Navigating Faith and Politics

Reflecting on the Challenges of Balancing Personal Beliefs and Pastoral Leadership in a Divided World ahead of 2024 Election Day

Disclaimer

This article is a bit longer than usual, but it reflects nearly a decade of thoughts and experiences from my journey in pastoral ministry. These reflections come from a place of deep personal grief and hard-won insights, carrying both the heartache and hope I’ve felt as I’ve wrestled with what it truly means to be the Body of Christ. I invite you to read with an open mind and heart, considering what it means to live in genuine, unified community as Christ intended. Nothing here is written to divide but rather to call us above hate-filled rhetoric, inviting us to reflect the image of God in which we are created. This article is one of self-care and an expression of self-worth no matter where we are..

Introduction

As I prepared to step into the pulpit area of one of the small country churches I was serving on November 13, 2016, I struggled with what words to say to my traditional and conservative congregation. I had often been told that politics and church do not mix, but in my short time as a pastor (just two years at that point), I was learning that it felt like my “politics” were what often don’t mix with church.

Deconstruction and Reconstruction

In my life, I went through what most people would term "deconstruction" while I was in seminary, and it was an eye opening and difficult time for me. My worldview felt shaken, rattled, and in some ways transformed. It is not that my faith before was wrong in any way, but I felt a shift in how I shared my faithful witness to the world around me.

For many Christians, this concept of deconstruction is a time when they begin to question the outward faith they see with the inward faith they feel called to live. It is often seen as a “process of critically examining and reevaluating one's religious beliefs, often leading to a fundamental shift in understanding and potentially reconstructing a more personalized faith.” (OpenAI. ChatGPT, accessed July 17, 2024)

While deconstructing one’s faith can be a difficult task, I reflect differently than most as my experience aligned with my seminary education. I found that with the wealth of spiritual knowledge present in the seminary setting and encouragement from many pastors and other religious figures, I had the opportunity to "reconstruct" my faith and move into a place of comfort to eventually answer the call to full-time ministry in the local church. However, the Christian I became on the other side of that faith transition looked very different from the Christians I was serving in my first appointment. I tried not to let it affect my ministry, leading with compassion and empathy. Yet, whenever I shared something that did not align with their worldview, the stark reality of our differences became apparent.

The Election of 2016

This stark difference became most evident for me on that Sunday in 2016 after Donald Trump was elected President.

Personally, I felt like I had been punched in the gut. Religious feelings aside, I knew politically I was on a different side of the aisle than most. However, it seemed exacerbated with the nature of how Donald Trump carried himself as a candidate. The difficult part was the vitriolic speeches offered by then-candidate Trump and the harmful nature the election perpetrated on an already fragile and divisive society.

I wanted to offer words of unity to people no matter how they voted in the election. I wanted my words to cut through the divisiveness and bring unity despite the persons who led the country. Small words, it seemed, when my views were so counter to theirs. However, as I spoke the words the felt as though they fell on deaf ears because of the difference in belief of how the election turned out.

Politics in the Church

I have always been baffled when people say I should keep politics out of church, yet they allow their politics to shape the church and even broader society in ways Jesus rebutted in his ministry. I remembered when I shared a letter from the then-Council of Bishops President, Bishop Bruce Ough, about Trump’s “Muslim ban,” and it created such antipathy between myself and a church leader that they left the church in a very abrupt way that caused difficulty in ministry execution at the church.

The Struggle of Balancing Beliefs

The question I am left with is: Why?

I am honestly not trying to be political in the way people imagine, and when I am told I am being “political,” it is not even intended to be divisive. My job as a pastor is to get folks to ask deeper questions about their beliefs and even how they are aligning with contemporary society. We recognize our role to care for the world around us, and one of the ways we can do that is by being politically engaged citizens. However, this nature of demeaning and even oppressing those whose values do not align with yours is what is harming society, and more importantly the church.

