Recently a group of pastors chose a special day for a kind of protest.  They wanted to affirm their right to recommend candidates for public office from the pulpit.  The consequence of doing this is supposed to have to do with the tax-exempt status of churches as charitable and educational organizations, so it might be expensive.  But these pastors in effect said, "bring it on". I don't know what happened to them, but it got me thinking about faith and electoral politics.  Of course, pastors speak on issues related to civic life all the time, and by custom don't actually say, "vote for Sallie Brown".  When asked about not recommending candidates, I have generally referred to the IRS and the possible tax consequences.  But that is a cop out.

The real reason that I don't recommend candidates is that I serve in a faith tradition where people are supposed to find their own way.  We accept one another and encourage each other in spiritual growth, rather than setting up a set of hoops for people to jump through in order to say they belong with us.  There is teaching, for sure, from the pulpit and in other ways, that presumably guides people toward certain ways of looking at public decisions.  We affirm the worth and dignity of every person and call for justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.  We encourage the use of democratic process as the foundation for building communities of peace, liberty, and justice.  We remind one another of our interdependence with all life.  Applying those principles to particular issues, we come up with positions that make sense to us.  

There are some issues where Unitarian Universalists speak with one voice.  But these are few.  Mostly, we talk and argue with one another about how this or that way or this or that candidate affirms our values.  And then we each go do what we individually believe is right.  

I guess I think it's a good idea for those pastors to go ahead and do what they believe is right in spite of the IRS.  But even if the IRS changes its policy, I won't be joining them in trying to tell the congregation I serve who to vote for.  They wouldn't do what I told them, anyway, because they are committed to making up their own minds.  And I wouldn't do it because I agree.  They should make up their own minds.  I hope to provide some of the material that will help them, since the stuff of politics has everything to do with the stuff of faith, but it's still each person's own decision about how to vote.