Presidential Preachment: Campaigns Commandeer Pulpits For Partisan Purposes
There's plenty of bipartisan blame to go around here. On the Republican side, for example, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee frequently appears in churches. Huckabee is a Southern Baptist minister, so it's not surprising he'd want to fish for votes in the evangelical pond. At these events, he tends to offer a traditional sermon and not promote his candidacy overtly. Huckabee's campaign recently issued guidelines for churches that host him. Huckabee warns pastors not to endorse him from the pulpit but says personal endorsements by the pastors are permissible. Bible Belt Blogger reported that the document, titled "Evangelical Outreach: What can a pastor do to help?," circulated in Florida before the Republican primary there. Frank Lockwood, who runs the blog, asserted that the document "provides a map for mobilizing churchgoers on Huckabee's behalf." Even if Huckabee doesn't directly shill for votes in churches, his appearances there are obviously designed to give him valuable face time before the congregation. We have seen no reports that the churches hosting Huckabee extended similar invitations to his opponents. Huckabee may think he has found a way around the IRS regulations. It remains to be seen if the IRS will agree. Meanwhile, former president Bill Clinton raised eyebrows recently with a claim that he campaigned for his wife in churches. ABC News reported that Clinton said, "I campaigned this morning in African-American churches in Los Angeles with Congressman [Kendrick] Meek, here from Florida, and four of the members of Congress from Southern California that are supporting Hillary." But ABC correspondent Jake Tapper went on to report that Clinton's church appearances weren't really campaigning. The events, he said, were "subdued." Clinton did not mention his wife's opponent, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, nor did he solicit votes. In any case, it was at the very least a poor choice of words by the ex-president. Discussing issues and urging people to vote in a house of worship is fine. Telling congregants how to vote is not. The results of today's elections may not resolve both party's races. Once nominees are chosen, we can expect even more church appearances as the hopefuls reach out to religious voters.
Candidate appearances in churches are inherently problematic. It's one thing for the candidates (or their surrogates) to sit in the pew and listen to the sermon; it's quite another to mount the podium and offer the sermon. There is an easy solution: stop shilling for votes in houses of worship.
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