state legislator. “God will not be moved out or kept out of anything. We who are Christians and are placed in positions throughout our governments and our social institutions … simply need to be prepared and ready to tell the truth [of God’s Word].”

To request a free copy of CWA’s brochure, Political Guidelines for Churches and Pastors, call 800-323-2200.

More from November/December 2001 Family Voice