The 2,500 pastors and church leaders now returning home from the just-concluded 2004 Super Conference in Lynchburg, Va., are heading back to their congregations spiritually fired up and politically motivated to rouse the troops to the polls on Nov. 2 to vote for pro-family, pro-life candidates across this nation.
On Sept. 27, as part of the Super Conference, Mathew Staver, founder and general counsel for the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, Jerry Falwell Jr., general counsel for Liberty University, and I hosted the “Politics and the Pulpit” sub-conference with our pastors and church leaders. We informed these evangelical leaders how they can legally return to their congregations to conduct voter registration drives, inform congregations on key issues and address political matters (such as marriage initiatives or partial-birth abortion votes) from the pulpit, as long as this type of “lobbying” does not become a pervasive part of the church function.
Because the radical Americans United for Separation of Church and State, or AU, had a hysterical reaction when this conference was initially announced, the press picked up on it from the outset. Subsequently, many pastors attended because they are beginning to understand how the left is attempting to silence them – and they refuse to be silenced by intimidation.
AU is even advising churches not to distribute voter guides from the Christian Coalition, which has printed such guides for many years. Barry Lynn, AU president, says the voter guides are “partisan” (when they simply report on candidates’ voting records) and place a church’s tax-exempt status at risk, even though not one church has ever lost its tax-exempt status for dispensing the guides – not ONE!
It’s quite easy to see the disingenuous nature of these groups.
The AU has for years utilized these types of frenzied scare tactics in an attempt to prevent conservative pastors from stirring their congregations to political engagement. But their reign of terror is coming to an end. In fact, the AU and other extremist organizations that want to wholly secularize our nation have inadvertently ignited a fire in the bellies of an accelerating number of evangelical pastors who refuse to be pushed around and lied to.
During the “Politics and the Pulpit” conference, Mat Staver advised pastors not to fear the hysterical rantings of groups like AU.
He said, “I have written for many years on the subject of political activity of churches and nonprofit organizations. As president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, I can assure you that we will back up our advice with free legal assistance.”
Since he has also served as a pastor, Mat has a unique perspective on the church, politics and the law. At Liberty Counsel, he has been involved in untold numbers of religious-freedom cases and is on the front lines of many significant legal cases confronting the church today. Our joint ministry of instructing pastors how to engage the social/political culture is critical because the nation’s secularists are accelerating their deceitful efforts to destroy our nation’s religious foundation and future. The only way – the ONLY way – to halt this effort is for evangelical pastors and their congregations to rise up in defense of our Christian nation, specifically at the voting booth.
Mat Staver and I have spoken in a host of similar events nationwide in recent weeks, primarily in “battleground states,” to stir pastors to action. We have been joined by other Christian leaders, such as Art Ally, president of the Timothy Plan, who have comparable goals of getting the church prepared to go to the polls.
The response has been simply astounding. Pastors are geared up as never before to ensure that their parishioners are informed, registered and primed to head to the polls to “vote Christian.”
I’m literally excited about the social/political engagement we are now seeing in the church. I pray that our efforts are rewarded in November and a new wave of pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-national defense men and women are elected to office. For those who have yet to register to vote, please visit my National Liberty Journal website to do so today.
News from the Liberty University School of Law
Attorneys from around the nation are currently on the campus of the Liberty University School of Law for a special three-day conference, “Law, Liberty and Litigation Roundtable.” The conference is sponsored by Liberty Counsel’s Center for Constitutional Litigation and Policy, the Austin Fellowship and the School of Law.
The nation’s top religious-liberty litigation attorneys are here to lead seminars designed to train attorneys to defend religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. Featured speakers include Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, Bruce Green, dean of the Liberty University School of Law, Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, Robert Knight of the Culture and Family Institute (an affiliate of Concerned Women for America), and many others. My National Liberty Journal newspaper will be reporting on this event in the November issue.
MORE LAW SCHOOL NEWS: The School of Law is hosting two Open Houses for prospective students on Saturday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 13. The featured speaker at both events will be assistant professor of law Morris E. Osborn. In addition, there will be a student panel discussion, tours of the law school facility and a dessert reception with Dean Bruce Green, faculty members and current students.
Prospective Liberty University School of Law students wishing to attend this event or learn more about it may e-mail Elizabeth Tinsley or call 434-592-5431.
WATCH: The New York Times reporting not to expect results on election night
WND Staff