My beliefs, religious and political have honestly been formed by deep spiritual reflection. I look towards scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. I seek guidance from God’s Word through Jesus Christ and the presence of the Spirit in my life. I am trying to be biblical, but even more so, I am seeking to be spiritual and connected to my creator. Faith can be inherently political, and even more deeply scripture is political, because it pulls on the essence of how we express this nature of community together.

I seek to align my political beliefs align with principles from my spiritual faith, and this is something I very often wrestle with. However, many have the view that because my views don’t align with another person’s “biblical” or spiritual principles, I must be wrong. I genuinely try to respect others' beliefs and try to aid them in viewing the beliefs of others not in opposition but as the space God creates in the wideness of creation. This very often means I vote for different people when elections come about, and inherently this is not the issue.

The issue is how we approach this nature of different views in the church environment. Polarization is ripping us apart, and it doesn’t have to. I often fell like I must be two separate people based on where I am or even what situation I am in. I have felt like I have to temper my “true beliefs” to create a system of “comfort” for those who worship under my leadership.

Personal Reflections

God forbid if my congregation ever found out who I voted for, or even that I associate with people on the other side of the aisle. God forbid my congregation finds out that I am a liberal democrat, while many of them espouse conservative republican ideology around me at church. From the pulpit, I preach United Methodist, biblically based doctrine, and I truly believe that I do. I also allow that doctrine to inform my personal beliefs on numerous issues. Sometimes my beliefs align with United Methodist social and disciplinary principles, and sometimes there are differences, but they always align with the doctrine. I am completely forward that differences in discipline and principles do not need to fracture our community, but can be something to draw us closer as we learn empathy and compassion for all our neighbors (not just the ones we like or agree with).

My personal reflection leaves me wondering, why are pastors/leaders limited in this space. I do not wish for my beliefs to impair someone’s faith, but maybe that’s the point. That seeming monolyth of perspectives can be so limiting for how we live into a true Christian worldview. Maybe our inability to be true about ourselves has limited the capacity for us to recognize that just because our neighbor votes for a different party does not make them anathema. It still makes them a person. Can I not still be a pastor, if I have personal beliefs? Can I not still be YOU’RE pastor if we voted for different people?

WHY NOT???

Fostering Conversations

To be clear, I am not political from the pulpit, at least not in ways that would break religious exemption laws. I preach Christian doctrine, which I ground in God’s Holy Word—Jesus—and the biblical scriptures from which we hear their voice. The more difficult and nuanced (read political aspects) I often try to reserve for times that foster conversation and open folks up to hearing a multiplicity of views. I respect that space of the pulpit as a place of unity and growth. It is a place for community to explore the doctrine of our faith. From their though, once I am out of the pulpit, even still occupying the role of the pastor, I feel their is room for us to have conversations that extend beyond doctrine and begin to explore discipline and principles. We most likely will end up in different places. In fact I might say it is inevitable. Our life and experiences place us in different places in life.

I genuinely seek to respect views that don’t align with mine, but I disagree with the idea that my views are somehow political, especially if they don’t align with yours or even what others may think are “settled issues.” Even mentioning something as biblically essential as equit for the poor or welcoming of the migrant creates tension in Christian community. Because these issues are in the national spotlight, mentioning them in church makes me “too political.” Again, I am not trying to be political; I am trying to be biblical, spiritual, and faithful. This often does not align with others' biblical worldview, making it uncomfortable for them to see their pastor reflecting these opinions.

The Duality of Pastoral Life

This brings to bear this seeming dualistic nature of the life of those who lead religious communities, especially those in pastoral roles. Pastors are told we cannot get political, promote a political party, or be seen endorsing a political candidate (to be clear, I would never do this from the pulpit because I respect the separation of church and state, but even as a citizen, am I not allowed to have a political opinion?). I wonder if it aligned with their political party and biblical worldview, would I still be seen as political? I can support people from my personal accounts, my personal life, and in personal spaces. However, because I can never shake the title of pastor, should my church folks find out about it, I am told I would ostracize them through my beliefs. Yet, their beliefs are posted all over the place for other church members to see, and often times those beliefs can contain harmful rhetoric.

