No Candidate for Public Office in the Pulpit at FBNO

By David E. Crosby, Pastor
First Baptist New Orleans
April 3, 2012

Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for president of the United States, spoke to three packed Southern Baptist worship centers during his sweep through Louisiana. First Baptist New Orleans was not one of them, and for good reasons.

I do not personally endorse candidates for public office as pastor, and I do not allow select candidates access to our pulpit. We do host forums upon request where various candidates may debate and pitch their platforms. An informed electorate is important in a democracy such as ours.

I believe in the wisdom of separating the institutions of church and state as described in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I support the tax-exempt status of churches as entities that help our communities and do not serve as platforms for political parties.

Office holders of any political party may bring greetings to our congregation from time to time. We are commanded in Scripture to pray for them and support them. Their presence in our sanctuary is not an endorsement of their policies but recognition of their ordained mission and their importance to our common life.

Helping favored candidates by giving them pulpit time confuses people about our message and the nature of our churches. We respect the officeholder and gladly support those who seek to do good through government. But I am not the pastor of a Republican church. I am not a Democrat or Republican as pastor. Our church is not about any political party or platform.

When one Baptist church is identified with a political party, it affects all Baptist churches in some measure. This course is a departure from our Baptist history, and it is dangerous to the gospel which we preach.

Do we really want to entrust the gospel to a candidate in hot pursuit of a nomination? Is this our idea of the good news? Let’s not feature candidates in our pulpits as a way to get our church work done. And if it’s not church work, then why do it on Sunday morning?

Any candidate is happy to get the time in our pulpits. He risks nothing. The publicity is free. He is not under any obligation to the pastors or churches that endorsed him. Politicians of all stripes are willing to use any church and pastor that is willing to be used.

Many pastors love to be near the power brokers. Some even consider themselves politically powerful, and maybe they are. But the power of political office has never been the power of the cross of Christ. Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem and told his disciples to put their swords away. He told the Roman governor, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

I pray as Jesus taught me, “Thy kingdom come.” But I am not under the illusion that God’s kingdom will be delivered from Baton Rouge or Washington, D.C. Rather, I work for the coming of the Kingdom by loving my neighbor and my enemies, caring for the poor, preaching the good news, and following the footsteps of Jesus into the trouble of my world.

The preaching of the cross may seem powerless and foolish when compared to presidencies and congressional delegations. But the cross of Christ represents both the power and wisdom of God. And it is a power and wisdom that goes way beyond what any political office can possibly achieve.

I know some people see doomsday in the current state of affairs. They think they have lost their country, and in their minds they are fighting to get it back. But civil government has never been strong enough to bring the Kingdom of God. Let’s not give up on the gospel.

Myself, I see no enduring city here. Instead, like the writer of the Book of Hebrews, I am looking for a city that is to come, that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Meanwhile, as the word of God instructs, we pray and work for the blessing of this city, knowing that we pray to a God who makes all things new.