The Rev. Raphael Warnock sworn in with two others as new senator
Warnock was sworn in with Georgia’s second new senator, Jon Ossoff, who is the state’s first Jewish senator, and Alex Padilla, California’s first Latino senator. In this image from video, Vice President Kamala Harris swears in Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, from left; Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California; and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, on the floor of the Senate, Jan. 6, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Senate Television via AP)
January 20, 2021
(RNS) Raphael Warnock, the Atlanta pastor long known as “the Rev.,” received a new moniker “Senator” as he was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday (Jan. 20).
Image: Jessica McGowan / Getty Images
Raphael Warnock
Raphael Warnock has won one of Georgia’s two runoff elections for US Senate: Will he be both a pastor and a politician?
Yes, says, Michael Brewer, a spokesman for the minister’s campaign, “if elected he will remain senior pastor.”
Marla Frederick, professor of religion and culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, told Religion News Service that an active pastor would not be unknown in the political life on Capitol Hill. “There are models for doing both/and,” she said.
“The pastorate is one of these careers, these callings, if you will, where you have to stay in such close contact with everyday people and their concerns,” said Frederick.