Yes, politics belong in the pulpit

At the invitation of Pete Simpson, I spoke at a town hall meeting recently in Cody. The topic was religion and politics. Pete’s grandmother believed the two didn’t mix. Politics and religion were to be avoided at her dinner table. What about the pulpit? Do political discussions belong in church?

As a way of understanding the issue, Pete recommended the assembled citizens read Jon Meacham’s 2006 book entitled “American Gospel.” The book chronicles the development of the first clause of the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The drafters can be quoted saying many things, but the language they placed into the Constitution did not bar politics from the pulpit. The U.S. tax code, however, does place limitations on political speech and activities in which a church may engage.

A church cannot endorse candidates or parties or contribute financially to them. Nothing in the code prevents faith communities from speaking about political issues. Churches may even lobby their elected officials so long as that sort of witness does not consume a substantial portion of their time or resources.

That is called free speech, also protected by the 1^st Amendment. It is likewise what the Founders called “the free exercise” of religion.

In the Presbyterian tradition, as with many others, bearing such witness is an expectation of members. Faithful membership is defined to include an expectation that Presbyterians work to secure certain inalienable rights to “peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment.”

Meacham’s history details the struggle of the new country to figure out the question of religion. The struggle leading to the writing of the Constitution is not unlike that which continues yet today.

Twenty-first century Americans have as much trouble agreeing how or whether to separate church from state as did those of the 18^th century who wrote the Bill of Rights. Meacham believes it would be useful to understand that, in the United States, there is both a “public religion” and a “private religion.”

Our public religion is built around a nearly-common understanding that there is a God who, as Thomas Jefferson wrote, created all of us to be equals of one another, a “Creator” who endowed us with “certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Jefferson and others among the founders thought that applied regardless of how individual citizens practice what he called “private religion, which is practiced in the personal choices we are entitled to make about the path we choose to finding that whom we understand to be the Divine.

Meacham concludes the founders “wanted God in American public life” but saw wisdom in “distinguishing between private and public religion.” Thus, no official state religion, no teacher-led prayers in public schools, no tax-free dollars supporting church-endorsed candidates. It also means we can judge elected officials by what they do for the least of these.

The wall between church and state was never built to separate religious from political speech. The obligation of faith leaders to speak on matters of justice is established by scripture. The Old Testament devotes entire books to the political speech of the Hebrew prophets. They risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to challenge abuses of the government just as did the founders of our nation.

Theologian Robin Meyers’ book “Saving Jesus From the Church,” imagines a gathering of folks far more like those who don’t attend church today than those who do. They have never heard the creeds and church doctrine. One has a “pocket version” of the Sermon on the Mount. She starts reading. Everything changes. The gathered are motivated. The politicians are nervous. Such a meeting, he surmised, would be important while being dangerous. So, it should be with the church.

Far be it for me to disagree with Grandma Simpson, but politics belong at the dinner table, in the pulpit, and anywhere else thoughtful people gather.