Politics and the Problem of Truth

A clergy friend of mine recently posted a question on Facebook regarding the minefield of clergy or churches making political endorsements.  I responded that I have no respect (or fear) of the law that says that churches, like other 501 C 3's risk losing their tax exempt status if they make an endorsement.  I would argue that the 1st amendment says that churches can do what they feel they need to do without fear of reprisal from government agencies... but that is another discussion.  I went on to say that churches still should not make endorsements.  Here's why.

First off, even the most homogeneous of congregations still have some diversity of thought.  To endorse a candidate will certainly disenfranchise anyone who supports another candidate or even those who are questioning. 

Most importantly though, every candidate will at times make stands or statements that fly in the face of commitments that we must make as followers of Jesus.  If we have endorsed a candidate, it can be very difficult to stand against those actions.  That will damage any claims of credibility we have in the world.

I was particularly struck by this in the recent VP debate.  Mike Pence calls himself an evangelical Christian and is the darling of the conservative Christian political movement, often being touted as a future presidential candidate.  Again and again, he responded to challenges from Kaine with "that isn't true" or "we never said that" when there evidence is right there on the web for all to see. 
We expect politicians to exaggerate and even to make promises that they have little intention of keeping... but to flat out deny reality, to lie bold faced, is another matter.  For people who call themselves followers of the one who is The Truth to so readily abandon that commitment to truth telling only tells us that they are not really so committed to The Truth as they claim.

We can argue whether one candidate is less truthful than another.  There are websites that track such things, as biased as they may be.  In any case, that only supports my argument that churches need to avoid endorsements.  If facing the truth makes us squirm at our chosen candidate... then maybe we need a different one.

Bye Babe

My daughter and her new husband drove off this morning. They're moving to Phoenix.

It has been an interesting experience for me. I basically moved out of my parents home when I left for college at age 17. I didn't give it a thought. Alexis is 26 this year and has been in and out of our home since she first left for college. Even while she was away - as far as India and Hungary - she retained a tether to her parents home. Now, she has moved out on her own and her bedroom is empty.

All of the things that I didn't think about when I left home are weighing on my heart now. I wonder how far away from us she'll be when she has children. I don't want to not be a part of their lives. I worry about whether she and Christian will find paths that fulfill God's yearnings for them. I worry that they will have difficulty finding a community of friends and especially a faith community. I worry that Phoenix will not be a positive experience for them. I just worry about them. I already miss her and she's only been gone a few hours.


At the same time, I know that they are adults now and that they need to make these steps to find the path that is right for them. I know that this is an important part of their formation... and mine. I need to be able to let her go ad trust that she will make the choices that she needs to make and move in the directions for her. And I need to begin moving towards the next phase in my life. Our son is still at home, but one of these days he will leave too and Cheryl and I will need to find new ways to be together without our children immediately in the relationship.

on we go.

Alexis & Christian

My little girl was married on 8/8/08 (yeah... I had to miss the opening exercises of the Olympics). I wanted to be only the dad so I didn't take any photos and was waiting to blg until somebody sent me some. These photos were taken by my brother-in-law, Bob.

The wedding was wonderful. It took place at First Baptist of Santa Barbara They have a breath-taking setting and enough room to host the number of guests we were expecting. The service was perfect with music by Thomas Leeb, Jessica Mireles, Jamie Green, and Stephanie Katavolos. Our friend, Larry Phillips came from Schenectady, New York to perform the ceremony. Friends and family came from all over including a maid of honor from France. It was just wonderful.

Folk stayed around for a few days and some of us went on a wine tour, others did a whale watch... and we laughed and cried and drank lots of wine together.

a few more photos...

Alexis and Christian



and our family...



Alexis and Christian are moving to Phoenix in a little more than a week. I'll miss having her nearby terribly but I am so happy that she and Christian are so in love and so committed to one another.