Will black Christians stay home on Election Day?

Has Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage undermined his support among black churches?

When he announced his new support for homosexual marriage, a number of black pastors and Christian leaders were caught off guard – and even embarrassed. On the one hand, they supported the first black president, but on the other hand could not endorse his flip-flop on what they consider one of the most important moral issues of our day — an issue that threatens the very foundations of the traditional family.

^{Black churches are perhaps the strongest supporters of African-American families}

Some leaders remained silent. Others took issue with Obama’s startling switch and stated that they could not vote for a president who endorsed a view that they believe is contrary to God’s Word. Some expressed disappointment and shock in the President who previously claimed that he believed marriage was a “sacred union” between a man and a woman.

On the other hand, the new pastor at Obama’s home church in Chicago, Trinity United Church of Christ, the Rev. Otis Moss III, wrote a public letter expressing his view that black churches should still support the president in the November election – no matter how they feel on moral and scriptural issues. He released a video of himself reading that letter – accusing other black clergy of hiding “from true dialogue with quick dismissive claims devised from poor biblical scholarship.”

He urges ministers to stand behind Obama despite any disagreements with his policies.

He was not alone. The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, pastor of Washington, D.C.’s large Shiloh Baptist Church supported the President with the caveat that “we preferred that he had not weighed in on the issue.”

However, Baltimore clergyman and state legislator Rev. Emmett Burns said “People have come up to me saying they don’t support this, they don’t like this. They are disappointed with the president, and they plan to stay home” on election day. He said those he had spoken with could not support Romney, so would just not vote this time around.

Marvin Randolph, Senior Vice President of Campaigns for the NAACP, expressed concern to CNN that such an attitude by key leaders in the black religious community could lead to fewer African-American voters engaged in this election. “We have to make sure that African Americans don’t stay home this year by reminding them what’s at stake,” he said.  

On the other hand, Daniel Whyte III, president of the Gospel Light Society, said he found Obama’s position “troubling in light of God’s Word.” Whyte encouraged fellow pastors to stay true to what Whyte

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