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There was a quote in the paper this week from Albert Camus. “Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” I appreciated the quote because the truth of it is so evident when the trees put on their fall colors. The beauty of the season draws us naturally to a sense of thankfulness.
There was an email this week from the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty that gave me that same sense of thankfulness. The mission of the Baptist Joint Committee is to defend and extend religious liberty for all. The work of the committee embodies the historic Baptist principle that true religion is that religion that is freely practiced, neither advanced nor inhibited by the government. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee, leads this important work to safeguard our privilege of worshipping as we see fit.
The subject of the email was an event being sponsored by another public affairs group with an understanding of what religious freedom means. While Baptists historically have advocated for laws that neither advance nor inhibit religious practice, the Alliance Defense Fund seems to be in favor of government subsidized religion with their misguided and misnamed “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.”
I say misguided and misnamed because the pulpits in our country are already free. There is not a single moral or ethical issue of relevance today that cannot be addressed from any pulpit in this country. From Arctic drilling to zoo building, there are no issues that cannot be addressed from every pulpit in this country, so long as all that is being spoken to are the issues.
So why does the Alliance Defense Fund feel a need to sponsor a “Pulpit Freedom Sunday?” Surely they know that there are no laws prohibiting a preacher from speaking to whatever issue he or she chooses to speak to. Of course, they know this to be true, but their purpose goes beyond making sure that pulpits are free to address issues. They want preachers to be able to endorse political candidates from their pulpits.
As the law stands now, churches and other non profit groups cannot endorse political candidates while at the same time maintain their tax exempt status. Your tithes and offerings, as well as your gifts to other charities, are tax deductible because the organizations you support follow the guidelines set up for churches and non profit organizations. Any church that wants to forego these benefits is free at any time to relinquish them. Our civil discourse would certainly be improved if fewer groups were disseminating this sort of information.
The larger issue is less about political discourse and social issues and more about the purpose of the pulpit. Why do I preach? Simply put, to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Certainly there are times when preaching about Jesus brings one into conflict with mores and values, as well as the powers and principalities of this world. The life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus are always making claims on our lives and the choices we make. This is especially true when His death, burial and resurrection are being proclaimed from the pulpit.
A sanctuary is built for the worship of God. The pulpit is installed so that Christ will be proclaimed. Who has walked on this earth that is worthy to be endorsed from a pulpit installed for such a purpose? There is only one person who has ever taken on flesh and lived among us who is worthy of such endorsement: Jesus. To use it otherwise moves in the direction of idolatry and sacrilege.
That is not to say that we have not had Godly leaders who have done their best to lead our country in moral and ethical ways. Some have done it more than others. Some have done it better at times than at other times. Our best leaders have inspired us to keep hope alive even in dark days. Washington did it at Valley Forge. Lincoln did it during the War between the States. Roosevelt did it during the Great Depression. Their leadership gave us hope, but it was always a temporal hope — a hope that this crisis would pass and that we would get through the hard days. The hope that is proclaimed from the pulpit is not temporal. It is eternal. It is not merely a hope that this crisis will pass and we will get through the hardships — no — our hope that is in Christ Jesus is much larger. It is the hope that when all the hard days have passed and all the crises of our lives have been endured, we will find that all things have been made right by the One who is and was and will always be.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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