Faith leaders continue to urge their congregants to make smart choices when it comes to voting. The senior pastor of The Church on the Rock encouraged voters to make sure they were not influenced into making rash decisions in voting.
Religious leaders and politicians
According to a report with Florida Today, it was most commonly argued that politics and religion should not mix.
Over the past year leading to the elections, several church common areas have become an avenue for candidates to get their message across.
These church common areas across the Space Coast have been decorated with flyers.
Among these local churches that bore these political flyers was the Church on the Rock in Melbourne.
Tony Hauck is the senior pastor of the church. He told the news outlet that he was aware of the flyers that decorated the lobby of his church.
He admitted that the message it sent could be skewed, but it would depend on how one would interpret it.
The pastor said that at the end of the day, congregants are free to make their choices on who they are going to vote for.
Hauck said the posters bore descriptions of DeSantis and Crist and their stances on certain social issues. One of these topics that came to light was abortion and women's reproductive rights.
Social issues and candidates
As a religious leader, Hauck clarified that he does take a stand on social issues or candidates.
He pointed out that it was unbecoming to do so from the pulpit. The faith leader said that he would point out biblical teachings on certain political matters.
The senior pastor believed that these would allow churchgoers to make their decisions on who to vote for.
Hauck told the news outlet that he would engage in one-on-one conversations with parishioners to let them know who he would recommend voting for.
He emphasized that he does not make it a habit.
What he does is that he highlights the issues and what the Bible has to say on these areas of concern. He then says what the particular candidate's stance on the issue is.
He pointed out that as church leaders, they encourage their congregants to vote on biblical issues.
Hauck said that it is not his fault if they are obvious. He emphasized that it was wiser to address these issues over the candidates.
He believed that it was best to trust people to figure the rest out.
Aubrey Jewett is an associate professor and assistant director at the University of Central Florida. Jewett raised the idea that religion and politics are two separate entities that should not mix.
Jewett added that since time immemorial, religion has involved itself in American politics.
Churches believe that they should cross that line and delve into politics. They said that there is a danger of the repercussions from the Internal Revenue Service.
They might lose their tax-exempt status.
Jewett added that there was a disconnect between custom and practice.
The professor said that churches were not supposed to lobby on political issues.
In an earlier report, Jewett discussed the status of the state's view on abortion.
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