Nobody's ever accused Rabbi Steven Foster of pulling his punches.

Foster didn't disappoint when, last month, he launched into a sermon at Congregation Emanuel suggesting that racism could explain negative feelings in the Jewish community toward Barack Obama.

Uh-oh. Time to duck.

"I knew what was coming afterwards," recalled Foster, a longtime activist in liberal causes. Although "left of center" would be a good description of the congregation, Foster said, "some people were quite angry."

And you thought only the candidates had to tough out a campaign season. For religious leaders, walking the campaign trail this year has had its own pitfalls.

Many preachers have felt the IRS hammer hanging over them, and the potential loss of their tax exemption if they even appear to be endorsing a candidate. (Fearing to be misunderstood, it made some decline to talk here about the election.) Nationally, some churches have decided to be deliberately outspoken just to challenge the long-held IRS dictum .

Liberal or conservative, the economy sparked a problem out of nowhere. Then there are the bruised feelings.

Foster said his racism sermon made one member so angry that he went to the Temple Emanuel board to complain. Foster, who's known the family for ages, conceded he was hurt: "Yeah, they could have called me. . . . Sometimes people get so angry they don't realize we have feelings, too."

Yet he believes he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't speak his mind: "I always devote at least one sermon to a contemporary topic. You can't remain silent when this stuff is going on. Otherwise, what the hell am I doing here?"

Oh, and there's another thing - his path is even trickier because he's one of the national co-chairs of Rabbis for Obama.

"I have the right to do that too," he said. "That's the thing people don't get - as individuals we have the right to our political point of view as long as we don't endorse from the pulpit."

Other congregations may not have had such drama, but, whether liberal or conservative, there's a sense this year that politics, plus the economy, is leading the country into uncharted waters.

"We're careful; we don't tell people who to vote for," says the Rev. Calvin Wittman, a former TV news anchor turned pastor who has served Applewood Baptist Church in Lakewood for almost 10 years.

Like many congregations, Applewood has been holding regular special services to pray for the election - "not for one or another candidate," Wittman said, "but to ask God's guidance and his blessing."

Asked whether he had election-year anecdotes to share, either serious or lighthearted, Wittman, whose members generally favor McCain, didn't hesitate.

"There's no lightheartedness about it," he said. "This election is monumental. As Christians we have to let scripture speak to us about what God says about these issues. Does God love unborn children or does he want them to be aborted? Should we dissolve the traditional family? The Supreme Court will be radically changed no matter who is president. Both parties are playing for keeps this time."

The question is - what will "keeps" look like? Now, the economy has added a twist.

"We talk about fear a lot," said the Rev. Bill Calhoun, a veteran on the staff of Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. "There's a lot of holding our breath, that this is a scary time. We have to trust how this will unfold. so we talk about moving from fear to faith."

Montview, "a pretty progressive congregation," as Calhoun puts it, has over the years rostered such political names as Romer, DeGette and Strickland. Its members are active in ballot issues and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

Calhoun, who supports Obama, said Presbyterians follow a basic path: "Take time to listen to the issues and find your own truth."

A week ago at Arvada's conservative evangelical Faith Bible Chapel, 600 people came to a special prayer service to pray about the election - "and that says to me there's a concern on people's hearts," said Pastor George Morrison, a McCain supporter.

No, they don't pray for one candidate - "If we pray for one, we pray for both." At stake is a concept larger than any person: "Nations based on Judeo-Christian ethics are the free-est nations on earth. We're not just pushing to get our way; we value our democracy and believe it should be based on Judeo-Christian ethics."

Back in the rabbi's office, the politics are different, but the issues of democracy still rank as crucial: "I struggle between saying what I think I ought to say and what I know may be perceived by my congregation as inappropriate," Foster says. "I can't help that. It's just part of the tension."