Comments on: Should Christ-Centered Organizations Endorse Political Candidates?

By: Will Johnston

Will Johnston — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:04:01 +0000

Hey Jared, thanks for the link. I just read through the comments. It’s a good discussion. I may treat this more fully in a separate post later, but I would say that I think there is a difference between individual Christians endorsing candidates and Christian organizations doing so.

A person is just a person with his or her own beliefs. That person may be a Christ-follower, but no one necessarily thinks that the person’s faith is the sole or predominate reason why he or she is endorsing a particular candidate.

That said, I do think that for pastors the same issue may very well come into play. The only reason a pastor has influence (and thus why that endorsement is important) is because of his or her position within the Church. Obviously, this leads to the same issue where people may perceive that the pastor believes Jesus supports that candidate, and unfortunately, that perception may be more important than the pastor’s actual beliefs.

By: Jared Johnson

Jared Johnson — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:41:41 +0000

There is a great similar discussion on a post from August on Tim Stevens’ LeadingSmart blog.

http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/2008/08/brian-mclaren-a.html

By: Will Johnston

Will Johnston — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:59:33 +0000

Let me quickly clarify (and I’m going to edit the post to reflect this as well). I’m not talking about whether or not the organization should be legally allowed to endorse a candidate but whether or not (as followers of Jesus) the people who run the organization should choose to endorse any particular candidate.

By: Mike K

Mike K — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:55:58 +0000

If the organization has a tax-free status, they should not be endorsing candidates (or engaging in political campaigning)

However, I think that a group that can keep its distance should endorse candidates. It is all in the presentation. Many radical right-wing groups (many claiming a Christ-centered ministry) endorsed Bush over Gore in 2000. In addition to that, they demonized Gore and his supporters. In 2004, when it was obvious that Bush was a disaster, they didn’t pull their endorsement because they liked the access to power and not about what Jesus would do.

But just because one can overreach, doesn’t mean it should be forbidden in all situations.