A Call to the Pragmatic Churches
Pragmatism is Not Compromise.
It is the refusal to burn down the house to win the argument.
Two generations ago, a bargain was struck in the name of a single issue. Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract With America turned that bargain into a governing theory — and the single-issue voter has been paying the bill ever since.
The receipt is an authoritarian White House, a Congress that will not speak, and a Supreme Court that declined to be a check on authoritarianism when the moment came. Along the way, the rural congregations that held this country together quietly emptied out.
The Honor Roll
Churches that paid the price
These are the denominations that chose the red letters of the Bible — the actual words of Jesus — over the political winnings on offer.
- The United Church of Christ — ordained an openly gay minister in 1972, three years before most Americans had heard the phrase Religious Right. The great-great-grandchildren of the Puritans got there first.
- The Episcopal Church — consecrated Gene Robinson bishop in 2003. Lost the ACNA schism. Kept going.
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — voted in 2009 to ordain partnered gay and lesbian clergy. Lost the NALC. Drew on Luther's own doctrine that the church must not try to run the state.
- The Presbyterian Church (USA) — changed ordination standards in 2011, authorized same-sex marriages in 2014, revised the Book of Order in 2015. Lost ECO and others. The denomination that writes things down carefully got there carefully.
- The United Methodist Church — stopped disciplining pastors who performed same-sex marriages by 2016, held together through the 2019 Traditional Plan, watched the Global Methodist Church depart, ratified the change formally in 2024. The longest road. Arguably the most consequential sorting.
Every one of these denominations is smaller today than it was before it chose. Every one of them paid in congregations, in buildings, in pledged giving, in Sunday morning attendance.
They paid because the red letters require it.
The Showcase
Every church. Every service club. Five priorities each.
Between May 5 and May 15, every congregation and community organization across House District 89 is invited to name what matters most — and every candidate on the ballot will answer for it before November.
The first twelve organizations to register receive a five-minute oral presentation slot. Every candidate hoping to be on the November ballot will be invited to the event — not to speak, but to listen.
