Pastor Luke Emrich prepared his sermon last week knowing his remarks could invite an IRS investigation. But he forged ahead anyway with his message: Thou shalt vote according to the Scriptures.Many of you have heard or read my diatribe on keeping politics off the pulpit. It's not just being a conservative. I don't want it there.
Emrich, 38, told about 100 worshippers Sunday they should make their own voting decisions, but urged them to cast their ballots in favor of an anti-abortion platform.
"I'm telling you straight up I would choose life. I would cast a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin," he said, referring to the Republican ticket. "But friends, it's your choice to make, it's not my choice. I won't be in the voting booth with you."
Emrich is the pastor at the New Life Church in West Bend, about 40 miles northwest of Milwaukee. He was one of dozens of ministers across the nation seen as defying federal rules Sunday by using the pulpit to mix religion and political campaigning.
The plan was orchestrated by the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of conservative legal advocates who want to challenge an IRS ban on electioneering in church.
If a congregation member wants to know how his or her pastor is voting, ask in private. Leave it out, and make the sermon about life instead.
If the law is changed? Jury's still out...
1 comment:
But it IS about life. How could a Christian, in good conscience, vote for someone who's pro abortion? As to McCain, personally, I'll not be voting for him, nor Obama. The message, imo, is appropriate. He's not telling them who to vote for, though, he is strongly suggesting.
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