David Richardson passes a dozen Baptist churches every Sunday morning on the 10-mile drive from Maggie Valley to East Waynesville Baptist Church, and he’s been to all of them at least once.

For five years after moving to Haywood County, Richardson church-hopped. He tried out a plethora of Baptist ministers until he found Pastor Chan Chandler, a young preacher who delivered crackerjack sermons, real Christian sermons, Richardson said.

“We chose that church because he was preaching Godly messages and people were friendly and helpful,” Richardson said.

But last October, after three years of listening to Chandler nearly every Sunday, he got a shock. Chandler concluded a sermon against abortion and homosexuality with instructions to the church members to vote for George Bush in the pending presidential election. Richardson agreed with the message, but not the method.

“I voted for Bush and I’m a Christian, but I ask God who is the best man for me to vote for,” said Richardson, 72.

Several members of the church felt like Chandler’s departure from the moral arena of abortion and homosexuality to a direct endorsement of a political candidate was going too far.

“We aren’t supposed to be dwelling in politics or preaching politics from the pulpit. We are there to do God’s will,” said Thelma Morris, a member of East Waynesville Baptist for 32 years.

The line between moral issues that are fair game for sermons versus politicking from the pulpit is thin, however.

“God is living within me. To say you can’t allow that to come into politics — it’s a relationship you don’t just leave at the door when you walk through,” said Rev. Jason Ledford, pastor of Dellwood Baptist Church. “I’m faithful to God before I’m faithful to my government.”

Ledford said Christians have a duty to steer the nation on a righteous path by electing leaders that support God’s word. Ledford said Christians have let the country slip too far and need to get it back on course. And there’s nothing wrong with that, he said.

“Separation of church and state was to keep government from influencing the church, not to keep the church from influencing the government,” Ledford said.

Most ministers agreed. The church historically has shaped politics. From abolitionist movement to the Civil Rights era, churches succeeded in elevating moral issues to the national political stage. But Rev. Howard White, rector of Grace Episcopal Church said there is no comparison between the role of faith in the Civil Rights movement and a pastor using the pulpit to promote a political party.

“There is a difference in people of faith taking a stand and the church itself telling people where to take a stand,” White said. “The merging of faith and politics is entirely up to the individual.”

White sees a sharper distinction between political and moral issues than most pastors, however, who see faith as a force that embraces moral, political and social issues under one roof.

“The church does have a responsibility to challenge its members to make good decisions related to the person they elect. We need to encourage citizens to vote and to be good citizens,” said Jimmy Carr, executive director of Lake Junaluska Assembly. Carr said the church could accomplish that goal by sponsoring a forum or discussion, not necessarily on Sunday morning and certainly not by endorsing a specific candidate.

“The church should never do that,” Carr said.

While promoting a candidate might seem like the next logical step for pastors who believe the are doing God’s will to get society back on the right track, it’s a step most churches don’t take.

“The concerns of the church with social issues has always existed. That’s nothing new,” said George Freeman, general secretary World Methodist Council headquartered at Lake Junaluska. “But you could preach your convictions about abortion in that God upholds the sanctity of life without having to say, ‘Therefore vote for so and so and don’t vote for so and so.’”

All eight ministers across six denominations interviewed for this article were equally quick to condemn political proselytizing.

“We would not preach on political views. Those are personal things to people. They have to follow their conscience as Americans. That is their right,” said Brother Bill Harkin, O.S.A., with St. Margaret’s Catholic Church in Maggie Valley.

What constitutes a political view is up for debate, however. Pope John Paul II publicly opposed the war in Iraq. However, to Harkin, that is a moral issue, not political. Moral issues can morph into political views when a particular candidate is invoked, Harkin said.

“Abortion is wrong. Euthanasia is wrong. Stem cell is wrong. From that, from the teachings of the church, then the person has their conscience to follow,” Harkin said. “The church isn’t going to say you have to vote for this party or this person.”

When in doubt over whether something is a moral issue or political issue, Ledford looks to the Bible. Take homosexuality, for example.

“I think scripture is clear where we should stand as a church,” Ledford said.

Same with abortion.

