Sunday, August 17th 2008
Your faith, your vote: ELCA Civic Engagement Tour of MN and CO- day one
The first workshop of the ELCA's Civic Engagement Tour (Your faith, your vote) took place at 9:00 AM, Sunday, August 17th at Bethany Lutheran Church in Cherry Hills Village, CO. The event was extremely well attending with just less than 50 congregation members, lay leaders and clergy in attendance.
The presentation was framed well by an 8 AM morning worship service, at Bethany, that focused Public Church as it relates to issues of hunger and poverty in the US. This allowed the following adult forum/ workshop to begin promptly with an audience that was prepared to begin a meaningful conversation on Public Church, Advocacy Ministries, and justifications for people of faith to engage leaders in the public square.
The conversation focused on meaningful involvement of places of worship in electoral activities. Logically and importantly, this section of the conversation began with a discussing on the two important levels of "cans and can'ts" in regard to churches interaction with electoral politics. Firstly, the legal compliance with 501(c)(3) tax code, and secondly, the social compliance encouraging that sensitivity be taken by acknowledging the comfort level of a congregation members wishing to become involved in nonpartisan political activity. It was stated that, "the meaningful involvement of churches in electoral activities should not be a divisive activity for churches, instead it can and should be a catalyst for people of faith (who identify themselves across the political spectrum) to meet each other where we are, and encourage that we all educate ourselves on issues important to people of faith, and to physically participate in the electoral process- VOTE!"
The presentation opened the floor for an interesting conversation on the general lack of legal precedent on some of the "gray area" activities- for instance, the legality of election guides that containing candidate profiles in "potentially subjective" paragraph form and the need for further guidance on what exactly constitutes "implicit" endorsements of candidates. This line of questioning, allowed for a deeper conversation on the origins of the ELCA's contract position focused on Civic Participation (Daniel Pieper's position) and the ELCA's Civic Engagement Fellow program (Four Interns working on state level election programs).
The second half of this first presentation was conducted by Terri McMaster, Public Policy Director for the ELCA in Colorado. Terri, discussed the issue foci of her office, and provided workshop participants with detailed information on Ballot Initiatives that will likely be part of the November Ballot in Colorado.
The next stop for the "Your Faith, Your Vote" will be, Monday, August 18, 2008 in Boulder, Colorado. The event will take place at Grace Lutheran Church at 6:30 PM.
Monday, August 18th 2008
Your faith, your vote: ELCA Civic Engagement Tour of MN and CO- day two
The second stop on the ELCA's civic engagement tour was in Boulder at Grace Lutheran Church. The event held an intimate and extremely participatory conversation with 15 people in attendance.
Daniel Pieper (ELCA Civic Participation Coordinator) and Terri McMaster (CO State Policy Director) were joined by Bob Francis, Domestic Policy Director from the ELCA's Washington DC office. Following the same general model for the forum, Dan gave a comprehensive presentation of election activity cans and can'ts as well as concrete examples of permissible activities and offered suggestions on how to get started on several initiatives; Bob provided a detailed description of how and why the ELCA conducts Advocacy within state, federal, international and private sectors to address systemic roots to social and justice based issues; and Terri talked about the 19 pending ballot initiatives as well as highlighted several issue education activities that are in the works in Colorado as they relate to a faith based coalitions efforts to educate Americans of faith about domestic hunger and poverty issues.
http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/
Below are a few highlights and questions that arose from the forum's participants.
Q: Why and how are churches chosen to be polling places?
A: Churches can absolutely open their doors to the community to use as a polling place. This is because the polling place is considered a public space for the purposes of the election, and not sponsored by the church directly. In most cases where churches are polling places, they are used because they are likely the largest physical space, and perhaps the only space that can provide handicap accessible facilities. Generally speaking, churches that are polling places are approached by city or country governmental offices who request the use of the space.
Action suggestion- If your church is a polling place, chances are that you live in somewhat close proximity. If this is the case, and you have time, why not consider becoming a trained Volunteer or Poll Monitor? More information on how to become a Poll Volunteer or Monitor can be found in the ELCA resource, "Called to be a Public Church: 2008 ELCA Voting and Civic Participation Guide," and/ or by contacting your local governmental office- contact details can be found easily on-line.
Q: What is the difference between a Primary and a Caucus?
A: A Primary election is an election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which political party nominates candidates for the following general elections (November 5, 2008)
A Caucus is a meeting of members of a political party or subgroup to coordinate members' actions, choose group policy (both on the local, county or state level), or nominate candidates for various offices (all levels- including national).
Definitions adapted from Wikipedia.org
Q: When is the cut-off for submission of absentee ballots in Colorado?
A: Absentee ballots in Colorado need to be either postmarked 7 days before election day or received in person 3 days before election (November 5th, 2008- for the Presidential Election). For more information please refer to page 71 of the ELCA's election resource, or seek guidance directly from the state government wed-site: http://www.sos.state.co.us/
The next forum for the "Your Faith, Your Vote" ELCA civic engagement tour will take place at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 2000 S. LeMay, Fort Collins, CO 80525. The event will begin at 6:30 PM.
Tuesday, August 19th 2008
Your faith, your vote: ELCA Civic Engagement Tour of MN and CO- day three
The third stop in the ELCA Civic Engagement tour was in Fort Collins at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. This was the second evening event of the tour, and the event was well attending with close to 20 participants.
Concerns were raised during this conversation identifying that general membership is unaware of the Advocacy Ministry of the ELCA. One participant in particular noted that he thought that, "80 percent of Lutherans would like to know more about what the ELCA's advocacy ministry is and how the church conducts advocacy and political activity, regardless of their individual choice to engage or not."
