The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised the hackles of both Democrats and Republicans when it recently sought to obtain church directories in its voter-drive efforts. A poll released in August shows that most Americans oppose political parties obtaining church rosters.
The RNC has sought church directories from Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics who support President Bush, a move it said would help them mobilize new voters.
Republicans argued that the directories are public documents available to anyone, and the request to church members violated no law. They have continued the practice, according to the Associated Press.
Religious leaders expressed concern that the outreach could violate limits on politics in churches, most of which are tax-exempt.
“I’m appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
“It’s one thing for the church to have a voter registration drive, to seek to inform church members on public policy issues, to encourage church members to fulfil their Christian duty and vote, and to encourage them to vote their values, beliefs and convictions,” Land said.
“It’s another thing entirely for a partisan campaign to ask church members to bring in church directories for use as contact lists by the campaign and to seek to come into the church and do a voter registration drive and distribute campaign literature.”
The poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that Republicans and Democrats were about equally opposed to the practice, with about two-thirds from each party saying they thought it was improper.
Polls have found that four in 10 Republicans consider themselves evangelical Christians and Bush tends to run stronger than Democrat John Kerry among regular churchgoers.
The poll also asked voters whether the Roman Catholic Church should deny communion to pro-abortion politicians. About two-thirds of those surveyed said Catholic leaders said they should not. Some Catholic leaders have said they will deny communion to candidates who support abortion rights, including Kerry. Fifty-one percent said church leaders should express their views on political matters while 44 percent said they should keep out of politics.
The poll found the presidential race remains close, with Kerry at 47 percent, Bush at 45 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 2 percent.
The poll of 1,512 adults was taken Aug. 5–10 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, slightly higher for the sample of 1,166 registered voters. It was conducted for the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (EP)
Share with others: