Leading up to Election Day, public radio stations across the state are exploring how Texans’ religious beliefs affect the way they’re thinking about voting in November and the greater role of government in general. Want to share a story? Send us a voice memo.
In the center of Marfa, just across the street from the county courthouse, stands a striking, red brick building that has housed the First United Methodist Church of Marfa for more than a century.
Church members in this West Texas town can remember a time when the pews were packed on Sundays. Nowadays, a good turnout means about a dozen people attend Sunday services.
Still, this small congregation remains a tight-knit faith community. That’s possible, in part, because many here make a conscious effort to keep their political views separate from their religious life, even during this year’s high-stakes presidential election.
On a recent Sunday morning, six dedicated members gathered to sing hymns and listen to a sermon from Reverend Stephen White, who leads the church.
“We have an organ that hasn’t been used in many years,” White told Marfa Public Radio as he gestured around the church’s sanctuary, each detail showing evidence of the congregation’s declining numbers.
“We have a choir area in the back that you can see that unfortunately we don’t have a choir,” White said.
White describes himself as a centrist, but that is about all he’ll say on his political beliefs – he doesn’t think pastors should take partisan stances. In his experience, people will just leave a church if they don’t agree with something and he also doesn’t want to divide his already small congregation.
“Everybody’s talking nasty about politics and so I want to be careful. We need an alternative to that,” he said.
Asked about the upcoming election, White said he was feeling “nervous,” like a lot of people across the country right now.
“I really think that we are at a place as a nation that we’re trying to decide between very different visions of how our government should run in the future,” said White.
It’s not just the turmoil of the presidential election that he doesn’t want to comment on. In general, White doesn’t want to tell people what to believe, especially on hot button issues like abortion or immigration.
“It is more important for me to be someone safe they can come and talk to rather than to be, look this is how it should be,” he said.
The fact that Reverend White avoids focusing on political issues from the pulpit is fine – if not preferred – for church members like 86-year-old Doralene Lassiter.
