Sounds too good to be true - but there's always the hope.
Some black clergymen see no good choice between the two presidential candidates: Romney is a Mormon, and Barack Obama is in favor of gay marriage.
Many black pastors say their congregations are asking how a true Christian could back same-sex marriage, and that they are now advising their parishioners to stay home on Election Day. Obama won 95% of black voters in 2008, and will almost certainly get an overwhelming majority in 2012. However, as tight as the race is, any loss of votes hurts him.
Reverend A. R. Bernard, founder of the mostly African-American Christian Cultural Center in New York, is not sure how will vote this year.
"When President Obama made the public statement on gay marriage (in May 2012), I think it put a question in our minds as to what direction he's taking the nation."
Rev. Bernard's endorsement is much sought after by politicians in the Northeast, and his lack of support for Obama is telling.
Reverend Jamal-Harrison Bryant, founder of the Empowerment Network, who is working with 30 predominantly black denominations nationwide to register voters, says that this is the first time that he is aware of black pastors encouraging their followers NOT to vote. Bryant, who opposes gay marriage, said the president's position on same-sex marriage is "at the heart" of the problem.
Reverend George Nelson, senior pastor of Grace Fellowship Church, said he participated in a nationwide conference call with other African-American pastors the day after Obama came out in support of gay marriage. Nelson claimed Obama's statement caused a "storm" in the African-American community, and that black ministers had resolved to oppose gay marriage.
One prominent black minister, the Rev. Dwight McKissic, says Obama's support for same-gender marriage "betrayed the Bible and the black church." He did not support Obama in 2008, but can't bring himself to support Romney in 2012. On Election Day, McKissic says he "plans to go fishing."
news.yahoo.com . . .
IMHO, I don't think Obama has any chance of losing the black vote. He could come out as a Muslim and declare he wants Putin to bang his booty-hole on public TV, and it wouldn't matter.
