Todd Peperkorn is a pastor I know, and I have the highest respect for him. His church in Wisconsin is used as a polling place. On election day, he put up this message on the church sign:
Election officials made him take down the message. Rev. Peperkorn is a two-kingdoms kind of guy, but he thought a moral witness to an issue not on the ballot was appropriate. Morality, remember, does indeed reply to the Kingdom of the Lefthand. Contrary to popular assumption, morality is not the same as religion, which, for Christians has to do primarily with the Gospel. But the Law does apply to God’s reign in the world and to the civil order. Anyway, here is part of what Rev. Peperkorn said about his sign:
We are given an opportunity to confess the faith in the midst of an unbelieving world. We can do so in a way that is not bitter or vitriolic. But is it moral for a Church to agree to be used for what is a good, left-hand kingdom purpose (polling station) if it then limits the ability of that same church to be a prophetic voice in the world?
I am supportive of our government and its system. I’m not sure about the wisdom of churches as polling stations, because it may limit the ability of the church to be church in the world.
What do you think? Was the city clerk right or wrong? Should churches agree to be polling stations, if they are told they cannot say certain things?
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe churches should refuse to be polling stations. I may end up being a way for the government to control speach.
One thing that really attracted me to McCain in the election was the commitment to school choice. I like the idea of being able to choose a Christian school for my child if I wish. The point has been made by many, though, that the government isn’t going to be content just to pay the bill for the private school. They will want to have a say in what is taught there too.
So maybe it would be better just to keep our distance.
I also know Pastor Peperkorn – my father in law is a member at Messiah.
I can’t get the link to work?
Coming from a “do unto others” perspective, I would be a bit miffed if a polling station in a more liberal instution were to say something political that I disagreed with. Now, I realize that abortion as an issue trancends politics. I firmly beleive that it is a moral blight on our nation and should be a point of societal change. However, the nature of this election, with one candidate being pro-choice and the other being pro-life, makes Rev. Peperkorn’s sign distinctly partisan, particularly when it is framed within Obama’s “change” buzz word. I think the church should absolutely be making this statement, but I think that it precludes it from being a polling station.
Besides, in most areas, I think that political statements and demonstrations must be kept several hundred feet from polling stations on elections day.
I was always told to be involved as best you can in these sorts of things until they start telling you what you can and cannot say. When they lock our lips, I say its time to get out. There are much better community organizations we can open our church doors to for the sake of the Gospel.
There are a great many confessional Lutheran Churches that won’t even have an American flag in the sanctuary for fear of confusing the 2 kingdoms. The idea that we should stop speaking the truth, even for an instant, so we can let the left hand kingdom use our property for left hand kingdom purposes (even positive left hand kingdom purposes like voting) should set off all kinds of warning alarms.
There is no way that the Church should stop preaching any part of the law (which is what declaring abortion to be a sin is) or the gospel to accomodate the laft hand kingdom.
*$@*&%$!!! Will I EVER learn to type?
The city clerk was in a tough spot. Telling the Church what it may or may not say is a direct violation of the First Amendment via the 14th.
Yet the laws prohibit electioneering within a certain distance of a polling place. Most areas, the church sign would have been far enough away, and Hillary Clinton was electioneering within five feet of the ballot booths, yet walks free, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have been in that clerk’s shoes.
It depends on WHEN he was told to take down his sign. Was it during the election, when people were coming to the polls? Or was it at a different time, like during the month of October, just because it was a polling place?
In the first case, I guess he has to take it down. It’s a general law, and as right the message is, it’s a political issue that can’t be promulgated at the polling place. One day of a blank church sign is not that big a deal.
If it’s the second case, then the church should probably not volunteer to be a polling place. The church has a duty to promulgate the word of God, and that duty is way more important than the duty to volunteer your building to be a polling place (is that even a duty, or just a favor?). It would seem like the law, which would require the church to take the sign down long before Nov. 4, is a silly law that does not serve the common good. But like it or not, it is the law. So in this case, I would recommend that the election official find his own polling place.
