Posted on 03/10/2008 2:23:06 PM PDT by Winged Hussar
The News: Sen. Barack Obama's Chicago church has been promoting him -- and criticizing his rival Hillary Clinton -- from the pulpit.
• The Issue: Has the church violated federal law that restricts a church's political activity?
• What's At Stake: The church's tax-exempt status and its ability to raise money.
Mr. Wright, who will be ending his 36-year tenure as the church's senior pastor in June, has previously been criticized for comments deriding President George Bush and lauding Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Now Mr. Wright's and his successor's repeated enthusiastic promotion of their famous parishioner may be running afoul of federal tax law, which says churches can endanger their tax-exempt status by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Viral E-mail that describes how Obama misused his own church's tax exempt resources to promote his candidacy: http://husaria.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/obama-exploited-betrayed-his-own-church-viral-email/ (placed in the public domain, please circulate)
The following argues that Obama's misuse of the United Church of Christ's resources were not accidental or even reckless, but actually deliberate and premeditated (as shown by the fact that he wrote the offending speech in advance as opposed to speaking off the cuff).
http://husaria.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/obamas-premeditated-misuse-of-united-church-of-christ-resources/
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We just saw the BBC version of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," and we think the actress who portrayed the White Witch overacted the part--the challenge of portraying a villain is to make the audience think you aren't acting. They should have put Hillary Clinton in instead because no "acting" would have been required!
Exactly. And by remaining a parishioner he offers not only tacit approval for Wright's racist views, he condones them.
Of course, this would never have been brought up if Obama’s opponent was a Republican. Then it would be OK to rant against the opponent! It happens all the time.
Impossible! Only conservative Republican pastors are held to that standard!
Churches should be churches, not PACs.
Separation of church and state doesn’t exist if it bites a Democrat’s butt.
The IRS should not be involved in censoring the pulpit.
Re: “The IRS should not be involved in censoring the pulpit.”
Yes it should. If I give money to the GOP candidate’s campaign or the NRA Political Victory Fund, I can’t write it off on my taxes. If MoveOn.org & Co. donate to Obama’s church, they can take it as a tax deduction. Therefore, if Obama’s church wants to campaign for Obama, it shouldn’t be tax deductible.
1) Tax them, though defining income in this case is difficult
2) don't tax them because of their structure
Historically, the US has recognized that many nonprofit provide valuable services to the community and as such, have not been taxed.
The last question is taxation of dollars given to nonprofit. Since the money is no longer available to the original owner of the money (i.e. no retainer clause or other direct benefit) then the money should be deductible.
It should not matter HOW or for what PURPOSE the nonprofit uses their donations. It is no longer available to the original owner.
They violate the law, but nothing will happen, because of the double standard.
If he is not ... and the church members wish to pay large salaries, what business is it of the IRS as long as the money is properly reported.
look on just about any street corner for the church of your choice. owned and operated by any one that can say JEEEEEESSSSUUUSSSS or PBUH. And as the leader of the church you can spend it any way you want too. Or do you think the rip off churches are helping any one but themselves to your tax free money.
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