In 2004, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena CA got investigated because a Sunday-before-election guest preacher gave a sermon in which he basically said, both candidates are falling down on the job in regards to some of the "issues" named by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, namely war (Kerry voted yes, Bush started the thing), feeding the hungry, etc. "Vote your values" for imperfect candidates with imperfect approaches, and you'll have to figure that out on your own.

It sounded even-handed to me, as both named candidates were dissed in the same proportion. Someone objected to the IRS, who eventually dismissed the case.

Specific secular problems were noted, and some would point to the choice of problems / issues (war, hunger, illness) as partially favoring the "bleeding heart liberals".  As I understand it, mentioning issues without promoting parties or candidates is permissible under 501c3 status. The Roman Catholic bishops are using the problem-oriented pre-election sermon to preach against abortion and homosexuality and to imply that voters who ignore those issues are courting or committing mortal sin. No names, just issue choices. I'd assume that the RCC approach is just as permissible under 501c3 status, though the RCC style is more authoritarian than Episcopal style. So issue choice is highly political.

For ministers out there, this pew-sitter adds the opinion that a lot of congregants get irritated and often oppositional when pre-election sermons get blatantly political. They have been submitted to ads 24/7 for months and don't want another one.  The congregation is likely divided in political opinion. A lectionary based sermon is just fine, keeps sanity and the peace.

by NancyP on Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 06:50:26 PM EST