Interesting that election officials understood that some of the candidates were so tightly associated with prenatal infanticide, they could rightly view the church sign as electioneering. Probably a decent decision, but it says an awful lot about the state of our country.
And on a side note, I like Kerner’s thought about removing the American flag from churches. For the past few years, it’s bothered me to see it placed as high, or even higher than, the Cross. We may have two kingdoms, but we ought not place the emblem of the subordinate kingdom higher than that of the superior Kingdom.
Suppose your polling place had been a union hall. Suppose you had to stand in line in front of the union hall to vote. Suppose the sign in front of the union hall said, “You want change? Pray that women get to keep their right to choose.” Would you have complained?
re#10 I do vote at a union hall. There are large-at least 4ft by 8ft-signs advertising the Democratic party candidates. They are not removed on election day. Did I complain? No. Was I happy? No. A few people in town complained about it, but nothing was done. Why? Freedom of Speech, sorry nothing we can do about it.
Who is the election official to tell the church to whom the message is directed, and whether it is a political message? Referencing #11, there are over-the-top political messages being portrayed at other polling places. I’m with Pr. Peperkorn: there was no abortion issue on the ballot that day. To say the message was political crossed a line, IMO.
Now, Todd may have found himself with a nice “teaching moment”, as it were. Explain to the nice elections official that the message is an affirmation of what the church teaches and wants its members to believe, and no more. Then again, Todd couldn’t resist putting that “Want change?” language in there, could he?
I’d say lesson learned. The church will no longer be a polling place. Thus, the sign remains.
That is, until the IRS decides Messiah Lutheran is mixing politics and religion and decides to alter its tax status….
As for The Jones’ comment @ 8, I would assume that the clerk’s request was only for the hours during which the polls were open. And, if so, it was an appropriate request. The issue of churches serving as polling places is an interesting one. Yes, you do have to compromise by covering up partisan messages, like the church sign, but you do get to reach out to the community, and have the community step foot in the door of your church. You never know — these types of outreaches, however small you think they are, may sow a seed that brings someone through the door during a service. Now, if they make you cover up your cross, then out the door the voting booths go!
Mary’s comment at #11 is instructive. These types of rules most often only apply to conservative messages. Witness evangelical churches falling all over themselves trying to avoid being seen as endorsing political candidates, while in many black churches, just prior to an election, Democratic candidates are preaching from the pulpits! It kind of goes hand-in-hand with another active thread right now, about how conservatives should mute their dissent and let Obama have his honeymoon. You certainly didn’t have this kind of advice when Bush took office, and we had 8 uninterrupted years (muted for a few months after 9/11) of enraged screeds and epithets from the left.
re #14 (candidates in the pulpits)
like this photo?
http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2008/11/idolatry.html
Oh, Pastor, just edit the sign. Simply replace the words “Want Change?” to “Sermon”.
I’ve just about had it. Since when did a moral issue that also happens to be a political issue stop being the topic of the church’s interest?
Another example of the slow, steady encroachment of the secular order. And it may in time force churches to abandon their civic roles in order to keep vibrant their spiritual roles. But until that time comes, I’m all for creative and wise ways to advertise the Gospel. And detecting any and all political risk and danger, a simple edit can make one “wise as a serpent”.
I fixed the link. You really need to read the rest of what Rev. Peperkorn says about this.
Compare and contrast: At my polling place, a local community college, where voters were waiting, there were students walking up and down the hallway wearing t-shirts endorsing candidates. (OK, just one candidate. Care to guess?)
I reported this to the county board of elections and got this reply:
“Thank you for your comments regarding electioneering at our [college name] voting station. Our election workers are instructed on the rules regarding no electioneering within 25’ of the entrance. I think, however, given the close to 80% turnout we experienced this past Tuesday, and the high degree of political involvement and awareness of college students, this law as it pertains to clothing promoting candidates or issues would be difficult to enforce among a student population also using the same building where we are holding elections. ”
This being the case, I encourage everyone to buy pro-life t-shirts to wear to future elections.