In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this Sunday, on the Life Heart megachurch, a whole bunch of individuals filed in for a 9 am service. A desk on the suitable aspect of the entryway stood beneath an indication studying “Voter’s Information Right here.” Congregants manning the tables requested others whether or not they’d already voted, and handed out pattern ballots for close by counties—Dauphin, Lancaster, York, Lebanon. On the desk, there was additionally an election information from the evangelical journal Choice, that includes an image of Vice President Kamala Harris subsequent to former president Donald Trump with a banner studying “Socialism vs. Freedom.”
One other pamphlet, titled the PA Household Voter Information—created by the evangelical Pennsylvania Household Council, which describes it as a “nonpartisan, informative information” for candidates operating for workplace in Pennsylvania—was additionally out there. Households milled round, grabbing espresso at an in-house café earlier than becoming a member of a worship service that might rival many small rock live shows.
“Tuesday, go vote,” Pastor Ben Evenson advised congregants on the service. “Let your voice be heard, and let God deal with the main points. We love this nation, God loves this nation.”
Simply two weeks earlier than, the church had performed host to centibillionaire and X proprietor Elon Musk as he hosted a city corridor in help of Trump. There, whereas answering questions on the occasion, he quipped (once more) that “nobody’s even bothering to attempt to kill Kamala Harris” as a result of she is a “puppet.”
The day after Musk’s go to, the church’s founder, Charles Inventory, gave a sermon entitled “Find out how to Vote Like Jesus,” during which he discouraged congregants from voting third celebration or writing in a candidate, saying, “The satan will probably be glad you didn’t vote.” Inventory additionally advised congregants that “a flawed chief who does good issues is best than struggling beneath Ahab and Jezebel, who’re depraved,” and argued that authorities had stepped out of its position by “redefining marriage” and “erasing gender,” which he known as a “plague upon our nation.” He additionally advised worshippers a couple of petition from Musk’s America PAC supporting the First and Second Amendments, and Musk’s (presumably unlawful) $1 million per day giveaway within the days main as much as the election.
“It was phenomenal,” he mentioned of internet hosting Musk’s go to. “It was an honor to host a wider neighborhood right here, and be a blessing.”
A congregant who spoke to WIRED mentioned that some members of the church did attend the Musk occasion, and that he felt there was some alignment with Musk when it got here to problems with constitutional rights and free speech.
Throughout the nation in Clark County, Nevada, simply after 8 am within the low-ceilinged room at Calvary Pink Rock Church simply east of the Las Vegas strip, the band onstage was ending its set, the lights went up, and Pastor Gregg Seymour strode onto stage, dressed as a garbageman.
