Posted on 06/20/2008 8:09:07 AM PDT by XR7
Few Americans would invite an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, but that's exactly what Minnesota pastor Gus Booth wanted when he stood behind his pulpit and told his congregation God wanted them to vote Republican.
In an election where candidates openly discuss their faith and are regularly seen in churches, and a time when pastors' sermons lead the politics sections of newspapers, one might be excused for not knowing that it is illegal for a church to endorse or oppose a candidate for president.
But when Booth addressed the members of his Warroad Community Church one Sunday in May and told them, "If you are a Christian, you cannot support a candidate like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president," he very much knew he was violating the law. He even wrote a letter to the IRS explaining what he had said and challenging the tax collection agency to do something about it.
Churches and other non-profit groups like charities and universities do not have to pay taxes. That exemption, however, comes with a price. Churches, and by extension the pastors who serve them in an official capacity, are not allowed to endorse or oppose political candidates.
Booth, 34, is one of several religious leaders who this year hope to challenge federal law by flouting the regulations about endorsing candidates from the pulpit, a move that could potentially cost them their tax-exempt status, creating financial ruin for many congregations.
The separation of church and state may be one of our democracy's most vaunted values...
Booth and other religious leaders who want to challenge the government believe their rights to freedom of speech and religion, enshrined in the First Amendment, permit them to say whatever they want, wherever they want. Those rights, they say, should trump a 54-year-old tax code...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The government doesn't have the right to tax churches, so long as they are churches. When they become arms of a political candidate then they are no longer a church.
I disagree that a pastor/priest cannot bring pressure on politicians who do not practice the tennents of their faith.
I don't believe the article says what denomination this church is a part of, I suspect it's a generic 'Christian' church, but I doubt that either Obama or Clinton are a part of it. He isn't criticizing their faith, but their politics. He's become a political organizer, not a preacher.
I don’t think Christians need to be told by their pastors that they shouldn’t vote for Nobama. We can figure that out on our own.
So far as I can tell, there's more political activism in the black churches, but I've seen some in the white churches as well.
“Churches are for worshipping God”
and how to apply it to your life, which includes not voting for Satan’s spawn
ALSO....free speech is free speech is free speech.....for Christians and conservatives too.
The real question is this:
If the tax exemption only applies to a person’s donations to this particular church, what right does the Fed have to give say one man’s donations are deductible but another man’s donations are not?
This is really an artifact of our tax code.
This is not about the state deciding to tax the offering plate money of this church or any church.
If the state ever decides to tax offering plate money, the question then becomes: Do I have an unalienable right to worship, to include worshipping God through obedience to His instructions to give tithes and offerings?
I think my pastor is very careful not to get into politics, but he doesn’t need to - I believe the majority of us are pretty conservative. I really don’t want to hear politics from the pulpit. That isn’t why I go to church.
I agree with you.
This is good. If the IRS comes after his church they also must defend their inaction going after black churches who let the democrats take the pulpits and preach politics.
“He doesn’t get a break to promote Republicans or Democrats.”
Your either naive or something else (I will refrain). The libs have been doing this forever - can you say rainbow coalition, PBS, NPR, etc........and they will continue to do this regardless. Keep living in your lala land with your head in the sand. The time has come and pass where conservatives can be silent and hope principle will prevail...marches, speeches, boycotts are what will work. Elitist attitudes that they shouldnt do this while the left has declared war on us is just plain ignorant.
“Do you require a pastor to tell you how to think on political issues?”
No, but he should be allowed to anyway. Do you really think that the church of the left including the non profits like PBS, NPR, Rainbow coalition, etc. will have their status removed? Wake up if the congregation doesnt like it then they can leave. If the preacher teaches hate and racism, ie. Wright, then the congregation is just as culpable. Free speech should not be subject to the IRS, if it is then pretty soon you wont be able to post on FR - think Im wrong? wait till McCAin or Obama get elected.
“No, but he should be allowed to anyway.”
He won’t in my congregation. It is wrong to do so. That type of action embodies every wrong that has been done over the ages in the church.
Churches that get involved in politics are usually a group of self dealing slimeballs.
“left including the non profits like PBS, NPR, Rainbow coalition”
These are not churches, they are not proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Rainbow Coalition is a group of thugs which should be jailed for extortion.
Individually Christians should however be deeply involved with politics. Just not through the pulpit or official church actions.
Christians are negligent if they are not involved, they need to be on local school boards all the way up to POTUS.
Yeah.
Like the churches of New England who the founders of the Declaration of Independence belonged to or pastored.
Slimeballs, all of them, eh?
Maybe he is if he's discussing subjects like abortion, which would be religious and not political. It could possibly be both, but it's religious first and foremost. It's one of the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt not kill".
Another Commandment "Thou shalt have no other God before me" would be considered Hate Speech if a pastor criticized Islam as a false religion. If some folks had their way, a pastor could be silenced for preaching the Bible in this case also.
“These are not churches, they are not proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.”
Your naive - the church of the left takes the form of environmentalism, abortion and race hate. Silencing churches is exactly what the good communists would want and apparantly it is ok with you. Sad commentary.
“Do you attend church to be fed political viewpoints, or to worship the living God?”
Why are you so afraid of free speech? If you dont like a pastor’s diatribe re. political views then leave. Unfortunately many in the congregation are oblivious to the positions of candidates - if a pastor wants to raise these issue then it is consistant with the Bible. You have yet to create a logical argument for why certain non-profits like Acorn, Rainbow and PBS/NPR can do this and yet churches should not. We have free association in this country (not sure how long that will be) if you dont like something then move on.
It is people like you that allowed the atrocities to go on during the Nazi era - the first thing Hitler proposed is to silence the churches. In fact it is the first thing most despot dictators impose. Sad that you cant understand how limiting freedom of speech in the church, is the first step to limiting the freedom of speech in public.
Tact doesn't seem to be one of your attributes here on this forum.
I would say that positions such as yours, have been one the reasons for the decline of the church.
We now have churches that are doing everything except what Christ commanded us to.
We have churches involved in environmentalism, “economic justice”, supporting illegal immigration, and on and on.
But that is what some want. Some want a church that is that is more like a community center and a social club.
They want the Gospel watered down, they just want to here things that make them feel good.
The idea of a pastor espousing his political views (and directing people how to vote) like Rev Wright is repugnant. I'm surprised to hear support for that viewpoint on a conservative forum.
“Tact doesn’t seem to be one of your attributes here on this forum.”
This coming from you?? LOL! Apparantly you have a problem with free speech. I suggest you start your own country where you can decide what churches can preach and what is allowed at the pulpit. There are many places in the world, including our Canadian neighbor where pastors are now silenced to speak the gospel because of viewpoints like yours.
One more thing - I have tried to point this out to you to no avail...a state limiting a church’s right to speak out, by using their tax status, is only one step away from limiting their ability to speak at all. Who is the conservative again?
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