Proverbs 31:9 …

Proverbs 31:9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

In January 2014, I will present my original research on the role of the non-metropolitan black church in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections at the Southern Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Research has shown that the majority of black Americans (61%) agree that churches should “open their mouths” and express their opinions on social and political matters, though a majority of them (58%) reject the notion that their churches should go so far as to actually endorse a particular candidate (Sahgal and Smith, 2009).