“With abortion, I don’t think there is any ground to give on that, so I would deal with that from the pulpit. But I would not necessarily mention a candidate’s name,” said Ledford. “I try to preach on specific issues. I know people can read between the lines.”

Ledford said there is nothing wrong with people of faith influencing national elections or looking to God for guidance in the political arena. That doesn’t mean he prays to God about the federal deficit or income tax loopholes, however.

“I believe that moral issues and issues of faith are more important than issues of the economy or anything else. In these days, some of these economical troubles are a result of our unwillingness to stay faithful to the principles our nation was founded on,” Ledford said. “When we are in a right relationship with God, He will bless us as a nation as he once did.”

For some denominations, moral issues include social issues, like peace, hunger, alcoholism, domestic abuse and poverty, not just the hot buttons of gay marriage and abortion.

“The goal is to encourage Christians to see it as their Christian reasonability to vote and make the world a better place, a world that is concerned about peace and justice and candidates who are concerned about issues that help human kind,” said Carr.

A straight ticket

Finding one candidate that epitomizes the full teachings of the church is rare, according to Harkin with St. Margaret’s in Maggie Valley.

The Roman Catholic Church opposes abortion and stem cell research. But Pope John Paul II condemned the death penalty and the war in Iraq.

While Kerry had the wrong stand on abortion, Bush set records as the governor of Texas for the number of inmates executed under his watch. Kerry backed stem cell research, but Bush promoted war. Both candidates violated the catholic tenants of protecting life.

“The dilemma for Catholics is to take all the moral issues that the church preaches on and say how do we promote life in all areas of life from birth to death,” Harkin said. “We look at life issues a total thing. One shouldn’t take precedent over the other.”

Episcopalian rectors are possibly the most hands-off when it comes to passing out moral doctrines to their members.

“I would never think to tell a woman what to think about abortion. We lay out the moral parameters of what we think are the pros and cons. It is up to the individual to struggle with it,” said Rev. Howard White with Grace Episcopal Church. “You can’t separate faith and politics, but there is a difference between the individuals doing that and somebody officially from the church doing that.”

A parent might teach a child how to analyze an issue, but ultimately that child will arrive at their own decision. The church has a similar role, White said.

“The church provides the groundwork and framework to make informed moral choices,” White said. “I think some people find it easier for someone to tell them how to think. Making a moral decision is tough. It’s a struggle.”

White said it is an unfortunate but not surprising that a pastor used his position to promote a candidate.

“I think it depends on the denomination. I think the more fundamentalist and conservative a denomination is, I think they tend to tell their people how to vote for and who to vote for,” said White.

Other pastors agreed in a round about way.

“I think it is rare in some traditions and not so rare in other traditions,” Freeman said of endorsing candidates.

Religious fallout

Local church leaders are concerned the negative publicity could discourage non-believers from participating in a church.

“It is just really sad for the church, number one that it’s happened and number two that it’s gotten all this national media attention,” said Ledford, pastor at Dellwood Baptist. “Even though we’re not directly connected, most people from outside the church that don’t have any denomination, they just look at that as religion and being a negative.”

Ledford said dragging church affairs through the national media was inappropriate.

“How we deal with issues is as important as what we are dealing with. I may disagree with my brother in Christ or sister in Christ with an issue, but I need to make sure I deal with that in a Christian way, and those things should not be played out in the entire world,” Ledford said. “Scripture tells us if we have an issue then we ought to work that issue out among ourselves. We as a church are supposed to have Godly leaders, so can’t we work those issues instead of going to the world who may not have the Godly perspective?”

David Richardson said the members upset by Chandler are as surprised as anyone else by the national media coverage.

“We didn’t plan this thing. We didn’t call any media either. We were just trying to get this thing solved and get Waynesville out of the national news,” Richardson said.

Richardson said the incident is “just one man and one church” and not a reflection on religion in general or the Baptist denomination.

In the meantime, pastors are scrambling to combat the perception of the story.

“Certainly it happened in a particular denomination, but non-church people tend to lump all churches in the same basket,” said Carr with Lake Junaluska. “So many churches are not dogmatic. They want to help their people struggle with how the gospel affects their life and the decisions they make in life.”