Do you suppose church congregations vote the way their pastor exhorts them to?

I bet they do.
And if they do, they need to lose tax exemption.

I am guessing that many do. The pastor can be very influential and he or she has a captive audience.

I am guessing that many do not.

Look at the millions of people that follow the pope and whatever he says about popular topics like contraceptives, abortion, etc.

Yes. The majority yes.

Birds of a feather flock together. It’s more the other way around. A pastor has to pander to the congregation or the pews are empty and by extension, the collection plate. Some people blindly follow but for most, religion is simply a Rorschach test. The bible certainly is. To have a congregation there need to be enough people thinking the same way and a leader to regurgitate what those people want to hear.

My church doesn’t preach politics at all.

^Mine doesn’t either.

I’ve never joined a church that preached politics. And the times that the insanity of the world comes into a sermon, I certainly don’t let that be a reason to vote one way or another.

My uncle was a universalist unitarian preacher for a while. He had a “Jesus was a liberal” sermon we all still jab him on.

No, not generally. I’m sure there are political statements made when they should have been kept to self. I’ve never witnessed politics from the pulpit, but I am but a single Presbyterian.

I’m afraid way too many do.

And, listen to rural US “Christian” radio some time, for a bombardment of bullshit about Trump being sent by God, natural disasters being due to US tolerance for gay marriage, how Democrats are evil, etc etc. It’s scary and hard for me to believe it exists, or that anyone follows it.

Duh?
That IS THE point of organized religion. To control people…

Not directly, but politics and religion are connected by ethics and our political choices should be guided by our ethical beliefs.

Church goes believe in the craziest of notions in the first place. Of course they will believe in and do what someone else says. That’s the definition of religion, isn’t it?

Never heard one political word from a pulpit. And ive gone to a wide variety in 51 years from AOG to Baptist to Catholic.

Are you sure the word shouldn’t be “extort”? Vote my way or go to hell…

@Caravanfan Pretty sure.

Obviously. Is it out of line? Do you think a corrupt organization has a “line”?

Even if the minister doesn’t directly say who to vote for, politics and who to vote for is implied and peer pressure exists in the congregation.

Mostly, it is that the Republican party markets to the Evangelicals and so religion and politics are tied together.

I have been in a church where the minister said it’s difficult to be a Christian today (during a wedding!) and it felt very political to me.

I have linked video before of Ted Cruz’s dad preaching to his congregation the constitution doesn’t say separation of church and state, the United States is supposed to have religion in government.

@JLeslie There are basic truths that most Christians agree on, so while it may not be spoken, its an assumption regarding political leanings. I mentioned in prior threads that one preacher joked about Adam & Steve from the pulpit and since that is not something I find funny, I never went back.
In my opinion a pastor leads the congregation from Gods word, not his own or the issue du jour.

Far-right evangelical Christian leaders leadiing theeir followers.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/11/trump-election-cabinet-administration-christians-tucker-carlson-demons.html

@KNOWITALL Rafael Cruz was blatantly talking country and politics. I would think most churches are not doing that and only preach their truth according the beliefs and doctrine of the church.

However, that dinner and fashion show I went to in a mega church, the fashionista brought up abortion, which to me is very strange, but I rarely go to church.

Since abortion is constantly a big political topic, it seemed to me it was bringing up something political. It was framed as Jesus forgives you, but just odd to me. I think my friend found it helpful since she regretted an abortion she had, and I liked that it gave her solace, but also from another angle it seemed a way to recruit women too. I had mixed feelings about it.

I triggered my memory of playing with my friends young girls (elementary age) and while playing with barbie type dolls they came up with a skit about giving up a baby to adoption. I couldn’t help but wonder how often they hear adults, TV, or people in their church or religious school talking about that.