Highlighted question from the Fort Collins:
Q: What about Sermons- What may pastors say, and not say, if they choose to speak about the electoral process from the pulpit?
A: The IRS has provided 501(c)(3) organizations, in this case Churches, with very clear guidelines when it comes to both the explicit and implicit endorsements or disapproval of candidates for public office- without question we may not conduct partisan activities. This means that alluding to a candidate's stance on an issue, or comparing a candidates stance on an issue to the social policies of a given faith group is deemed outside the parameters of our church's tax code. Violations of this tax code can mean lose of a 501(c)(3)'s tax exempt status.
This does not mean that pastors may not discuss issues for the purpose of educating a community on issues that affect a faith community. Within communities of faith, one of the important roles of a leader is to prophetically discuss issues that, again, directly effect and affect the membership of that faith globally. Issues of poverty, hunger, climate change, justices (both social and economic), and issues that are moral and ethical in nature can, and arguably should, be discussed. This is not about making parallels to politics. It is about raising awareness about the need for direct services and the role of the church to look deeply at the systemic roots of challenges that face this world.
A participant in Fort Collins forum aptly stated, "Do you want to worship, or do you want to ‘comfortably' worship?"
This is all to say, that if a place of worship chooses to disregard its tax status, and feels that they can afford to pay taxes on all of their income, and additionally the membership is comfortable being taxed on their donations and tithes, then yes, a place of worship- no longer a 501(c)(3) organization- legally, will then be able to conduct partisan activities.
With this stated, the ELCA is a richly politically diverse community, and thusly direct partisan political activities would be extremely divisive within our community. This means that beyond the rules stated by the IRS, we would not want to participate in activities that would further marginalize those whose voices are already muffled in our modern society, nor would we want to take away from the opinions of those who have worked hard for every success that they have achieved. Our interaction with the electoral process should be about access to the electoral process- encouraging and educating our communities to be informed and meaningfully civically engaged-voting members of this nation.
Wednesday, August 20th 2008
Your faith, your vote: ELCA Civic Engagement Tour of MN and CO- day four
The Forth event of the "Your Faith, Your Vote" Civic Engagement Tour was held at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Pueblo, Colorado. The event gathered an active group of 10 participants. King of Kings is one of only two ELCA congregations in Pueblo; however their dedication to advocacy and service was palpable.
A few Highlighted questions from the forum:
Q: What is electioneering? And does the ELCA conduct electioneering?
A: NO! This is one of the concrete reasons why this tour is happening!
Electioneering is defined as activities designed to influence the outcome of an election for public office, in other words conducting patrician electoral activities. The ELCA is purposefully working to make sure that there is no confusion about what political activities churches MAY NOT participate in.
However, we are also strongly encouraging congregations to participate in activities that are nonpartisan and increase awareness and access to the electoral process for all eligible US citizens.
Q: I have heard that there may be unprecedented numbers of American citizens that will turn out on November 5th to vote for the next President. Will polling places be able to accommodate an historic voter turnout?
A: The national electoral system is established on the local, county and state levels. Results from these categories are then compiled and national results are garnered via a representational system called the Electoral College. Many Americans are unaware that there are tens of thousands of different administrative bodies that all have rules to govern their districts electoral practice. On the federal level, Congress established the Federal Election Commission, which offers guidance and assistance to districts throughout the country on how conduct the most efficient elections- the final decision to adopt these suggestions however are ultimately up to the states, and in some cases the district itself.
This is the system with which we must work, so the question then becomes how can a churches nonpartisan electoral activities assist the district and state manage the potential for over crowded polling places? Particularly applicable to those who cannot physically stand on line for hours on end because of age or disability, the church can offer information on how to apply for absentee ballots, or in states like Colorado, encourage the use of mail in ballots!
Q: While our churches are happy to help meet the needs of hungry people, domestically and internationally, it seems that need the need only continues to grow. Is the ELCA doing anything to treat the cause of hunger, not just the symptoms?
A: Indeed, hunger and poverty are problems, both domestically and internationally. Domestically, one needn't be an economist to know that these are increasingly tougher times, spurred on by the on-going housing crisis (July 2008 foreclosures up 55% compared to July 2007), high food and fuel prices (July 2008 inflation at a 17-year high), and growing unemployment (highest since May 2004). Tens of millions of Americans already live in poverty, and many more are struggling to make ends meet. Internationally, while some progress has been made toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals, hunger and extreme poverty is still a daily reality for more than 800 million worldwide. For the poorest of the poor, the global climate and food crises exacerbate the daily struggle to attain adequate nutrition.
What can we do? The ELCA's social statement on economic life calls for sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all, but how do we work toward this vision? To make that happen, all sectors of society must work in concert. Lutherans have a long-standing record of making a difference in the lives of poor and hungry people through social ministries, disaster response, and charitable giving. These are important, but they alone are not enough. We must also address the systemic factors that contribute to poverty and the barriers that make escaping poverty so difficult. We do that through advocacy. The ELCA's advocacy ministry works with and on behalf of the poor to seek comprehensive and holistic solutions to hunger and poverty. Addressing these big problems is not as simple as working on one issue - we must simultaneously address multiple factors. Domestically, that means looking at things like housing, health care, education, wages, and taxes. Internationally, we must increase effective international aid, cancel debt and urge free and fair trade.
Part of our responsibility as citizens, then, is to do our best to make sure that the decisions our elected officials make reflect our most deeply held values, including our belief that all people should have the best possible access to the resources they need to fulfill their God-given potential and live a healthy life.
For more detailed information on the Advocacy ministry, including issues that the ELCA has collaboratively chosen to make up our issues portfolio, please visit: www.elca.org/advocacy
*For more information on "Your Faith, Your Vote: ELCA Civic Engagement Tour" Please email: daniel.pieper@elca.org
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