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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican Platform Calls for Repeal of Ban on Political Organizing by Churches
the republican dream of a theocracy lives on....
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Early Wednesday morning, Donald Trump called Jerry Falwell Jr. and woke him up with news the Liberty University president has long been waiting to hear. The new Republican platform, the GOP nominee told Falwell, calls for the repeal of a half-century-old tax law prohibiting churches and tax-exempt institutions from political organizing.
He was so excited, Falwell says. After 30 years of the so-called conservative leaders who have been elected by evangelicals, none of them thought to advocate for the repeal of the Johnson amendment, giving evangelical leaders political free speech. He thinks it is going to be a revolution in the Christian world.
The Johnson Amendment, as the 1954 law is often called, is a U.S. tax code rule preventing tax-exempt organizations, such as churches and educational institutions, from endorsing political candidates. At the time, then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was running for re-election, and he and other members of Congress pushed the amendment to stop support for their political opponents campaigns, George Washington University law professor Robert Tuttle has explained. Many have also argued the amendment served to stop black churches from organizing to support the civil rights movement.
All section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office, the IRS explains of the rule on its website. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
He was so excited, Falwell says. After 30 years of the so-called conservative leaders who have been elected by evangelicals, none of them thought to advocate for the repeal of the Johnson amendment, giving evangelical leaders political free speech. He thinks it is going to be a revolution in the Christian world.
The Johnson Amendment, as the 1954 law is often called, is a U.S. tax code rule preventing tax-exempt organizations, such as churches and educational institutions, from endorsing political candidates. At the time, then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was running for re-election, and he and other members of Congress pushed the amendment to stop support for their political opponents campaigns, George Washington University law professor Robert Tuttle has explained. Many have also argued the amendment served to stop black churches from organizing to support the civil rights movement.
All section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office, the IRS explains of the rule on its website. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
http://time.com/4406567/republican-platform-johnson-amendment-churches-political-organizing/
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Republican Platform Calls for Repeal of Ban on Political Organizing by Churches (Original Post)
spanone
Jul 2016
OP
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)1. Then they should lose their 501-c3....
they should be paying federal state & local taxes Would be an interesting court case .
spanone
(135,844 posts)4. agreed!
sueh
(1,826 posts)5. Abolutely! Do away with their tax exempt status.
ck4829
(35,077 posts)2. "Except Muslims and Unitarian Universalists, can't have THEM getting organized now"
They'll be sure to add some sort of crazy exception.
JohnnyLib2
(11,212 posts)3. Rec because
This and all its implications need to be known. 😡
spanone
(135,844 posts)6. The Republican platform is extremist – and so is anyone who supports it
While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two, Tony Perkins wrote on the Family Research Council website in 2010. It is a homosexual problem.
Such views are perhaps to be expected from the president of the FRC, a fiercely anti-LGBTQ organization that, using faith as a justification, has propagated the insidious view that gay people are sexual predators.
Mainstream Republicans might deem Perkins a fringe character. At the very least, they would probably want to distance themselves from a man who once purchased Klansman David Dukes email list for use in a political campaign in Louisiana (Perkins now claims he wasnt aware of the mailing lists connection to Duke).
And yet, its Perkins and his ilk who have emerged as the GOPs moral compass in crafting the party platform ahead of the national convention in Cleveland. Perkins, an RNC delegate from Louisiana, succeeded in his push to add language to the platform supporting conversion therapy, a practice banned in several states that re-educates children to become cisgender and heterosexual.
Such views are perhaps to be expected from the president of the FRC, a fiercely anti-LGBTQ organization that, using faith as a justification, has propagated the insidious view that gay people are sexual predators.
Mainstream Republicans might deem Perkins a fringe character. At the very least, they would probably want to distance themselves from a man who once purchased Klansman David Dukes email list for use in a political campaign in Louisiana (Perkins now claims he wasnt aware of the mailing lists connection to Duke).
And yet, its Perkins and his ilk who have emerged as the GOPs moral compass in crafting the party platform ahead of the national convention in Cleveland. Perkins, an RNC delegate from Louisiana, succeeded in his push to add language to the platform supporting conversion therapy, a practice banned in several states that re-educates children to become cisgender and heterosexual.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/14/republican-platform-extremist-conversion-therapy-donald-trump
Revised GOP platform includes measure for Trump's Mexican 'border wall,' endorsement of mogul's plan to ban Muslims, but lacks gun control reform
Here's another way of walling yourself off from mainstream America.
In a list of priorities straight out of the 1950s, the GOP formalized Donald Trumps insane plan to build a Mexican border wall as part of its official party platform while also doing away with LGBT rights and favoring Bibles in public schools.
Republican delegates gathering in Cleveland ahead of the partys nominating convention approved a draft of language for the formal GOP platform that proposes a wall that would cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
In a tweet Wednesday, Trump wrote: New GOP platform now includes language that supports the border wall. We will build the wall and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
In a list of priorities straight out of the 1950s, the GOP formalized Donald Trumps insane plan to build a Mexican border wall as part of its official party platform while also doing away with LGBT rights and favoring Bibles in public schools.
Republican delegates gathering in Cleveland ahead of the partys nominating convention approved a draft of language for the formal GOP platform that proposes a wall that would cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
In a tweet Wednesday, Trump wrote: New GOP platform now includes language that supports the border wall. We will build the wall and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican-party-platform-draft-calls-trump-mexico-wall-article-1.2709481