Big Brother Church Watch Announced (checking liberals for political activity)

ROAC ^

[Cedar]

Big Brother Church Watch Announced

Washington, DC

William J. Murray, the president of the Religious Freedom Action Coalition, a social conservative group, announced the formation of a group to monitor traditionally liberal churches for political activity. The new group, Big Brother Church Watch, functions primarily through its Internet site at www.RatOutaChurch.org!

The newly formed organization has already placed monitors in politically active Metropolitan Community, Unitarian/Universalist, and AME churches. AME churches are predominately African-American and their pastors frequently endorse liberal Democrat candidates from the pulpit. Volunteer workers will also be monitoring Internet sites of Democratic candidates and following them to churches where they have announced they will speak. If pastors allow the Democrat candidates to speak and do not invite their opponents for equal time, the church will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service as a "violator."

"When Big Brother turns a church in to the IRS we will have documented proof that it has assisted a political candidate or a political party," said the new group’s leader. “We have established a state of the art Internet site to gather the information from our volunteer monitors.”

Murray says that a pastor would not even have to mention a candidate’s name, for example Senator John Kerry, in order for a complaint to be lodged with the IRS. He stated that the monitors will be watching closely for liberal “code words.” "If a pastor tells the congregation to vote 'pro-choice' or for candidates that back nationalized health care or "taxing the rich" he is really telling them to vote for Democrats. If a pastor uses the words 'racist' or 'confederate,' referring to any Republican, he is telling the congregation to vote Democrat. If the pastor tells the congregation to go see Fahrenheit 9-11 or says he appreciates the work of Michael Moore, he is telling them to vote Democrat.

Murray said these are reasonable assumptions considering the list given to operatives of the AU and the ACLU. They are told to report churches as "violators" to the IRS if the pastor says to vote for candidates who are pro-life or against "gay" marriage because those are Republican code words. "Well," said Murray, "There are plenty of liberal code words that are used from the pulpit that tell members of congregations that they have to vote Democrat or wind up in Hell. What applies to conservative churches should apply to liberal churches as well." Murray said the fight over gay marriage and the Federal Marriage Amendment has influenced some very liberal churches to jump into the political fray, with warnings to their congregations about conservative candidates who are “homophobic” and who are guilty of “hate speech” if they support traditional marriage. Members are urged to vote for candidates (mostly Democrats) who espouse “diversity” and “inclusiveness.”

With the efforts of Big Brother Church Watch, Barry Lynn's Americans United and the ACLU, Murray estimates that the IRS will have received letters of complaints against perhaps as many as half of the nation's Churches before the election in November.

[Cedar]

Since the ACLU is watching the conservative churches for activity, I guess this is only equal treatment.

But the sad part is government (IRS) now has control of churches (and what is preached). This is no better than China's policy!

Christian churches need to forget about their non-profit status and give it up-- so they can continue to preach freely and not be told by the government what to preach or not preach.

[GeronL]

BIG BUMP

[ladyinred]

Tit for Tat so to speak. Amazing how the democrats go campaign from the pulpit, ala Clinton/Gore, yet scream bloody murder if a Republican so much as visits a Christian college. Good for this new group!

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[Politicalmom]

www.RatOutaChurch.org ??

Is this for real??

[dufekin]

In the world of the Democratic Party, to which all shrill Lawyers belong, Churches are permitted without penalty to promote Democracy, which is defined as Communism, Treason, Feticide, and the Political Party that expouses these ideals, the Democratic Party.

According to the Schedule of Emanations and Penumbras to the United States Constitution, no Speech, Religion, Political Advertisement, or Book are Constitutionally prohibited if it opposes Democracy, as heretofore interpreted. It shall be the Responsibility of the President to enforce this provision by using all necessary force to suppress the promulgation of any Prohibited Speech. If the President defaults on this most solemn obligation, the Obligation shall fall upon the Junior Senator from the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

[Cedar]

"Is this for real??"

