This is Pastor Tim’s newspaper article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Monday, Nov 15, 2020
Can I say who I want as the next president of the United States? I want the person who received 270 or more electoral college votes to be the next president. I was certainly rooting for a side like so many other people were, but now that the election is over, I just want the candidate who was elected according to the rules to be sworn in as president.
My question is, do we know which candidate that is? Do we know which candidate has 270 or more electoral college votes? I know that one candidate has been declared the winner and has given an acceptance speech, but this election was incredibly close. Are we certain that he was the winner? Because last time I checked, the Associated Press was not the entity designed to declare the winner. So, the AP may have projected the winner, but does that make him the winner? What if the AP projects the winner of the Super Bowl at the beginning of the fourth quarter? Do we not need to play the last 15 minutes of the game?
We live in a contentious enough time right now and the last thing I want is another four years of hearing about stolen elections and political conspiracies. The only way we are going to be able to avoid another four years of heartburn is if the winner is verified by every legal process available to us. The system was designed to sort elections out. This is not the time to jump the gun and rush the process, particularly when we had widespread mail-in voting, something that has never existed outside of limited absentee ballots in special circumstances. With this rule change, we had more ballots cast than in any election in the history of the world. Doesn’t it make sense that we might want to allow the process to work out before we declare a winner?
I don’t think the results of the election will be changed from what they have already declared to be because it certainly looks like we have our winner. So why be in such a hurry to declare a winner? Why not wait until everything plays out and there are no more legal challenges? Can you imagine what will happen now if the one of the legal challenges does end up changing the result of the election? There will be no end to the amount of questions asked and we will have to endure 4 more years of whining and moaning all because we couldn’t wait a few weeks to make sure we got it right.
I am fully behind the President of the United States because I am a patriot. I may not agree with every policy, but I believe in this country and I want to do anything and everything I can to get everyone of any political bent to believe in the promise of America. The worst thing that could happen to undermine our country is to have a president with a shadow cast over the administration right from the start. If we want to assure people who voted against the president-elect that the process was fair, then the process needs to be as transparent as possible. I know that will not convince everyone, but it will convince a lot of people.
I have no hope at all that there will come a time that everyone will just accept the results of this election. There will be investigations ongoing for years to come. We know that because of the standard that was set in 2016. But it would have helped calm concerns of a lot of people if the winner took his victory lap after the final score was established. He earned his victory lap; I just see no good reason not to wait until the score was final to take it.
No matter which side you voted for, please remember that we are all in this together.
Dear Pastor Benjamin
I regret that I read your article on the election in this weeks newspaper because it has posed too many questions for me as to what a church affiliation should really mean. Do I have to agree with the pastor on issues that affect all of us in this society and not just in the Methodist Church? I do not agree with what I take away from your comment that you support the President of the United States because you are a patriot. Perhaps you mean you would support Joe Biden as the President of the United States because you are a patriot. I believe Joe Biden is a patriot and will serve this country as president honorably and wisely and those who supported him are patriots. I realize your articles are from a private citizen and not as a representative of Wayne Street church and like all of us you are entitled to your beliefs.
It is my belief as a private citizen that persons who voted absentee this year did not commit fraud nor did election officials who counted ballots. Regardless of the Associated Press or Fox News or any news outlet calling the election it certainly is consensus that Joe Biden is President elect and deserves to have the necessary briefings that a president elect is entitled to and needs before January 20.
Pastor Benjamin I will listen carefully and respectfully to you when you give your sermons and give your views on canon law.
I am sorry that this political turn has caused me discomfort and I regret that I felt it necessary to write this message. I have had six years at Wayne Street Church and was deeply honored to serve as a liturgist this past year. At no time as anyone made me uncomfortable about political beliefs nor are they discussed among my friends and acquaintances and I have felt that I have belonged in this church.
Sincerely yours,
Rita Cassel
Rita, I think you need to go back and read the article again because I didn’t say anything like what you are describing here. My only point was to say that because of all of the questions there was in 2016 around who was elected president and the 3 years of everyone questioning who the president was, I don’t want that. At this point, I don’t care who it is. If Biden needs to be briefed, then so be it. I have no problem with that. What I don’t want is 4 more years of one side or the other fighting the results of the election like we have had since 2016. There is nothing wrong with taking time and making sure all the questions are answered. I don’t agree in any way with the press deciding who won before the process works itself out. I firmly believe that Joe Biden was elected and as soon as that is verified, that is who I want to have as the next president. I would say the exact same thing no matter what the results were. I am just tired of everyone being so hateful to each other and not listening and both sides are guilty of that.