Browsing Tag

white house

Culture, politics

Do Americans want a Pastor-in-Chief?

With the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney‘s running mate, religious history was made. Some historians believe this is the first presidential major party ticket that does not feature a protestant running for president or vice-president. Romney is Mormon and Ryan is Catholic. Other historians have made the case that Eisenhower and Lincoln did not officially belong to a protestant church when they ran. Regardless of how candidates affiliated themselves with a religion, the 2012 election is different.

Could we have the first non-protestant president since John F. Kennedy?

Even though our Constitution specially outlaws religious affiliation as a qualifier for elected office, Americans generally like a president that invokes God, prays, receives counsel from religious leaders, and has a faith in the God of the Bible. A 2012 Pew Poll found that 67% of respondents believe it is important for the president to have strong religious beliefs. If religious beliefs play a factor in voting for a president, then Gallup’s discovery of 41% of voters claiming to be “very religious” plays a significant role in selecting a president. Back in the spring of 2012, Gallup also found that, “Highly religious Americans, particularly those who are white and Protestant, disproportionately support presumptive Republican presidential candidate Romney…This reinforces a basic pattern in American voting behavior that has been evident for decades.”

It seems that Americans generally like a president with a faith, but how religious does the candidate need to be?

Continue Reading…

social media, White House

Three ways social media impacted my White House meeting

Yep, that’s me there tweeting away. (Photo: EthicsDaily.com)

As many of your know, I’m finishing up on reflecting upon my meeting with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff (read part 1 and part 2). It was an honor to be among 60 other Baptists who met with several advisers to the President.  One of the unusual facets of this meeting was a media blackout.  None of the tradition media outlets were allowed in this meeting.

The media blackout arose from the administration’s frustrations that past clergy leader meetings were nothing more than a photo opportunity. This meeting was supposed to be different, and so it was. We attendees were allow to tweet during the meeting and used the hashtag #BaptistsatWH. This created a direct link to our friends, congregation members, followers, and community individuals back home. Our four-hour long meeting was unencumbered by reporters interrupting or distracting from the meeting’s goal.

My friend and fellow pastor Dr. William Shiell and I discussed how the administration had a message they wanted to communicate. The byproduct of a media blackout, but social media friendly meeting is threefold:

Continue Reading…

White House

Four things learned from my White House meeting (part 2)

Yesterday, I gave an overview of my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. For part 1 and background on the meeting, please click here.

Looking back on the meeting, there are several things that I want to share with you.  First, as I have blogged about before, faith and ethics inform this White House administration.  Several of the administration officials spoke of their own experience with their churches and how their Christianity guides their work. It is clear that the administration is fighting such social ills as human trafficking and economic problems such as the mortgage crisis. And, did you know that at 14 federal agencies there are faith-based offices?

At the meeting, two officials were presented with a Common English Bible translation, which was given as “a moral document”.  The translation renders the words “stranger” or “alien” as “immigrant”.  Paul Monteiro, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and  Julie Rodriguez, associate director of the Office of Public Engagement received a Bible:

Continue Reading…

White House

My White House meeting with Baptists (part 1)

I’m fresh off my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I want to share with you all about our meeting through multi-blog posts.  The meeting including advisers from the Executive Office of the President and other administration officials. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, and Ricky Creech, executive director/minister of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention put the meeting together.

The meeting took place in the White House Executive Office Building.  Some of the people/offices we talked with:

  • Jannah Scott, Deputy Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership
  • B.J. Douglas, Engram Lloyd and Paula Lincoln of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
  • Felicia Escobar, a Senior Policy Adviser for the Domestic Policy Council,
  • Chris Vaeth, Adviser for the Office of Community Affairs for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Julie Rodriquez, Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement
  • Paul Monteiro, Associate Director for Office of Public Engagement
  • Engram Lloyd,  Housing and Urban Development

What do our meeting look like? Several of the above individuals explained what their office does, what issues their addressing, and took questions/comments. Although I would have enjoyed more comments/questions from us Baptists, this meeting covered an array of issues.  We discussed clean water standards, sex trafficking, payday loans, mortgage dept relief, faith-based programs, disaster relief. To see the meeting and comments, check out our Twitter hashtag #baptistsatWH.

There were a number of shocking and encouraging information points:

Continue Reading…

On Facebook