The presidential race is tightening and most of the “undecideds” are making up their minds.
After months of debate over how to vote, or whether to vote at all, evangelicals are hearing a call from leaders to vote, rather than skip balloting. But a new survey shows if Americans are seeking political advice, they aren’t likely to be looking to pastors for an endorsement.
Still, some pastors feel compelled to speak up.
Only two-in-ten Americans (19%) say it is appropriate for pastors to publicly endorse political candidates during a church service, according to a poll conducted by LifeWay Research. A larger percentage, four-in-ten (43%), say it is appropriate for pastors to endorse candidates outside of their role at church.
With the election just over a month away, some pastors are counseling people of faith on how to think through specific issues related to their vote, while others, like First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, haven’t shied away from offering more specific advice.
Jeffress, a member of Donald Trump’s committee of evangelical advisors, said in a Sept. 9 Fox News appearance that conservative Christians who don’t vote in November based on moral principle are “namby-pamby, pantywaisted, weak-kneed Christians.”
He continued, “Will you please tell me what great moral principle there is in the universe that would allow a [pro-abortion], anti-religious liberty candidate like Hillary Clinton to become the president?”
Clinton, for her part, also has received endorsements from faith leaders, including a group of 28 African American pastors who announced their support in January.
Meanwhile, many faith leaders have warned against polarizing speech throughout the increasingly volatile election cycle. Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines told Baptist Press in September that
political rhetoric can inhibit evangelism.
“Christians must at times be prophetic. But we never have a license to be pejorative or denigrating,” said Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.
“If any Christian, especially a Christian leader, castigates and attacks a political candidate, that Christian has crossed a line and has sinned,” Gaines said. “The litmus test should be, ‘Would that person be open to me sharing the gospel with him/her after I make this comment?’ If the answer is no, then keep silent, even if it sounds ‘prophetic.’”
‘Pulpit freedom’
The view expressed by a large majority of Americans that pastors shouldn’t endorse candidates extends to churches, according to the LifeWay survey. Three-quarters of Americans agree it isn’t appropriate for churches to make political endorsements, and 81% say they shouldn’t use their resources to campaign for candidates.
But fewer Americans believe churches should face negative repercussions for their involvement in political campaigns. The LifeWay survey found only 42% of people believe churches should lose their tax exempt status for publicly endorsing candidates.
“Endorsements from the pulpit are unpopular and most Americans say they are inappropriate,” said LifeWay Research President Scott McConnell. “But they don’t want churches to be punished for something a pastor said.”
An August survey by Pew Research found more pastors may be speaking on the issues, rather than specific candidates. According to the Pew study, 64% of recent churchgoers have heard their pastor speak out publicly about at least one social or political issue, including religious liberty, homosexuality, abortion, immigration, environmental issues, or economic inequality.
Fewer said their pastor had spoken in favor of or against a particular candidate, although black Protestant respondents were most likely to have heard their pastor do so. According to Pew, 29% of black Protestants who have attended church recently have heard their pastor speak in favor of a specific candidate—mostly Hillary Clinton—while the same share has heard their pastor speak against a candidate—mostly Donald Trump.
At issue whenever pastors or churches endorse a candidate or otherwise aid a campaign is the Johnson Amendment. The 1954 amendment, named for then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, changed the U.S. tax code to preclude churches and other non-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status “from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the website of the Internal Revenue Service.
In a July address, Trump pledged to “get rid of” the Johnson Amendment, pledging “to let Christians and Jews and people of religion talk without being afraid to talk.”
Since 2008, some pastors have been publicly defying the Johnson Amendment on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” an annual effort sponsored by Alliance Defending Freedom. The non-profit organization also has created “Pastors, Churches & Politics: A Legal Guide for Ministries on Political Engagement.” The free resource is available at adflegal.org/politics-and-your-church.
‘Start looking up’
Despite the fact that most Americans don’t think it’s appropriate for pastors to make political endorsements, some still make them.
The group of pastors who endorsed Clinton in January cited “her experience, long commitment to and understanding of the key issues their congregations are facing, and inequalities facing the African American community,” the Clinton campaign reported in a press release.
Trump’s evangelical supporters include Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Robert Jeffress, who followed up his recent Fox News comments with a clarification to Baptist Press.
“I never said people who don’t vote for Trump are this or that. That wasn’t my comment,” Jeffress said.
“It’s hypocritical for conservative Christians to say they believe in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty, then sit at home and not vote, or throw away their vote on a third-party candidate and not elect a candidate like Donald Trump who has said he’ll appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court, a candidate who says he’s pro-life, a candidate who says he believes Christians are being marginalized in society today,” Jeffress said.
Even as the faith leaders who have publicly endorsed candidates have made known their preferences, their opinions still vary widely: Some advocate Trump because of Clinton’s policies on abortion and religious liberty, among other issues. Others say Trump’s controversial comments and lifestyle decisions make Clinton the better choice. Still other leaders actually seem to favor the candidates they’ve endorsed, rather than just consider them a lesser evil.
Approaching November, Gaines advised Christians to be guided by “biblical convictions” in all areas of life, including how they vote.
“In my opinion, the three key moral issues in America today are (a) the sanctity of human life, (b) the sacredness of marriage and (c) the significance of racial respect/reconciliation,” Gaines said. The SBC President advised Christians to vote for candidates who are pro-life, those who uphold marriage as “exclusively monogamous and heterosexual,” and those who encourage respect and reconciliation with regard to race.
Christians should be hopeful in this political season, Gaines said. “The White House cannot send revival, nor can it stop revival,” he said. “Stop looking around and start looking up. The Lord is the source of your help and strength.”
– Compiled by Meredith Flynn, with reporting by Baptist Press and LifeWay Research