Posted on 10/26/2009 4:01:29 AM PDT by republicangel
Prayer stopped for a few moments Sunday at 11 churches in Chesapeake and Portsmouth as pastors allowed time for a little bit of politicking between hymns of joy and sermons of salvation.
State Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. came to visit, bringing along Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds and envelopes of tickets to one of the hottest political events in Hampton Roads this season.
Conducting what has become a tradition for Democrats running for high statewide posts, Spruill led Deeds on a five-hour whirlwind tour of Sunday services, with staff members and reporters in tow. At each stop, Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, had a chance to say a few words and to stand with Spruill, who enjoys strong support among the black church community in Hampton Roads.
Spruill has done similar tours with U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner during their campaigns, as well as with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
Timing is everything, Spruill said, adding that you can never forget that these are church services.
" As long as I come in before they're preaching, they just stop for us," he said.
Deeds acknowledged he was intruding.
"I'm humbled to be on the pulpit," he told the congregation at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Portsmouth. "I know Sunday morning is not a time for politics. It's a time for worship."
He talked briefly about his agenda if he wins the Nov. 3 election but elicited the strongest reaction when describing how he was labeled a "nobody from nowhere" by a newspaper columnist after he was defeated in the 2005 race for attorney general.
"The implications of that sentence are pretty frightening," he said. "If a state senator, even a state senator from Bath County, who grew up in a trailer with not much of anything, is a nobody from nowhere, then there's a whole lot of nobodies and there's a whole lot of nowheres. Virginia needs a governor that is going to work for everybody."
He was applauded at several churches.
Spruill came bearing gifts of his own, giving each pastor one or more envelopes of tickets to the Deeds campaign rally Tuesday in Norfolk that features President Barack Obama.
Deeds, who trails Republican candidate Bob McDonnell in voter opinion polls, reminded his audiences that Obama's victory in Virginia a year ago was due to a 74 percent turnout.
"I need your help," he said.
Several of the ministers, all Baptists, praised Spruill and gently ribbed him about being a Methodist but avoided any outright endorsement of Deeds.
Some, such as the Rev. Kim Brown of Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church in Chesapeake, urged their congregations to get involved in the election.
"I want you to understand that not voting is a sin," Brown told more than 1,000 attending his service. "God said give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.... He's not just talking about taxes. He's talking about participating in government."
At New Galilee Baptist Church in Chesapeake, March Cromwell reminded his fellow parishioners that they have the power to make change.
"We can make history," Cromwell said. "One time we were picking cotton in November. This time we can pick a governor in November."
The Rev. Jake Manley Sr., leader of Bethany Baptist Church in Chesapeake, told Deeds that he would pray for him but added "my prayers will be short unless you're like Mark Warner."
Deeds nodded and smiled. But just to be sure, Manley asked for and received Deeds' personal cell phone number.
Suppose, as a thought experiment, that a left-wing group decided to leave flyers advocating the election of a militant atheist and inviting churchgoers to think for themselves instead of listening to the pastor. How would the leaving of such flyers cause the IRS to be suspicious of the church for the actions of unknown persons contrary to its assumed interestss They would obviously be an expression of free speech by people who have a legal right to enter a "public area". Obviously, the IRS would have no cause.
On the other hand, suppose such candidate's opponents leave flyers exhorting the opposite. How could the IRS be suspicious of the church for the actions of unknown persons? They would obviously be an expression of free speech by people who have a legal right to enter a "public area". Obviously, again in this case, the IRS would have no cause.
Therefore, if the IRS were to take any action because some conservatives left pro-conservative flyers, that would be attempted censorship based on content, which would be found unconstitutional.
Hence, any pastor who comes out and shouts about your leafletting causing him to be threatened by the IRS literally does not know the settled law on this and is allowing himself to be used. Another possibility (of which I have seen examples here) is that such as pastor is using the supposed threat from the IRS for his own purposes since he is not pro-life and just wants them to go away, and this gives him perfect cover.
And "white" churches. What isn't readily apparent from the article, unless you read carefully, is that these were "black" churches. Politicians can campaign in black churches and get away with it, but not in white ones.
"We"????
!!!???WE???!!!
Who's "We", Kemosabe?
I'll bet neither Mr. Cromwell nor any of his parishoners has ever picked so much as one fiber of raw cotton ... probably never even seen it.
And yet there you stood, *humbly* campaigning. Despicable, all of them.
Indeed. It appears 'anything goes' in the black churches. The congregation and clergy might show an iota of shame... if they had any.
It’s not as if we weren’t told that that’s the way it would be.
Rejoice if you’re persecuted and hated by the world. It tells you you’re on the right team.
sad, so sad...but we must be patient and know that God will sort it all out in the end, the goats and the sheep, the saved and the damned. These “churches” give Christianity a bad name when they allow politicians to speak from the pulpit. They don’t see it that way now; only God will be able to make that perfectly clear to them on the day that it all counts: Judgement Day.
I definitely agree that this should be investigated by the IRS; but I strongly doubt that it will happen...
LEFTIST politicians, ie, democRats, can get away with campaigning in churches, and the pastors of those churches can openly endorse a candidate, with no repercussions at all.
Same principle is in effect when the honor student/eagle scout gets expelled on a “zero tolerance” violation, and the “at risk youth” gets a pass for bringing a real weapon to school to get back at someone who “dissed” him.
Can a citizen file a complaint with the IRS? Does it have to be a citizen who attended the service in question?
What is this love affair of the Baptists with baby-killing politicians?
That explains it. All the Baptist churches I ever attended were overwhelmingly conservative, fundamental and largely white.
FOrget that. It used to be the people respected religion enough not to turn a holy worship service into a campaign stop, a stump speech, and to hand out bribes (tickets to see Obama) instead of worshiping the Lord.
It’s not just about “tax-exempt status”, it’s about mocking God.
Of course, a pastor at a black church telling his parishioners: “I want you to understand that not voting is a sin,” is simply using the fear of God to get more democratic votes.
Meanwhile, our church also will not put any voter guides in our church, because we don’t think people coming to worship God should feel like they have to support a political position to be accepted.
He’s obviously a racist, since “we” doesn’t mean white people, it means “black people”.
I hadn’t caught the racist angle ... just the historically dishonest one.
http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/ for Governor
http://www.billbolling.com/ for Lieutenant Governor
http://www.cuccinelli.com/ for Attorney General
I’d like to invite the entire Republican ticket to speak at my church this Sunday. What do you think the Washington Post would say about that??
All I can say is that:
If God led us to it,
God will see us through it.
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