When Christian leaders collect money from politicians running for elections, what is the payment for?
pannigeriannews
4 min read
By Niyi Adebayo
The Bible doesn’t forbid a relationship between the political class and the men of the clergy. It’s the level of corruption and decay in the society that paints the relationship between a pastor and a politician like that of a saint and a harlot. Corruption is not limited to politics. Matter of fact, it’s deeper in some sectors than in the political parlance (Talk for another day).
Should a Pastor cast his vote? Yes. It’s his civic responsibility. Can a church invite politicians for prayers and admonitions? Yes, as long as you won’t turn it to a fund raising event. (You should listen to my teaching on Christian and Politics: The Burden, The Borders and the Blunders).
The first thing a Pastor has to put on the front burner is the sanctity of his calling, next to it is the dignity of his personality as an epitome of godliness in the larger society.
More often than not, politicians turn to different classes and groups of people to campaign for votes. That is one of their strategies to worm themselves into the hearts of the electorates. It is not out of place. In my opinion, I think such interaction is the best forum to discuss the manifesto of the party and the vision of the candidates. I don’t think the religious affiliation of the candidates should be a too serious matter of concern at such fora, except he’s been a known extremist or in cases where a single religion dominates elective offices without recourse to equality and equity.
I like to say that for NO reasons should money be demanded from the candidates or their parties. Why take money? What is such fund meant for? Our refreshments? Our logistics? Our fueling? What refreshments can the organization not pay for? What logistics? Fuel to go where? I may not be able to speak for our Muslim friends because I’m not versed in the tenets of Islam. I don’t know what Quran says about this. However, why would Christian organizations take money from political candidates and share it for personal use? It’s enough to demand good governance, peaceful conducts, fair distributions of dividends of democracy and discuss the key areas of interventions in the community when they come to us to ask for votes.
Gifts should be taken with discernment. In a situation where the candidate or the party insists on dropping gifts, especially money or food items, the money should stay in the purse of the organization for the furtherance of the gospel ministry or the items be shared for the widows and other vulnerable people in the body of Christ. I insist, we cannot look up to the politicians and expect some of them not to look down on us.
Pocketing such money is one of the things that limit our access to those politicians when they get to office. Some of them were quoted to have said that they already paid us for our services before elections. We have heard of more ridiculous cases where some rash politicians demanded the vehicles they donated be returned because we refused to work for them!
I belong in a group that organises political education and summits in our hometown. We engage with political candidates and their parties. We have been doing this since 2003. In the course, a handful of them gave some token. We have always diverted it to our programmes as inspired by our leaders. On occasions, we shared with the people in critical conditions. Do we have personal needs? Yes, very plenty at that. But, there are borders we won’t cross. To every passion, there is a border. If you cross the border, you will enter into blunders.
What if the candidate decides to appreciate us after the election is won and lost? That is fair enough, especially if he recognizes the effect of your inputs. That, too, should not be demanded in pecuniary terms.
The Blunders: We cannot stand on our pulpits to campaign. We can educate the church on what to look out for before they cast their votes. We can advise and guide at the background, especially where we know our people are willing to sell their votes or are not willing to vote at all.
Campaigns are coming. We should do something better if we have been collecting money and sharing. It’s an indictment. Let the Church be the healing medicine for the community. He is a weak steward if his only motivation in ministry is money!
When money is lost, something is lost. When time is lost, something serious is lost. But, when integrity is lost, EVERYTHING is lost.
Note: The table that we refuse to shake will remain dirty.
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