Yes, check out their website. (I agree--bad name choice.)

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Many parishes are too poor to pay the real estate tax. They can't even afford to fix their leaky roofs.

I'm thankful for this organization. In the 2000 elections, I stopped watching TD Jakes because he used his tv air time to host Al Gore. Also on tv, they blatantly call in only Democrats to speak and even pass the plate for contributions to their campaigns.

[perfect stranger]

Click the pic.

[Cedar]

Thanks for adding the link (wish I knew how to do that!).

[Westbrook]

Christian churches need to forget about their non-profit status and give it up-- so they can continue to preach freely and not be told by the government what to preach or not preach.

While I heartily agree that churches should not be beholden to the Government, it would be a violation of the "Free Exercise" clause of the First Amendment for the Government to tax Churches.

For the government to regulate the content of a religious sermon by tax policy, or any other means, is a violation of the "Free Exercise", "Freeedom of Speech", and "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" clauses in the First Amendment.

The government should just BUTT-OUT of churches altogether and keep their tax policies and other points of pressure out of them.

What constitutes a church?

From the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:2, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

[af_vet_rr]

Regardless of who is watching who, this is pretty pathetic.

Some of those people (on both sides) need to ask themselves the old cliched question - What would Jesus do or want us to do. Would He want us to be watching/spying on other churches, or using our resources to better do His work.

[Cedar]

"What constitutes a church?

From the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:2, 'For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.'"

I am in total agreement with you. The "church" is really just the believers of Jesus.

Jesus did a lot of His teaching/preaching along the seashore. And the early "church" gathered in homes for assembly. (We do that too.)

[Cedar]

"What would Jesus do or want us to do. Would He want us to be watching/spying on other churches, or using our resources to better do His work."

You are probably right. I know spying was not part of Jesus' ministry.

[absalom01]

Here's the code:

<a href="Link goes here ie, http://somecomputer.somedomain.com/file.html">
<img alt="alternate text goes here"
src="URL of image goes here ie: http://somecomputer.somedomain.com/somefile.gif"
style="border: 2px solid ;">
</a>

Just cut and paste the actual URL  into the appropriate places, thusly:

Instead of "Link goes here", type in the link of the page you want to reference
Instead of "URL of image goes here" type in the address of the .jpg or .gif file you want displayed
the style= is optional -- just adds a border around the image.

N.B. -- you need the quote (") symbols in the locations shown, or it won't work.

[Clintonfatigued]

"But the sad part is government (IRS) now has control of churches (and what is preached)."

I agree that the necessity of the new group is sad. But isn't that sentence an overstatement? Other than not making political endoresments, churches' doctrines and sermons are not dictated by the feds. For example, look how many are active in the pro-life movement.

[Cedar]

Thanks for the help.

I've been kind of behind on learning some of the technical stuff (though I did install my own CD burner!).

[Cedar]

Gotta say you are right too. That might have been an overstatement on my part.

But all of this really bothers me, and I can see how in the future (maybe near future?) that government or laws might try to control the churches.

I think it's already a crime in parts of Europe to preach against homosexuality. And I think recent legislation in Canada has set penalties on it too.

So to me this is huge--when preaching/teaching against sin is considered a crime or against the law.

(Of course when you think about it, that's the way it's always been. Jesus was crucified for it, and John the Baptist was arrested and killed for it too. And the list could go on....the Apostles Paul, Peter, etc.)

[absalom01]

So to me this is huge--when preaching/teaching against sin is considered a crime or against the law.

Yup.

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

Just watch. It won't be another decade before biblically orthodox Christian and Jewish teaching is driven underground through court decisions and tax policy.

[Cedar]

"It won't be another decade before biblically orthodox Christian and Jewish teaching is driven underground through court decisions and tax policy."

That's why Bush's judicial choices are being fought so hard.

I know a couple who pastor a small church, and they have always refused to get non-profit status. They saw this thing coming years ago.