What is the Role of the Church in Getting Out the Vote?
“It is a Christian obligation to vote, and more than that, it is the church’s responsibility to help get souls to the polls,” so says Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.
During this election year when there’s so much at risk - our country’s democracy, justice for BIPOC LGBTQ people, and God’s Creation itself, what is the responsibility of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church? Do we believe voting and getting out the vote is an important way for us to live out our values and influence society for the good of all peoples and all Creation?
In his opening address to Congress in January 2021, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock said, “We believe democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea – that we are all children of God and therefore, we ought all to have a voice in the direction of our country and our destiny within it. Democracy honors the sacred worth of all human beings, the notion that we all have within us a spark of the divine, to participate in the shaping of our own destiny. The right to vote is a sacred right.”
If you are a person who sees the spark of the divine in every person you meet, I urge you to hear God’s call to do whatever you can – in the Pullen community and within your sphere of influence – to join others and prepare for a free and fair election.
What can we do within the Pullen Community? And when?
Start planning and acting now. The earlier we start, the more impact our efforts will have.
Within any Pullen committee, council or informal group, organize a non-partisan Get Out the Vote activity at church or in your home. Consider a postcard writing event like the ones already in action at our sister faith communities including Temple Beth Or, Benson Memorial United Methodist Church, the Durham Friends Meeting (Quaker) and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh. Contact Lynn Lyle, for information at ICCTriangle@gmail.com. Youth are welcome.
With Pullen friends or as an individual, register voters. Attend an online training and then go with a team to register voters. Contact You Can Vote.
As an individual, see a 2-minute video and sign up to be a poll worker in Wake County.
Encourage Pullen leaders and clergy to feature programs and preach sermons on how we can act - not just talk - to ensure free and fair elections and Get Out the Vote.
If we put our convictions into action and Get Out the Vote, we will have fewer regrets come November.
Submitted by Lynn Lyle
