This election energizes black church congregants

The high-energy election fever that gripped local evangelicals in the 2004 presidential race has shifted this year to black churchgoers stirred by the battle between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.

"They see it as a historic election - exciting - and they want to be a part of it, so they register," said Karen Ellis, as she staffed a voter-registration table on a recent Sunday at Grove Baptist Church, where most members of the congregation are black.

Ellis said new voters have cited two motivations. "First of all, they're really tired of that Bush regime - 'Eight years is enough,' " she said.

Obama's African American identity is also a big deal. "Obama has raised a lot of excitement in this community," Ellis said. "People want to cast a vote for him."

All religious organizations are restrained by federal rules that bar them from endorsing or campaigning for candidates. But campaign issues, voters' rights and public policy can be discussed.

Within South Hampton Roads' faith community, it was evangelicals who burned brightest four years ago, with a pre-election rally at Mount Trashmore and a conviction that President Bush represented the "man of God" that the nation needed.

This year, their profile is lower, their voices less insistent.

In Portsmouth, Pinecrest Baptist Church is participating in 40 days of pre-election prayer encouraged by the national Southern Baptist Convention.

But his congregants aren't buzzing over the election, the Rev. Tom Potter said earlier this fall. "I'm not really hearing much of anything, other than the fact that if there's ever a time to pray, it's now."

That quiet is widespread, said Ray Boetcher, an evangelical who owns the Church and Good Business Guide. The Hampton Roads monthly newspaper reports mostly on evangelical and charismatic churches.

Apart from the black community, "I really haven't seen a lot of activity by local Christian leaders, or really even to get their members... involved in this time," Boetcher said.

Evangelical Christians are not of one mind about the candidates, he said. Boetcher said McCain got a boost by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, an evangelical, as his running mate.

Obama's abortion rights position showed that the candidate was "not necessarily in tune with what I'd say is the will of God," Boetcher said.

Nonetheless, "right now, there's probably, at least in Hampton Roads, 51 percent for McCain and 49 percent for Obama within our Christian community," Boetcher said. "It could flop the other way in a week, and flop again."

At First Baptist Church of Norfolk, some members met weekly with the Rev. Eric Thomas in the summer to talk about campaign issues from a biblical perspective.

"McCain and Obama, you have questions about them from our evangelical standpoint," Thomas said. McCain's anti-abortion stance and his choice of Palin eventually satisfied congregants, Thomas said.

At Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach, the Rev. Nate Atwood said 80 percent of his 3,000-member congregation probably favored McCain, with 5 percent for Obama. Atwood said he opposed Obama because of the candidate's abortion rights stance.

But he also offered caveats. In both campaigns, "we've gotten away from substantive conversation on issues to mudslinging, and I'm pretty turned off," Atwood said.

He liked Palin's politics, but questioned whether she, like Obama, had enough experience for high office.

Additionally, Atwood repudiated what he called inaccurate "hate speech" about Obama circulated by some conservatives and Christians. "It is not consistent with what I've read myself about Obama," he said.

"Anyone who is a follower of Christ ought to be just as offended by conservative hate speech as liberal hate speech," and offended by lies about Obama as well as Palin, he said.

"If you don't feel that way, you're bowing down before a cultural god rather than bowing down before the one God," Atwood said.

At Harvest Assembly of God in Chesapeake, the Rev. Brad Shedd said he and the church's senior pastor probably wouldn't speak from the pulpit about the election.

He said McCain had "gone back and forth" on abortion before hewing to the anti-abortion position held at Harvest. McCain was also "a lot more ambiguous about his faith" compared with some candidates, Shedd said.

And while Shedd likes Palin, he asked whether a mother of five children - including a baby with Down syndrome - might violate "biblical womanhood" by running for a consuming job, rather than staying home.

"That makes a challenge, I'd say, even within the conservative Christian field. Among those I work with, there are some reservations about whether a working woman could do it all," Shedd added.

Obama was not the automatic choice of all blacks, said the Rev. Leon Boone of Celestial Baptist Church, a one time Hillary Clinton backer.

But the symbolism of an Obama victory is plain to most black people, said Boone, who now supports Obama.

"He represents that for which we've strived, that for which our ancestors prayed for, that for which the civil rights leaders stood up," Boone said.

At Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, voter-registration volunteers included Nicole P. Guns, a nurse and daughter of the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Geoffrey V. Guns.

She voted for Bush in 2004, "though I hate to admit that now," she said. "I voted strictly on Christian values before and it seems to not get us anywhere."

Now, the bad economy and energy have helped change her views and driven her political involvement.

"This election, I'm looking at it as, 'Who is going to fight the most for me as an American?' and I'll take care of the Christian part," she said.

At St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Bishop Curtis Edmonds Sr. said members are focused not just on Obama's ethnicity, but on his core theme.

"He brings the message that's on all of our hearts: We want change," Edmonds said. "We're concerned with health care, the economy, the hike in gas prices, unemployment. We're concerned with not having more of the same."

Elsewhere in South Hampton Roads' faith community, the Richmond diocese is hosting 11 Catholic forums on "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship."

The local gatherings are set for 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Virginia Beach, and Friday at St. Therese Catholic Church in Chesapeake.

About 30 people attended the Sept. 24 forum in Norfolk, where a diocesan representative asked them to note candidates' views on "intrinsic evils" such as abortion and racism that the Catholic church opposes.

At the same time, "we can't just have a scorecard, and check off the candidates and whichever candidate has more checks, we'll vote for," said Mike Stone, the representative.

Anita Unger, a retired teacher in Ocean View, said later that she wrestled with what to do when a candidate endorsed one "evil" but otherwise backed many positive issues.

She also said Obama represented her values the most.

"For protection of smaller people, the poor, he would be the person leading the party that espouses that the most," she said.

Also at the forum was Bill Groom, a retired accountant who attends Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Norfolk.

"If a candidate of your choice had everything going for him, except the issue of abortion, would that compel you or be enough reason to vote for the other candidate? My conclusion was, no," said Groom, who is backing Obama.

At Ohef Sholom Temple, Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg said in an e-mail that it was hard to gauge members' political temperament.

Early in the year, the synagogue held a forum on candidates and Israel.

She said members' common concerns included terrorism and security in the United States and Israel, and the bad economy. "Everyone is feeling the recession, including the synagogue," Mandelberg said.

At Masjid William Salaam, a Muslim congregation in Norfolk, Imam Vernon M. Fareed said members' election talk focused on the economy, a need for change and doubt about whether Palin's experience was sufficient for high office.

Most support Obama, he said.

As in past elections, there's relatively little open political talk or activity among mainline Protestant churches.

"My only statement to them is that Election Day is coming up and we have a responsibility to vote," said the Rev. Stanley W. Sawyer of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach. "It's outside of our Sunday purview."

At New Creation United Methodist Church in Chesapeake, the Rev. Bob Weeks said his congregation is a political mix. He speculated that congregants are keeping election views private to avoid partisan friction.

"Because some people have seen how tense it is, there's a fear of raising it in church," he said. "It's amazingly quiet."

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com