By Maria Hickey, KERA 90.1 Reporter
Dallas, TX –
Maria Hickey, KERA 90.1 Reporter: Students at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth are attending chapel service on this morning in late August. Today Reverend Jerry Falwell will give an address. No stranger to controversy, this year Falwell came under scrutiny for endorsing President George W. Bush in a column on his website. Under the tax code, churches don't have to pay taxes as long as they stay out of partisan politics. Some believe Falwell crossed the line and should lose that exemption. But Reverend Falwell says he's done nothing wrong, and on this day he gives no indication of backing down.
Reverend Jerry Falwell: Now the press is here today expecting me to get into politics, which I'm not going to do, except to tell you to vote for the Bush of your choice.
Hickey: Dr. Paige Patterson is president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He supports Reverend Falwell's right to endorse a candidate. He says African American and more liberal churches have done so for decades, but he wouldn't recommend pastors make it a practice.
Dr. Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: I do not think that it's probably the best approach for a pastor to make. I say, let's leave the names out of it, leave political parties out of it. Our people didn't fall off a load of turnips last night. They're able to figure out which candidate and which party is defending which issue.
Hickey: Patterson says pastors must make it clear what the issues are. He says in this election, protecting marriage is critical. Other Christians say that focus is too narrow. Reverend Mel Caraway is pastor at First United Methodist Church in Lancaster and involved in an interfaith group, Texas Impact, that lobbies state and local officials on issues including health care and the environment. He says moderate Christians feel left out because being Christian has become too aligned with being a Republican.
Reverend Mel Caraway, Pastor, First United Methodist Church (Lancaster, TX): Those in the faith community, and especially those in the Christian community, are being told, "You vote this way or you're not a Christian." In essence that's what's being said.
Hickey: Caraway was one of thousands to sign an ad that ran in The New York Times and in newspapers in the hometowns of several conservative leaders, including Rev. Jerry Falwell, during the Republican National Convention. The ad said Christians could vote for President Bush or Senator John Kerry for reasons of faith.
Caraway: I felt it was important to be a signatory to that campaign because the God that I believe in is much broader, much bigger, can't be put in a box, and is not the exclusive property of one group.
Hickey: As the controversy over religion's role in this election plays out on a national stage, Christians in both Baptist and Methodist churches throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area are approaching this year's election and the issue of same-sex marriage in different ways. At Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth during a Christian Citizenship task force meeting, chairwoman Sharen Wilson goes over a questionnaire that will be sent out to political candidates. The eight-member group formed a year ago to research political and social issues and keep members of the church informed.
Sharen Wilson, Chairperson, Travis Avenue Baptist Church's Christian Citizenship Task Force: We're not interested in endorsing; we don't care about political party. We're encouraging them to vote first and foremost on Biblical world view issues and moral issues.
Hickey: The task force members feel economic and foreign policy matters are important but secondary to a candidates' stance on moral issues. Task force member Art Palmer.
Art Palmer, member, Travis Avenue Baptist Church's Christian Citizenship Task Force: Social issues are a constant struggle; money and fiscal issues will be debated continually; but if our country is slipping - if its moral foundations, like some of the foundations of homes in Fort Worth - have cracks, that's a serious issue in my mind.
Hickey: Those moral issues include stances against abortion, gambling, and pornography. But Senior Pastor Dr. Michael Dean says the issue that tops the list is protecting marriage.
Dr. Michael Dean, Senior Pastor, Travis Avenue Baptist Church: The sanctity of marriage is deeply rooted in a Biblical world view, as we understand it - a clear straight-forward reading of scripture.
Hickey: The task force coordinated a letter-writing campaign, sending more than a thousand letters to Texas' two U.S. senators, urging them to support the Marriage Amendment, limiting marriage to heterosexuals. The group also has put out flyers encouraging the church's more than 3,000 members to register to vote and to vote their values. On a Wednesday evening in Mesquite, choir members are practicing at St. Stephen United Methodist Church. In the conservative suburb, the 300-member congregation has a reputation for being socially progressive. Church member Donnie Freeman says St. Stephen is an inclusive church and many of its members are bothered by a call for a constitutional amendment defining marriage.
Donnie Freeman, member, St. Stephen United Methodist Church: We believe that Jesus had a message; and if you look at overall message that he delivers, it's one of respect, it's one of love, it's one of caring and nurturing each other; and I think that applies when it come down to heterosexuals and homosexuals, and I think we are called to love everybody and everybody has that right to have a relationship.
Hickey: But members have differing opinions on many issues. When the war in Iraq began last year, Michael Munden says some of St. Stephen's church members joined protests in downtown Dallas, while others supported the war.
Michael Munden, member, St. Stephen United Methodist Church: We had to be able to talk to each other; whether you marched or you didn't, we didn't think we were better than the other side. Theologically I think we're pretty clear that if you have an us versus them stance on any social issue, then you're kind of missing the point of the Gospel where Jesus is on both sides and trying to find a third way, a way that's more inclusive.
Hickey: Member Wini Council says each member takes what they learn in church to the polls, but she says ultimately they have to make a choice based on their own convictions.
Wini Council, member, St. Stephen United Methodist Church: I know for myself, I have to look at the things that I think are important, and what I think as a Christian that is just and where there are injustices, and that's the way I go about it.
Hickey: What Christians from across denominations seem to agree on is that faith helps shape society, but they have different ideas of what they want that society to look like. For KERA 90.1, I'm Maria Hickey.
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This story is part of KERA's Voter's Voice 2004 coverage. Click here for more on Voter's Voice 2004.