Posted on 01/03/2008 8:04:21 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
Iowa pastors who support Republican Mike Huckabee for president have received letters warning them that getting involved in politics could endanger the tax-exempt status of their churches.
Several pastors who have publicly backed Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has support from many evangelicals, said they have received the letters, which have no return address. They have arrived in the weeks leading to Thursday's precinct caucuses.
Two letters were sent to the Rev. Brad Sherman, of Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. The first arrived a couple weeks ago and warned that he could be prosecuted for his support of Huckabee.
"I just laughed. No one lands in jail for this," Sherman said. "Somebody is trying to intimidate Christians from getting involved."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Huckabee's ad regarding Romney and capital punishment was a fiasco and pointed to Huck's incompetence, etc. Not only was it dishonest and his handling embarrassingly hypocritical, but to even chose this topic considering Huck's own record on pardons and the fact that Iowa is a relatively liberal state and one opposed to capital punishment.
I’ll tell you what: If Huckabee gets the nomination somehow, I’m finished. I voted for Schwartzeneggar and look at the result of that!
"Ah dun't feel no ways taarrd! I cummm too faar!"
They should stick to advocating for issues.
In my eyes it's a clear violation.
We're not talking about churches supporting a candidate, we're talking about individual pastors, in their role as private citizens, who have publically supported Huckabee. If you think pastors should be denied the same right to support the candidate of their choice, simply because of their job, then I think you need to pop open a copy of the Constitution and get to reading.
When they stand on the pulpit and advocate?
Only ones I've ever heard of doing that were liberal black ministers in liberal black churches. But even so, I don't buy all this nonsense about pastors not being able to support political leaders - even from the pulpit. That's no different from stumping from a soap box on Main Street, as long as the church members are cool with it. If anything is the church-state violation, it's the federal government getting in and telling pastors what they can and can't do to retain their tax exempt status. Of course, taxation of churches would be a church-state separation violation, too....
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