Clergy Trusted Less Than...(GULP!)...Politicians?

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Here in Alaska we have a hotly contested battle for a Senate seat with three candidates in the race running just about even.  But each of them has their problems.

The Democrat, Scott McAdams suffers from...well...being a Democrat in a very Republican state...that and a lack of experience beyond being Mayor of a small town.

The Republican, Tea Party-Approved candidate, Joe Miller suffers from his connection to the Tea Party and questionable ethics (such as a dishonesty in his job as lawyer and then trying to cover it up).

Republican write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski suffers from her inability to abide by the results of the Republican primary, which she lost to Joe Miller.

There is a certain amount of nastiness between the two Republican camps and it's clear in our own town that supporters of these two candidates have had a field day taking down and/or vandalizing the campaign signs of the other.

It's a heated...yet very interesting race.  And, of course, we're bombarded by mailers and robocalls on a regular basis.  There are other races going on and there will be more to vote on when Tuesday comes.  However, these are the folks getting most of the attention.

As this is happening around us and as we struggle with what it means to try to choose between candidates when we're not sure how trustworthy they are, us clergy have received a bit of bad news and it came to me in the form of an article by Michael Jenkins, President and Professor of Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary:

According to a survey conducted by “Scientific American,” “religious authorities” rank at the bottom of eight categories of persons trusted “to provide accurate information about important issues in society.” On a 1 (strongly distrust) to 5 (strongly trust) scale, clergy (at 1.55) ranked below “elected officials” (1.76), “companies” (1.78), “journalists” (2.57), and “citizen groups” (2.69).

I want to reiterate this point, just so we don’t miss it: ministers rank below politicians in believability and trustworthiness.

Maybe we have one piece of the puzzle why folks are not beating a path to the doors of the church...

Clearly, those of us who are in ministry have some fences to mend. Or, to reach back to the jargon of the sixties when the phrase was first coined, we have a “credibility gap” that needs to be bridged. The only way to gain trust is to earn it.

So, we are left to ponder why this is the case?   The media?  A couple bad apples spoiling the whole barrel?  A disconnect between the teachings of Jesus and the behavior of those in the church?

And, regardless of the reasons behind it, we are left to try to figure out what to do about it.  My take is that we are left to slowly but surely work on real relationships with persons where our trustworthiness is shown and lived out.  I'm not sure anything else will be able to bridge this divide.