Before it went wrong, The Rev. Jonathan Barker’s plan was to stand up last Sunday at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis. and do something that had been off limits for 70 years.
He would endorse a political candidate from the pulpit.
Federal law bars churches from making endorsements, but last month the I.R.S. appeared to create an exception, saying the law should not apply to preachers speaking to their own congregations.
Pastor Barker, an outspoken liberal, was ready for the change. He had written a sermon urging Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, to run for president in 2028.
His denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was not so ready.
As a result, when Sunday came, Pastor Barker was no longer the pastor of Grace Lutheran.
He still gave his sermon, saying Ms. Ocasio-Cortez would be a “what-would-Jesus-do candidate.” But he was speaking to nine people in a borrowed event space, after abruptly resigning his post last Thursday. His former church went on without him — and without any endorsements — across town.
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