Pastors Back Ken Blackwell in Ohio
Equating their movement to the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, a group of conservative pastors from across the nation endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell on Monday.
The religious leaders included senior Pastor Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Maryland, a Democrat; Bill Owens, director of the Memphis-based Coalition of African-American Pastors; and Pastor Russell Johnson of the 4,000-member Fairfield Christian Church, who chairs the politically vocal Ohio Restoration Project.
The pastors, who say they support Blackwell’s conservative message, including his anti-tax position and his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, have formed a group called Clergy for Blackwell, which includes both black and white ministers.
Blackwell, who is black, is struggling in the polls against Democratic opponent Ted Strickland, a U.S. congressman from Lisbon and a former minister.
Johnson is the subject of an IRS complaint filed by liberal ministers alleging he has violated federal law by supporting Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state.
As coordinator of Monday’s event, Johnson said he and the other ministers were well within the IRS law that limits political activity by nonprofit organizations.
“We are citizens who believe the stewardship of our citizenship means something, and that every one of us as ministers have not given up our citizenship. We can stand for a candidate we believe in,” Johnson said.
We Believe, a second organization of liberal ministers that sprung up in the wake of the complaint, said in a statement that it will not endorse any candidates in the governor’s race.
The group intends to press all gubernatorial candidates to address “issues that are critical to God’s people,” the statement said, such as poverty, jobs, access to health care, living wages, and adequate housing.
“We believe that individuals do have a right to support political candidates of their choice,” the statement said. “Yet we believe that clergy have a higher obligation to work for the values transmitted for centuries through diverse religious traditions.”
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