Americans United passes on some poll results:

A new poll shows, once again, that most Americans don’t like politics in the pulpit.

Sixty-two percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed said political candidates shouldn’t campaign at religious services. People “don’t want to see a sermon or something presented as a sermon by a presidential candidate,” says Scott Rasmussen, whose research group Rasmussen Reports, co-sponsored the poll with the Washington Times.  

An even greater percentage, 70 percent, said they don’t want religious leaders to “suggest” whom to vote for.  I think it’s fair to say that people just want to hear a sermon when they go their houses of worship.

Just 16% want suggestions on who to vote for from their pastor. Another tidbit from the poll: 29% of the respondents were less likely to vote for Rudy Giuliani after hearing that Pat Robertson had endorsed him. 6% said they'd be more likely to vote for him.

All of which strikes me as common sense. Mrs Pastor will remember the little old ladies from our first congregation who would say they "just wanted to hear a nice sermon about God." It's difficult enough to keep a spiritual life going these days without being sucked into partisan politics on Sunday morning. The people in the pews don't want this stuff, and most pastors don't want to give it to them.

As for Uncle Pat, it's no wonder the endorsement backfired. Evangelicals think he's a fraud and a rascal, and the rest of us think he's a creep. And you know what? We're both right.