[Rummyfan]

ADF attorneys KNOW FULL WELL that Churches' "voluntary" acceptance of the IRS 501-C3 "federal contract" means that Christian Churches SURRENDER their rights to ... First Admendment "Free Speech" ...

What the ????

[jmaroneps37]

Liberalism is a mental illness. These people should NEVER be put in charge of our life - ever! What’s next mandates requiring Christians to wear cross armbands?

[Dr. Sivana]

I don’t believe there has ever been a First Amendment based challenge to the IRS regs.

[MortMan]

IBTZ.

You should consider that preaching about the biblical connotations of homosexuality is NOT “political activity”.

[Joe Boucher]

How about going after all those negro churches and pastors pushing obammy?
Homosexual agenda?
Illegal invasion?
Islam?
Etc?..

[circlecity]

"ADF attorneys KNOW FULL WELL that Churches' "voluntary" acceptance of the IRS 501-C3 "federal contract" means that Christian Churches SURRENDER their rights to ... First Admendment "Free Speech" ... when practiced behind a "tax-exempt church pulpit". Period."

Nonsense. There is not a single court case to uphold this IRS regulation. The IRS knows the regulation is so blatently unconstitutional it has never even tried to enforce it in court. Not one. single. time.

[oblomov]

Churches should go underground

[SatinDoll]

How can marriage be political? Oh, that’s right! The queers have made it a political issue, haven’t they?

Marriage is not in the U.S.Constitution. Neither is abortion. Both are issues that should be handled by the States and not by the Federal Government.

[woweeitsme]

I belong to a small, evangelical church, and taking away the tax exempt status may kill our church. Our pastor DOES preach the Bible and that homosexuality is a sin if acted on.

It’s just a matter of time, folks. I wouldn’t doubt that there are already “spies” in Bible teaching churches that are reporting on pastors’ sermons.

[longfellow]

This mayor is just following her instincts. Remember the first brown shirts were queers.

[C. Edmund Wright]

You are a victim of an assumption you’ve bought into. Suddenly, you are a Christian “compliance” officer - instead of the real point - which is that having this tax status should not quell a group’s free speech. You’ve also swallowed the assumption that preaching on homosexuality is political speech.

There are cases to be made for churches to opt out of 501 3C designations, but not this one.

[Jack Hammer]

On the face of it, this seems an extremely bizarre position in direct contravention of the First Amendment.

What on earth is going on here????

[Arlis]

Have to say I agree completely.

If Christians are giving for tax benefit reasons, their motives are questionable.

The true church will only benefit from jettisoning all claims for tax-exempt status - and then can follow the Lord faithfully without state interference......while this has always been true in our nation, with the Marxists/atheists now ruling, it’s time to cut the tax-exempt claim. And it should have really been done long ago.

Until the time comes - which may be close - where the state begins arresting and outlawing Christian belief specifically..........

[McBuff]

The fallacy in this thinking is that the government is “giving” a tax exemption. . .as opposed to the reality that the Federal government has no jurisdiction over the “free exercise” of religion.

[Myrddin]

Thus, if you are NOT at 501C3 organization, you are entitled to engage in political speech and have a seat at the table in acts of government. Government is infringing upon your civil rights if you're a taxpayer. We need a pastor who not using 501C3 to file a civil rights lawsuit against the mayor. It may take a few to tie down that tyrant.

[Biggirl]

It is getting close to “lock and load time.”

[TexasFreeper2009]

He had best start with the Black Democratic churches, because no church is more outspoken against homo’s than a black church

[Servant of the Cross]

On October 7 [2012], pastors across the nation addressed issues during their Sunday sermons that should cause the IRS to come after them for "political speech." And that was precisely their intention. Close to 1600 pastors and priests-about three times the number as last year-signed up to give messages that would address the positions of political candidates on key issues of concern to biblically minded Christians.

But this exercise in free speech violated an Internal Revenue Service rule referred to as the Johnson Amendment. And that was the goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday. By speaking directly to specific candidates' positions, these pastors were hoping to generate a court case that will challenge the constitutionality of the rule. Any pastors get investigated by the IRS for their challenge its rule will be represented free of charge by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Ken Klukowski, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council wrote, (Breitbart.com, 10/8/2012), "This is a fascinating form of civil disobedience. Although churches are quick to obey the biblical command in Romans 13:1 (among many other verses) to submit to authority, these pastors also understand that in this country the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and that any federal statute violating the Constitution is not the law and lacks any authority."

Pulpit Freedom Sunday was launched by ADF in 2008 in an effort to see the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional. That year 33 pastors challenged the rule. In 2009, 84 pastors did. In 2010 there were a hundred, and last year 539 pastors sent their sermons to the IRS.

So far, the IRS has not touched any of these challenges. The excuse seems to be "lack of manpower." As the liberal Huffington Post declared (10/5/2012): "…despite what's in the rules, the agency continues to struggle to do anything about those who defy the law. In 2009, the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ruled the IRS no longer had the appropriate staff to investigate places of worship after a reorganization changed who in the agency had the authority to launch investigations. New procedures for conducting church audits have been pending since 2009, which has left the IRS virtually impotent in conducting any kind of new investigations."

The rule in question was passed by Congress in 1954 as part of an effort by then Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson to muzzle non-profit organizations that were opposing his re-election. His primary concern was silencing his conservative opponents, not pastors in pulpits.

According to Stanley, "The real question is this: When has the government ever been allowed to condition any government-recognized status (such as tax-exempt status) on the surrender of a constitutionally protected freedom?"

[Zeppo]

So the Mayor of Houston is an IRS agent?

Interesting...

[Theophilus]

The Time has Come ... American Christian Churches ... to JETTISION theEVIL of church "tax-exempt status" ...

I agree, but regardless of whether a particular church has already capitulated to this, they must still speak out against sin and they must resist any government attempt to regulate or prosecute them.