Churches planning election messages

In an election year in which God has been invoked, fought over, and prayed to mightily for guidance, why should the last weekend before voting be much different?

This is, after all, the year in which the Bush campaign's aggressive wooing of evangelical churches has raised criticism; the Kerry campaign's increasing emphasis on faith is seen as a last-minute attempt to court religious voters; and a few Roman Catholic leaders' announcement that politicians who support abortion rights are unfit to receive Communion set off a nationwide controversy over whether the church was seeking to influence politics.

It's a year in which religious conservatives believe they're fighting an urgent, increasingly uphill battle to preserve traditional marriage and abolish abortion, while religious liberals say they are fighting just to get their voices heard on issues such as the war in Iraq, alleviating poverty and working for social justice.

And this weekend, in houses of worship, religious leaders will be emphasizing those messages in their services. They won't be endorsing specific candidates from the pulpit for fear of violating federal tax laws. But most clearly have strong and obvious preferences.

Overlake Christian

Pastor Rick Kingham of Redmond's Overlake Christian Church will be exhorting church members to vote, much as he has the past several Sundays.

"I believe this election is one of the most important in our lifetime because of some of the issues that are before our country right now," Kingham said.

He will remind voters that battles over same-sex marriage, stem-cell research and education are looming at all levels of government. "These are the fundamental principles and values we hold dear," Kingham said.

He won't tell people whom to vote for ("We have such a diverse congregation that I wouldn't try to say that God's a Republican or a Democrat," he says). But he will point those who ask to a Web site (www.pastorspicks.com) that lists the candidates Kingham personally supports — an almost entirely Republican slate.

Holy Family Catholic

The Rev. Phillip Bloom, pastor at Holy Family Catholic Church in White Center, says he has spent some of the last four to five months talking with parishioners about Catholic Church teachings on everything from same-sex marriage to embryonic stem-cell research to the war in Iraq.

He will have materials on those teachings set out for people at the back of the church, in case "that one undecided voter decides to show up for Mass," he jokes.

First AME

The Rev. John Hunter of Seattle's First African Methodist Episcopal Church has been heavily involved in voter-registration efforts this year. "I'm telling everyone to go out and vote," he says.

On Sunday, Hunter, who opposed the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, intends to tell his flock that this election is "an opportunity to rectify the mistakes and choices that have been made that have set us up on a disastrous course that has alienated us from a lot of the free world."

Jewish temple

Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple de Hirsch Sinai in Seattle and Bellevue, meanwhile, said yesterday he would spend that evening's service talking about Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac. He is using the story as a way to talk about "the difference between authentic faith versus a blind faith, (the) sort of myopic certainty based on faith that's at the heart of this administration."

Weiner also co-founded Faith Forward, a new local group dedicated to giving religious liberals a public voice.

The group put together a Prayer for Our Nation and a list of biblical passages calling believers to work for peace, justice and the well-being of others. Faith Forward has sent the prayer and passages to about 100 local churches and synagogues with the hope that clergy members will read the prayer and integrate the texts into their messages the Sabbath before the election.

Evangelical Covenant

Pastor Eugene Cho at Quest, an Evangelical Covenant church in Seattle, says he plans on Sunday to encourage church members to vote — and not on a single issue nor necessarily along party lines.

Quest members have been holding conversations on faith and social issues throughout the past year. On Monday, they will discuss how their faith relates to issues in this election.

"Our concern shouldn't be for a party or a group," Cho said, "but for all people, because ultimately this is what the Kingdom of Christ is about."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com