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No Church Is Safe From Campaigning Pols
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Oct 4, 2010
Modified Oct 4, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Oct 4, 2010
Modified Oct 4, 2010
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After the constant mud-slinging Monday through Saturday, many churchgoers take solace in a day where politics can be left at the door, and the only thing to concentrate on is faith. But not so fast, Christians, because New York pols are coming for your sermons! W. Ruth Whitney, the political liaison at Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Brooklyn (churches have those?) told the Times, “When it’s really near an election, we could have [a politician] every week." Is nothing, ahem, sacred?
Politicians generally know it's in poor taste to speak for more than a few minutes and to leave before the service is over, but former gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall said, "You’re guaranteed a crowd...It’s a critical part of a campaign." However, most churchgoers seemed wise to the cheap ploy for votes, and wished the politicians would just leave them alone. “It makes church longer,” said Jacqui Williams. “We should be eating lunch by now.” She admitted that had she known Andrew Cuomo would be taking the pulpit, she would have gone to a different service.
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Jaya Saxena
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