Should Churches/Denominations Take Public Policy Stands

[KeithE]

The OWS (Occupy Wall Street) discussion morphed into two other discussions, so I'll start two new threads.

My original thought was that neither church nor corporations are "people" with the rights of First Amendment free speech, but now I am not so sure.

On one side, I like some of the stances taken by the UMC and/or Catholic Church (probably others) on social issues and as Timothy said, it gives the church a "voice", a hopefully spiritual and compassionate voice at that.

But I know that some otherwise faithful members of those institutions often disagree. I've seen that first hand on a one hour drive with my son's church (UMC) golf league. The subject was the new Alabama Immigration Law which the UMC had denounced. It was three for and three against the new law, but cordial. I also know that many of us are frustrated at stances taken by the Christian Life Committee (?) - Richard Land - in the political arena and others were bothered by the public stances of the Baptist Joint Committee (so much so the SBC kicked them out). How dare a denominaton and/or church take a stand for us.

So I guess I'm ending up with a nauanced view that would allow churches/denominations to take stances when there is a clear Jesus-ness (how's that for a new word) factor in play - like care for the "least of these" / loving even your enemies. And be careful not to apply our own opinions to Jesus.

Corporations (who do not have a common bond in Jesus, but instead a common bond in mammon) should speak out on policy issues only in the rarest cases and should not be allowed to quietly (without attribution) to peddle influence via money - Overturn Citizens United.

I'm open to other thoughts.

[Tim Bonney]

I'm not sure what you mean by "corporations" in the above post Keith. Are you referring to companies and denominations?

We all know that one of the differences between denominational groups is the view of what the church is. The UMC is in its entirety a Church as is the Presbyterian Church, the Roman Catholic Church, etc. And then you have congregationalist bodies like Baptists who primarily view the Church as the local body of believers.

I think one's view of what constitutes "the Church" effects what you might believe about who can/should speak for the Church.

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

Ah, I see. I don't at all see a valid comparison between church structures and corporations.

But how we view what is "church" I think makes a lot of difference to how you view priesthood of believers working within the overall framework of the church.