Election 2006

The Reverend Donna Schaper believes in tolerance and the importance of individual conscience.
She believes the current political administration in the United States has distorted Scripture and hijacked Jesus. She also believes that the absolute engagement of socially responsible people of faith can, and ultimately will, reclaim morality and restore the separation of church and state.

This midterm election season, Judson Memorial Church, where Schaper is Senior Minister, has joined the effort of many other churches to encourage involvement in the voting process in order to achieve these goals. But their work, though political in nature, is strictly non-partisan.

In Judson’s 116-year history, it has had a long tradition of social and political activism centering on issues such as civil rights, abortion rights, gay rights, free speech and freedom of religion. Ministers in other churches have gone so far as to place Judson, a mainline Protestant affiliate of the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ, at the “far end of radical” on the liberal/conservative scale. If Schaper has received any criticism in her 32 years of ministry, it would be that she was too political — that she wasn’t spiritual or religious enough. But since joining Judson in March 2006, she feels that the opposite is true.

But the tolerance and acceptance practiced at Judson and other liberal churches in America has led to the “self-marginalization of the left,” Schaper believes. “We trade political power for uniqueness. But we have a political responsibility to the moment. After all, we are linked to the same Scriptures as the Christian Right.”

By political responsibility, Schaper means that liberal Christians have a duty to participate in what she sees as an overwhelmingly political nation and to reclaim the texts that been used to work against what she thinks they stand for. “Conservative Christians own the House and the Court, but still play the victim. They are using our moral values against us and real people are really being hurt,” she says.

As a congregation, Judson contributes by remaining true to its history of local activism. The church sponsors programs supporting everything from art, to retail workers, to LGBT youth. “All politics is local,” says Grace Goodman, who has been an active member at the church since the 1960s. “When the historical moment is right, that’s when opportunities on a national level arise.”

Schaper and her group of community ministers believe that the right moment is now. The issue of tax exemption for houses of worship has pushed small congregations like Judson into the national spotlight through what Schaper deems the “appalling and hypocritical investigation” of liberal churches for involvement in partisan politics. Although the press coverage has been negative, it has ultimately had a positive effect by situating liberal Christians on the same national, political playing field as the conservative Christians who are currently in power. “Now is the time that we’ve got to play their game, by their terms,” Schaper advised the other ministers at a recent meeting. “We need to stop talking about what we don’t believe in and start talking about what we believe. We need to talk morals, not issues.”

Most of Judson’s 120 members are Democrats, but the church is also home to a few Republicans, including one who is particularly proud and outspoken, according to Goodman. But Schaper is clear: “We take a very moral as opposed to political approach. And everything relates except in a non-partisan way.”

Despite the reluctance — and in some cases fear — to associate too closely with electoral politics, Judson member Sue Harwick has led an effort to register voters and to encourage them to head to the polls for the midterm elections on Nov. 7. She doesn’t sway voters toward a particular candidate — as with all of Judson’s activism, involvement is what matters most. Mark Crispin Miller, professor at New York University and author of Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them), also stressed the importance of participation at a Nov. 1 talk at the church. He addressed the question “Why Keep Voting?” and urged listeners to “keep hope alive,” which is one of Rev. Schaper’s favorite phrases.

Schaper’s own hope is alive and well. She has hope that the separation of church and state in this country will be restored. She has hope that good, faithful people — Democrat or Republican — will reclaim the Bible and start highlighting the 4,000 verses that talk about social justice, not the four that talk about private issues of morality. She has hope that Jesus will stop being used as a weapon in national politics and start being used as a model for everyday living. For Schaper, this change begins at the local level — both within congregations and individuals, both within Judson Memorial and herself. Her personal mission statement: “to provide spiritual nurture for public capacity so that people who hope in justice can experience that hope kicked into high, joyful gear.”