Pastors are told they must occupy this space and be two separate people. We must have our “private beliefs” and our “pastoral beliefs.” I envy pastors for whom those match and mesh together (this goes for my colleagues across the belief and political spectrum). However, I have always struggled with this because I have had to hide how I feel about certain issues to avoid isolating myself from those who disagree.

But why is the problem me?

This may seem like a rant of personal privilege, and I think it is still important to address. It feels like an unhealthy community dynamic if we are suppressing part of ourselves to fit in. Something I, as an Enneagram 3, know a lot about.

Seeking Authentic Community

I am generally comfortable in what I believe and comfortable enough to have conversations with others about their beliefs (even when they differ). Being grounded in what I believe means we hear out where others are on their journey. It means being open to genuine conversation and humanizing what has gotten us to where we are in life. Our differences can, and should, draw us together rather than tear us apart. Through conversation, I hope to help others understand the underlying reasons I believe the way I do and open eyes to the human nature behind many of the issues before us in society.

Embracing Authenticity

Feeling the need to hide who I truly am is something I struggle with. As an Enneagram 3 (known as “The Performer” in some Enneagram circles), I struggle with being my true and authentic self because I have this need to feel accepted by those around me. My defense has always been a deeper understanding of many different angles on many different issues. I feel that I understand many of the topics and concerns that make up our current political climate. However, many comments continue to return to my feelings on issues, stopping conversations immediately or met with a full-force retort and rebuttal.

I do not want to be seen as a divisive figure. However, I do want to be my true and authentic self and be in a true, authentic community with all of God’s creation. We can believe different things, and you can still view me as an authority figure. Often, it is not until someone sees something irreconcilable that they feel they cannot be in a relationship with me. This saddens my heart, and the rift it creates in our communities is even more regrettable. I am often blamed for “driving people away” when I am trying to draw us closer together by engaging in the hard work of community relationships. My beliefs are who I am, but the call to community is there alongside. Putting aside beliefs or even hiding them altogether has created a culture where we cannot be in community if we disagree. Yes, we must find the commonality that brings us together, but why do my political beliefs make me less qualified to be your pastor? Can we not allow differences to draw us into closer relationships rather than pull us apart? Can we use those differences to spark conversation around the people of God we are meant to be?

Conclusion

I am not advocating that we ignore beliefs or allow harmful practices in our communities. I am saying that pastors can take pride in the honest work they have done in building their beliefs. In fact it should be a point of teaching in communities. Clergy people do a lot of work (especially in the United Methodist tradition) to get to the place where they are serving churches. It often requires multiple higher education degrees and deep knowledge of spiritual and faith-based matters. However, because I try and seek for my congregation to know more deeply and understand their faith, I am seen as too academic. The simple faith that I often got as a kid is often what I look at as why seminary was such a troubling time for me.

As the church we are called to learn and grow. Our beliefs are challenged, often by those in our community who can see things through a different lens. They can use that work to help grow the communities they serve to embody God’s Kin-dom. While my beliefs shape my identity, the call to community remains paramount. I often wonder how we can embrace our differences without fear, engaging in meaningful dialogue that strengthens our bonds.

As I reflect on these experiences, I realize that navigating the complexities of faith and politics is an ongoing journey. My hope is to foster an environment where we can embrace our differences without fear, engaging in meaningful dialogue that strengthens our community. It’s essential that we remember the heart of the Gospel: love, compassion, and inclusion. By allowing our diverse beliefs to coexist, we can create a richer tapestry of faith that honors each individual while striving toward a common mission. Let us challenge ourselves to lean into the discomfort of disagreement, seeing it not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for deeper connection and understanding. Together, we can cultivate a community that embodies the inclusive love of Christ, allowing our varied perspectives.