• OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Churches are social organizing spaces, they have been involved in politics since the very beginning. As long as they are doing it the right way, by encouraging voting but not voting for a particular candidate, and running voter registration drives, driving people to the polls, that’s good. We want more people to vote.

    It’s not hypocritical to once be skeptical and then learn that something is OK. That’s called learning.

    I blame people for being obtuse when they were complaining with zero evidence that there was a problem, I don’t blame people at all for working legally to increase voting.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      As long as they are doing it the right way, by encouraging voting but not voting for a particular candidate

      Yeah that’s not what’s happening. They get a sermon every Sunday about horrible immigrants and the woke agenda. Then at this event they get told to make sure they vote Christian. It’s specifically the evangelical churches and mega churches doing this.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Yep. They understand it’s about getting their people to vote while making sure the other group doesn’t

    • GiddyGap@lemm.eeOP
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      3 months ago

      They often endorse conservative candidates outright or imply who to vote for through heavy social pressure.

          • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            There’s zero evidence that it’s happening “often” so I’m mostly using the space to point out that there’s more to “church” in America than the white evangelical politics-forward churches they see represented on TV. Those pastors are on TV because they are the exception.

            • shani66@ani.social
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              3 months ago

              Man you’ve got me conflicted. On the one hand, Internet edgelord atheists are annoying twats when it comes to projecting their specific Christian trauma onto the world, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong about Christianity specifically.

              Also not sure if we “want more people to vote.” The average American is wildly unqualified to decide the future of a nation.

    • fern@lemmy.autism.place
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      3 months ago

      Not to diminish from your point, yes absentee ballots are good, just

      by encouraging voting but not voting for a particular candidate

      You know this isn’t happening.

      • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Every church I’ve ever been to has been carefully non-partisan on candidates. It’s not just tax status, they don’t want to cause parishioners to feel unwelcome because they need the attendance.

        I know some churches are being overly political, sure, but I absolutely believe the majority are doing the right thing.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Then you’ve had good churches. But don’t discount something just because you’ve been lucky.

        • shani66@ani.social
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          3 months ago

          They’re not. Every church I’ve ever been to has preached that Democrats are demons.