Candidate Forums in Church

In an article titled, Pastor Warren: Stop Politicizing Religion, Star Parker says "What exactly is going on in America when our obsession is to cleanse every inch of public space from religion, yet somehow we think it is appropriate to bring a presidential political forum into church?" I vehemently disagree with her.

Church is exactly the place where candidates should come to share their views. Chrisitans need to know for what kind of person God wants for us to vote, and need to know where candidates stand on the issues so that we can make the best decision. All that was changed, for the worse, in 1954 when then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, in a move designed to get back at Texas churches for opposing him in the election, got a law passed barring pastors and churches from supporting or opposing a candidate, and threatening them with taking away their IRS tax-exempt status if they did.

Pastors used to preach election sermons, informing or reminding believers what it is that God wants for us to look for in a candidate. Since only God can see the heart, and we can only see a person's actions, then we have to judge a candidate's worthiness for an office based on what they have done, and that includes what they have publicly said, and how they have voted if they have previously held office. And the Founders knew that since we can't tell for sure whether someone is a Christian, then we need to choose the one who comes closer to being what God wants for him to be, and who is more likely to do the will of God in office. As one of our Founders said, none of us is perfect, so we need to vote for the one who is the least imperfect, and church is a great place for us to ask questions, listen to candidates' answers, and find out who is the least imperfect.