Prestonwood Baptist Church Doesn't Endorse Candidates

In a Dallas Morning News interview, Pastor Jack Graham claims that his church does not endorse political candidates. Horse Muffins!

Let's review three parts of the definition of 'endorse' (via dictionary.com) and see if there is anything that Prestonwood's leaders might be doing that hints of an endorsement:

1. to approve - "Here's a man who comes and says: 'I'm not looking for your endorsement. I endorse what you believe. I endorse your values.'" - Jack Graham, Pastor
   
2. to support - Mike Buster, executive pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church, recently agreed to help raise $ 100, 000 for Huckabee and says it’s not hard to find donors now. “I’ve raised $ 30, 000 in the last three days,” he said Friday.
3. to sustain - Asked if he’d (Mike Buster) reach his $ 100, 000 fundraising goal by the end of the year, he replied, “Oh, by the end of the month. There’s an amazing momentum just in the last two or three days that has swept the country. I’m sensing it.”

I tend to agree with Doug Smith who encourages Christians to be politically active but warns:

"... blatant endorsements from the pulpit --- illegal, since churches are nonprofit and tax-exempt. He also pointed out gray areas churches may want to avoid --- inviting a political candidate from only one party to speak or handing out voter guides. The first may be viewed as a de facto endorsement and the latter are typically "crafted in such a way to be clear about who the 'right' and 'wrong' candidates are," Smith said."

Investigations of 6 televangelist' spending habits have already started. Tax-exempt status is a privilege granted to churches that comes with responsibilities. In the litigious nature of this century and with conservative religious leaders acting irresponsibly, do not be surprised if political endorsements become the focus of challenging the tax-exempt status of our churches...even when they proclaim, "we don't endorse candidates."

Persecuted Religious Conservatives

I just finished reading Ken Connor's, Worldviews matter, editorial over on the Baptist Press site. I had to stop at the end of the first sentence, "In America, it has long been a popular sport to demean and ridicule the faith of religious conservatives" and take a deep breath. Actually, Ken, some religious conservatives have brought some of that sport on themselves, don't you think? Let's review a few examples:

• Westboro Baptist Church - Civil Suit - Baltimore Sun
  
• Ted Haggard - Christianity Today
  
• Larry Craig - Uses campaign money for legal defense - Judicial Watch
• Steven Flockhart - Fabricated credentials and money mis-management
  
• Richard Roberts - New York Times

Religious conservative groups and leaders who are in the public eye and do stupid things will get press coverage and their faith will be associated with whatever variety of stupidity is involved. Unfortunately, the rest of us get lumped in with those whose stupidity makes headlines. Connor's point may be that the press goes into a feeding frenzy when a high profile conservative leader is accused of something/anything (rightly or wrongly), and I must agree with him on that. High profile religious conservative leaders who venture into the realm of governmental politics are on shaky ground in my opinion, not because they choose to voice their positions on issues but because they focus on one party/candidate or another as an endorsed solution.

There is a basic lesson for religious conservatives and religious conservative leaders: Don't Mess Up, the World is Watching! There is a second lesson to be learned from this that too many who find themselves under attack and in the headlines seem to miss, transparency and honesty from the day one of being accused is essential. Hiding behind an attorney or holding back information feeds skepticism over an individual's credibility...and the press seems to be quite adept at rooting out scandal, and have gotten even better at it since the WaterGate era. Efforts to cover-up indiscretions are like throwing gas on the flaming fires of media frenzies.

My 'sport' with religious conservatives is that the actions of a few have seriously diminished the reputation of the rest. I consider myself a refugee of sorts from the religious conservative crowd primarily because I see religious conservatives flaunting their positions of authority and influence to guide their flocks blindly into territory we should and can avoid (particularly politics). Which leads to a third lesson we should all learn: If you fall into the category of religious conservative leader, be extremely cautious before throwing the first stone. The credibility microscope will reveal flaws and those flaws can/will make headlines. Is that fair? Probably not. Is it a reality we need to grasp? Definitely!

I would contend that even though is is extremely challenging to do so, religious conservatives suffer from their inability to get headlines for the good things that they/we do. Chances are we'll struggle on offense because we have so much more experience and expertise being defensive. Worldview does matter. Christian Worldview headlines matter more, but those require more work than we seem to be able to muster.