Politics in the pulpit: a church I won't visit again

I've heard a lot of debate about why many churches are having an ever-tougher time keeping existing members and attracting new ones. I saw another rendition of one of the answers this morning -- too much politics in the pulpit. There should have been a sign above the entrance to the Takoma Park church proclaiming "Hypocrisy reigns supreme here". It could have been placed just above another reading, "Unless you're on the very far left of the political spectrum, you're not welcome."

I happen to agree with some of this church's views but I oppose the mix of partisan politics and religion in all churches; I don't think my politics should be imposed on any congregation. I don't like it when the evangelical right does it. Don't like it when liberal churches do it. Don't like it when the supposed-to-be-moderate denomination I chose does it, as it did today. Do people who are members of a church have a right to organize politcally? You bet. Just keep that mission out of services.

Simply looking at the church's Web site made me leery, but I hadn't made it to a church since my arrival a few months ago so a visit was long overdue. I also knew I had misjudged books by their covers before. Maybe I would be wrong about the assumptions I made based on the Web.

Silly me.

Approaching the main entrance, I couldn't help but notice the exceptionally large sign indicating the church's contempt for the current administration. A study of the bulletin then drove home a half dozen more political points, starting with the church's pride in being politically correct. One note read that the church strives to use-gender neutral hymns and readings but advised visitors to substitute the words of their choice if they find anything used in the service objectionable.

Give me a break.

I also read that the church is going to call on people to go on a 24-hour hunger strike to protest ... global warming. Like that makes any sense. I'm all for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, but if you want to make a 24-hour statement relating to that issue, organize your members to dramatically reduce their use of energy for a day. Call on them to leave their cars in their driveways, switch the oil in their cars to synthetic, turn off their air conditioning and TV, clean up a local creek and recycle the trash found in it. People have to eat, and that little part of our lives is not a behavior we can change.

The bulletin was filled with other such goodies. Meanwhile, I heard a woman sitting directly behind me brag about the church's liberal theology and upcoming programs. Peering around to look at her, I saw a stand of political bumper stickers along the back wall. I would bet a paycheck she and others in her church throw fits when the evangelical crowd influences political races. I was going to point that out to her but I knew the point would have gone over her head.

I had my fill by about about three-quarters of the way through the  service. I handed the liberal braggart an envelope with cash and asked her to drop it in the collection plate for me. I gathered the church still does some traditional, non-political community service and I'm not one to leave a church without putting a bit of my wallet behind my appreciation for all I've been given in this life.

She was stunned that I was getting up and walking about but I just couldn't take it any more. I'm as political as everyone else in this town, but I don't take my politics to church with me on Sundays. I certainly won't go back to that place again.

Instead, I'll be visiting other Presbyterian churches in the coming months, looking for one like I had back home that focuses on its relationship with God -- and not one that tells you how to vote.

Comments

[Nicole (phoenix.nm)]

Ahhh... your indoctrination into the world of DC is almost complete. Hahaha... Church and politics go hand in hand in this city. I have learned to take the good with the bad and to selectively choose which dates to attend service. I love my church -- very much -- but on those days that Rev. Jesse Jackson is our "guest" preacher, I simply pass. I am a moderate conservative and I love politics as much as the next person (in this town) but not at church. While I understand the logistics and the motivation it simply does a disservice to the memory of church with my grandmothers when I was small... when the best thing to look forward to was grape juice on Communion Sunday. I know that church is bigger than that -- but shouldn't those memories that you take with you be as simplistically moving as grape juice for Communion?

Good job... again.
Nicole

[Sam]

Chris,
I don't understand what being gender neutral has to do with partisan politics. Many of us, male & female, believe that God is no more one gender than the other. Inclusive language is very much a spiritual matter to me. Talking about God as "He" all the time shuts out the possibility of how big God is.

Also, what does global warming have to do with politics? The only connection I see is that one party is so far ahead of the other in addressing it, but that is changing thanks to Ahnold, FL Gov. Criss and others.

I get uncomfortable when people try to separate how we act in the world as moral beings from religion. That is a part of my religion - a central part of it.

Thanks for asking me to read your blog - you may rue the day you did, though.

Sam