Black Pastors Seek to Dash Goals of White Christianists and Romney

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at Norfolk State University in Norfolk

It is no secret that the National Organization for Marriage and hate groups like Family Research Council headed by white supremacist embracing Tony Perkins are working to use Barack Obama's endorsement of same sex CIVIL law marriage as a tool to either suppress the black vote or to convince black Christians to vote for Mitt Romney even though they are clearly part of the 47% that Romney despises.  Fortunately, a number of pastors in Hampton Roads took action and have worked to educate their flocks against drinking the Christianist/GOP Kool-Aid and looking at the larger picture.  A piece in the Virginian Pilot looks at the effort.  Here are some highlights:

Late in August, a group of local African American pastors met in Chesapeake to develop a strategy after the president announced his support for same-sex marriage.  Members of their flocks were concerned that Obama, in a television interview in May, had taken a stand many of them believed was contrary to Scripture.

Some of the pastors who attended the hastily called meeting at Bethany Baptist Church were worried the issue would soften support for the president among one of his strongest constituencies.  While few believed their congregants would vote for Republican challenger Mitt Romney, some said Obama’s stance might dampen enthusiasm for the president, prompting some voters to sit out the election.

That troubled the ministers, who saw a potential problem developing for the president just as the race in Virginia was tightening.  “We felt we needed to make our parishioners aware that not voting was the same as voting for the other guy,” said the Rev. Joseph E. Lamb, pastor of St. Thomas AME Zion in Norfolk, who attended the meeting.

Being careful not to openly endorse any candidate from the pulpit, the pastors agreed to instruct their congregations on the broader issues of the campaign – health care, education, the economy – and discourage a single-issue focus.  They also would educate their flocks on Romney’s Mormon faith and how it differs from their own.

The strategy apparently has paid off. In the closing days of the campaign, some pastors say support for the president within their congregations is as strong as ever.  “They’re still very much looking to back the president regardless of his view on that issue,” Lamb said.

The Rev. Lin Hill, who called the pastoral meeting at Bethany Baptist Church, said what appeared in the summer to be a potential problem for the Obama campaign has been averted.  African American church members, he said, “have never been single-issue voters. While they see same-sex marriage as something they can’t support as Christians, they see it as just one of many matters of concern.”

No doubt stories like this will make Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins and Victoria Cobb at The Family Foundation act as if someone has peed in their Cheerios.  Black voters are not as stupid as they had hoped and believed.  The article goes on to look at the efforts of Catholic clergy in the area many of whom have been preaching the anti-Obama message dictated by child rapist protecting Catholic bishops and pedophile enabler Pope Benedict XVI.  The good news, is that from most of the Catholics I know, they will happily ignore the bishops and the Vatican