Do they represent the mainstream?
Absolutely not.
The overwhelming majority of persons surveyed don't want politicians in their church, nor their pastors directing them how to vote.
This trend is nothing new, either:
This seems to have held up for several years. In 2004, a poll released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 65% of Americans oppose church endorsement of political candidates, 69% think it improper for political parties to ask congregations for their membership lists and 64% oppose the idea of Catholic bishops denying communion to politicians who fail to support church teachings on abortion and related issues.Moreover, in 2002, 75% of Americans said churches should not come out in favor of one candidate over another. In 2001, the Pew Research Center found that 65% of Americans said they did not “think it is ever right for clergy to discuss political candidates or issues from the pulpit.”
This, however, had to be the most amusing part of the poll:
On the Republican side there also has been a contest to win the backing of religious conservative leaders, including former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s endorsement by televangelist Pat Robertson.Apparently, appearing alongside a lunatic televangelist doesn’t carry quite the same electoral punch as the Giuliani campaign had hoped.Keep the church and state forever separate. (Ulysses S. Grant, 1875, Leo Pfeffer, Church, State, and Freedom, 1967, p. 337)
But the poll said that could hurt more than help — 29 percent said Mr. Robertson’s endorsement made them less likely to support Mr. Giuliani, while only 6 percent said they now are more likely to support him. That was consistent across all such demographic categories as age, party affiliation and income.
