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Related: About this forum1,600 pastors broke law by backing political candidates in sermons
http://americablog.com/2012/11/religious-leaders-across-us-pushing-politics-forcing-court-case.htmlhttp://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/04/14703656-pulpit-politics-pastors-endorse-candidates-thumbing-noses-at-the-irs?lite
from the americablog link:
About 1,600 pastors across the country violated a 58-year-old ban on political endorsements by churches in October by explicitly backing political candidates in their Sunday sermons, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Ariz., a conservative Christian legal organization behind a campaign called Pulpit Freedom Sunday.
The 1954 law they are challenging prohibits charitable groups, including most churches, from making candidate endorsements, but doesnt bar ministers, priests, rabbis and imams from speaking out on other ballot issues, like voter initiatives, or organizing get-out-the-vote drives and education efforts around elections themselves.
The alliance is seeking to force a court showdown over the constitutionality of the law, violation of which can cost churches their tax-exempt status. Since Oct. 7, the original Pulpit Freedom Day, many pastors who participated in the protest have posted their remarks online or sent them to the Internal Revenue Service, essentially daring the agency charged with enforcing the prohibition to put up or shut up.
from the usnews link:
The Alliance Defending Freedom asserts that it's working to further the rights of all religious groups, but it's an explicitly Christian organization, with a heavy representation of evangelical members and leaders. One clue to its philosophy is that it made it Pulpit Freedom "Sunday" choosing the Christian Sabbath, instead of more broadly embracing the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and the Muslim day of worship (Friday).
So it's no surprise that an unscientific survey of the posted endorsements indicates that they skewed overwhelmingly in favor of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, as in these representative samples:
In a guest sermon at Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, Calif., Wayne Gruden, a professor and theologian at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, recommended that "all citizens" vote for Romney "and Republicans in general" (the endorsement begins at 59:58):
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1,600 pastors broke law by backing political candidates in sermons (Original Post)
trailmonkee
Nov 2012
OP
IMO giving churches tax exempt status violates separation of church and state.
SunSeeker
Nov 2012
#2
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)1. This shit ain't right.
SunSeeker
(51,571 posts)2. IMO giving churches tax exempt status violates separation of church and state.
And yet we support churches against out will by letting them suck off the taxpayers. It's total bullshit. Them endorsing candidates is just adding insult to injury.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)6. I totally agree. Churches should HAVE TO PAY TAXES
I'm sick of their propaganda. The Southern Baptist Churches are the worst, because they control the south. Every aspect of it. It's pathetic how much power they have been given through the years.
Bake
(21,977 posts)10. Time for them to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's."
... To be biblical about it.
Bake
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)3. I HATE religion
And I hate it more when they try to put it in our government. Fuck them ALL.
CoboWowbo
(32 posts)4. Typical...
Comments on the video are disabled.
NorthCarolina
(11,197 posts)5. IRS not enforcing rules on churches and politics
So apparently it's no big deal for some reason.
Read about it here if you're interested: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765614668/IRS-not-enforcing-rules-on-churches-and-politics.html?pg=all
oldbanjo
(690 posts)7. Tax the rich and the rich churches.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)8. No more tax exempt status for religion