"The Pulpit and Conscience" was first aired on Sunday June 22nd 2008. Our Guest was Michael D. Anderson, Ph.D., President, Presbyterian Health Foundation.
Our topics included:- Discuss Rev. Jeremiah Wright's highly publicized quotations from sermons in his church
- How do these strike him as a Pastor and his responses to these quotes
- What guides a Pastor's decision making process for what to include within a sermon and how to express it
- Do Pastors (including him) ever engage in "shock and awe" in order to get the members' attention
- What is the responsibility of the church member to "call out" his or her Pastor
- Topics he thinks are "off limits", if any, for a Pastor to include within a sermon
- Do those guidelines change over time as the Pastor changes
- "Sensors" or sounding boards a Pastor could use to determine the propriety of talking about a particular topic
- Churches are generally tax exempt organizations under the Internal Revenue Code, did he ever feel limited or should Pastors feel limited about what they can say because of a concern of having the tax exemption revoked by the IRS
- Which is more important, preaching your conscience or maintaining the tax exempt status of the church
- How a Pastor guides him or herself when church doctrine becomes embroiled in a political race with one candidate following church doctrine and the opponent not doing so
- His view generally about the establishment clause of the Constitution, in other words, the separation of Church and State
Dr. Anderson and Kent Meyers
|
