When I was a little girl, I believed that a preacher had a special pipeline to God. After all, after we put our offerings in the collection plate at church, who else was going to hand those offerings personally to God? I was a little put out when I learned later that actual people, human beings, counted the offering, put it in the bank, and wrote checks just like the ones Mother wrote at the grocery store.

However, I never lost the sense that an ordained minister must be something special. I still feel that way. I know that my pastor is human. I know he is fallible. I know that he is a sinner just as I am. Nevertheless I think he is special, called by God for work that many people could not do, and compelled by God to be a spokesman for heavenly truth. I listen to my pastor intently, because I expect him to enlighten me about God’s truth in ways I have not discovered by myself. My experience with most pastors confirms my expectations. I grow as a Christian by listening to my pastor and applying his messages in my life. I find confirmation in the Bible of the truths my pastor teaches, and I understand the Bible better because of my pastor’s messages.

My personal life is different, because of what I learn from my pastors. I listen to pastors and use what I learn to help me make decisions. When I am challenged on a moral or ethical question, the process of making a decision includes consideration of many things I learned by listening to my pastor. When I am embroiled in family issues and career challenges, my approach to the solutions is informed by things I learned from sermons. Even when I think about who should be president, I consider issues my pastor has brought up in sermons. I truly believe that a pastor has a calling to speak out on many issues and help us understand the relevant biblical teachings.

I do not believe that my pastor ought to endorse a candidate for president.

First, I do not believe that any pastor has received a message from God that one candidate or another is God’s choice. I am certain that every pastor has his own idea about that, but I don’t believe that God is dispensing a message for pastors to give on that subject. If he were, then every pastor would get the same message. That isn’t happening.

Second, I believe that pastors have personal political agendas just like me. I believe that they desire government to have particular qualities, just like any other citizen, and among the set of all pastors, there are many, many agendas.

Above all, I believe that every candidate is flawed. I have yet to see the candidate with no skeletons in the closet. Every candidate, like all other human beings, has made unwise choices. Every candidate has made really bad decisions. Every candidate has spoken and misspoken and tripped over his tongue and tripped over his desire not to offend and wallowed in an attempt not to say exactly the truth. Every candidate is a sinful person who wants to be president for some ignoble reasons along with the noble sense of calling to serve the people. My pastor will not be able to select a candidate that anyone will believe is perfect in God's eyes.

Therefore, I don’t want my pastor endorsing any candidate. I will sit quiet while my pastor says that he believes our nation should do more for the poor, even though I believe that my church helps the poor in more powerful ways than the government does. I will sit quiet while my pastor says that he believes all wars are evil, no matter how noble it might be to attack on behalf of enslaved people. I will sit quiet while my pastor berates an economic system that does not penalize the people in high places who make the decisions which cause ordinary people to lose their jobs. These issues are fair game, and the pastor’s insights as a man of God are valuable to me. However, my pastor, beloved as he is, cannot possibly know the right man for me to vote for. I don’t expect him to know, and I refuse to believe that he knows. I will not sit still in my church and listen while my pastor endorses any political candidate.

It isn’t about church and state, either. It is about the calling of the pastor. Even the apostle Paul did not try to tell people who ought to be in charge politically. He told people to pray for the Roman emperor, and so far, none of our candidates could possibly be as heartless and disconnected from the needs of the people as any Roman emperor. I believe that my pastor has the obligation to teach me God’s truth and help me make personal decisions with character, integrity and wisdom from God. I do not believe that he knows who ought to be president with any greater authority than I do. I don’t ask him who to marry or what job to apply for or which bank to use. I absolutely will not ask him who I should vote for in the presidential election.