Church, Voting, and the Pulpit

I ran across this article in the Star Tribune today about a preacher from a Community Church from Warrod. He was very clear about which candidate he was endorsing and even preached from his pulpit why the congregation should vote for this particular candidate in the upcoming presidential election. The article itself poses an interesting question: if we start campaigning for candidates from the pulpit should the church and the pastor lose its tax-exempt status? I'd suggest taking a look at some of the comments and checking out the related poll. It's always good to get a read on the world at large.

It is interesting being a rookie pastor and having our first year in the parish also include a(nother) very heated presidential race. I've talked about the election from the pulpit already this year but not to tell people who to vote for. I never even mentioned the candidates by name, I instead talked about the division elections like these (and the ones in 2000 and 2004) can cause in the world, church, and even seminary. I like to think I was not crossing a line there but where exactly is the line?

I remember four years ago at the 2004 election hearing a story about some reporters from a major newspaper who went to a major benefit concert where it was very clear that all the proceeds from the concert were going to the Democratic Presidential fund. They were subsequently fired for this because there were clauses written into their contracts that they were not supposed to show public support for one candidate or another. Though I doubt a congregation would be this harsh on us, are we somewhat under the same type of unwritten contract? We will all eventually choose someone to vote for and go ahead and vote on election Tuesday but do we make our vote public to the church? Should we have bumper sticker or pins or shirts that show our endorsement for a certain candidate? If people in our church ask us who we're voting for do we tell them? But then again, does this mean we hide behind a rock? Does this mean we shouldn't caucus (because then it's very clear which side we're batting for and we could run into congregation members there) or shouldn't go to rallies where we get a chance to hear the candidates in person?

Granted I know for some people it will be more obvious to the congregation where we fall on the political spectrum and certain churches will tend to attract a more conservative or liberal pastor depending on their congregational make-up. But that does not necessarily give us the right to endorse someone or be really blatant about who we're voting for or does it?

I'm not looking for cut and dry solutions here, I'm just curious about other people's take on it. I personally would never endorse a candidate in the pulpit of course (I don't really tell that many people who I vote for anyway) but I will gladly tell people to do their civic duty and get out there and vote.