Churches prodding undecided voters towards GOP - L.A. Times

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Pastors Guiding Voters to GOP

The Christian right seeks out members who might not go to the polls. The focus is issues, but some leaders don't oppose endorsement.

(snip)

One online guide to discussing the election in church, produced by the Focus on the Family ministry, offers this tip: If a congregant says her top concerns are healthcare and national security, suggest that Jesus would make abortion and gay marriage priorities.

....

Pastors have a right to work directly for candidates on their own time, as long as they don't use church resources. In a recent article aimed at evangelical preachers, (Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel) wrote that they "should feel free" to go even further and endorse a candidate from the pulpit because he thought the IRS law was unconstitutional. He repeatedly noted that the IRS had rarely sanctioned churches. The Church at Pierce Creek in Binghamton, N.Y., is the only one ever to lose its tax-exempt certification, for sponsoring newspaper ads that opposed presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

Full story here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-churchvote1oct01,0,7179475.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[rocktivity]

1. Yeah, but how do you work around this Foley thing?

:rofl:
rocknation

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3. By thinking about the Nielsen thing:

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/our-thing/25902/

[ck4829]

2. Jesus never healed the sick

He fought against abortion and GLBT people all the time, right?

[Helga Scow Stern]

4. This is just background

info for how it will be explained that the GOP wins elections in the future (after stealing them, there has to be a reason why they won "against all odds".) It is being published now precisely to counteract the Foley fallout.

Yes, Virginia, there is some invisible, highly moral "base" who has never voted before, didn't vote in 2004, and that's how the GOP carries 2006 and 2008. Who woulda thought?

[Helga Scow Stern]

5. LA Times also reported today that

Schwarzenegger is suddenly surging ahead in the polls.

Edited to say:
Foley is on page A20.

[Mountainman]

6. Seems to be a lot of stories meant to discourage us today.

The Time peice and now this. We might as well give up, the right wing machine is just too strong for us to match. (sarcasm)

[TlalocW]

7. If a pastor ever told me

That Jesus would make abortion and gay marriage priorities instead of healthcare, I would tell him that he was full of shit. But alas, I never get that chance because I haven't attended church for over 15 years as I figured out in high school that the clergy should never be look upon as moral authorities considering all the shit they pull.

TlalocW

[valerief]

8. They know which party butters their faith-based bread. nt

[demosincebirth]

9. Never in my years of going to church has any priest or minister

ever mentioned or insinuated that I vote for a certain party or person. I have known a few priests, personally, and they have all been very progressive.

[Vinca]

10. I think it's more the kind of church that uses snakes in the service. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Jesus never mentioned either abortion or homosexuality, not ONCE

Those fundie preachers would be in trouble if their congregants ever actually read the New Testament for themselves.

[joeygirl]

12. W/all the Dems that come through the black churches up here-

I think it's much ado about nothing. When you get Kerry, Gore, Granholm, etc...speaking at the churches-everyone knows why they are there. To make sure Detroit turns out to vote for them. I don't see a lot of our folks going to white suburban churches...that's why the R's are playing there.

Just because we don't agree with the fundies view of Christ (or concept of religion) that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to appeal to them on other issues. Personally, I can't stand Brownback (R-Kansas...I think), but he's right on when he talks about human rights issues.