[TigersEye]

Kinda hard to see any separation from church and state when the IRS has so many pastors quivering in their pants ...

That's funny ... and interesting. Having never been a religious person, perhaps you could tell me, are churches required to be registered as 501c3's with the IRS? If not then I guess they could bite the bullet and stand on principle. Actually preach what they think instead of what's "safe."

[american spirit]

All I can say is that when these churches receive the 501c-3 approval they cease to be an independent entity and in fact are corporatized under IRS jurisdiction. It goes back to the premise of accepting the IRS granted privileges (certain tax benefits) which is exchanged for virtual silence by pastors on numerous politically volatile subjects. I can't say for sure but I believe many pastors are monitored and if more than 10% of their sermons are critical of fedgov policies their status is in danger of being revoked by the feds. There is no mandatory reason to get the 501C-3 but many churches opt for this due the obvious reasons but the downside is they're making the proverbial "deal with the devil". FYI, to get a good primer on the subject of un-registered churches do a key word search on the "Indianapolis Baptist Temple.....Pastor Greg Dixon" which is good example of how the feds come after an church the refuses to get in line with the other churhces seeking IRS benefits.