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 problem is two-fold:
First, the government has double standards and the black churches host Democrtas all the time and support these candidates through demagoguery on a weekly basis. But a white/black/yellow/red/blue/green person who endorses or hosts a conservative/GOP candidate is threatened with loss of tax exemption. Heck, one doesn’t even have to be close to a Republican to be threatened. Only mention opposition to abortion or homosexuality from the pulpit and you may be jailed for hate speech.
Second: Churches ought to be advocates for the adoration of the living God; not be spewing political messages which get in the way of any growth of holiness in the congregation.
A person has a right to free speech in America.
501c3 charities voluntarily give up that freedom in exchange for a non-profit tax status.
I agree that they cannot engage in advocacy.
I wish that ABCDisney would not practice deceit and expose ALL churches that endorse or oppose a candidate. Trinity did just that when they disparaged the continued candidacy of Mrs. Clinton.
And how about NPR, PBS, and Pacifica Radio?
Defund the left. Expose the tax cheats.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
The pastor involved here is an idiot, he's forcing an issue. He should know that the first result will be to take pressure OFF of the liberal pulpits because he's invited the feds to act on HIS lectures.
(Rev. Wright and his ilk get a break)
The article does cite opposition to abortion (etc) but points out that he identified Obama and Clinton as targets. It goes on later to note that other ministers (liberal) are better at the game because they haven't said "McCain" out loud.
Interesting, and to my point, it sticks with election issues and electionering. It does not go on to address the Catholic church's huge involvement in illegal immigration here and liberal politics in latin America.
(Maybe it's a language thing.)
As to "separation of church and state"...that's a sham, but it's another debate. THIS issue is abuse of tax exempt status and that would apply to any church that told its congregation how to vote from the pulpit, otherwise involved itself in politics, or openly broke US (immigration) laws.
Outside of official duties a minister has the same rights as I do so long as he is NOT preaching or acting as an agent of the church when mouthing off.
Its about damn time. Pulpits have been silent for too long, remember it was that filthy POS LBJ who enacted this. Any church that is unwilling to speak the truth re. the bible, politicians or social issues (homos) is not worth going to. “Salt and the light.....”
I think this is the whole point of this pastor challenge. Under the First Amendment the government does not have the right to tax (to tax is to regulate behavior) the church. This would mean that the government may not take away a church's exempt status because the church is not subject to tax in the first place.
I believe I've already read that in some places that pastors cannot condemn homosexual behavior because it is "Hate Speech". This is an effort to manipulate the inner workings of the church to conform with the liberal agenda.
If this group can afford the lawyers, there's no way the IRS will allow the case to go to court - because they'd lose.
Churches need to focus on Christ, not politics.
Church members do not need a pastor to tell them how to pick political candidates.
Those pastors should be fired and the churches need their tax exempt status yanked.
The Dems have doing this crap in their “churches” for years; it is wrong.
Conservatives need not follow this flawed way of behaving
Anybody disagree with him?
I think God has more important things on His plate.
Pastors have been endorsing candidates from the pulpit for years, at least in the South.
“Churches need to focus on Christ, not politics.”
Your naive. America is quickly slipping into the pot of evil and peverts and you claim that pastors shouldnt preach politics. Its because pastors have been silent that America has become a cess pool of filth. Paul didnt just talk about Jesus, he also talked about good and evil. Politicians who support homosexual marriage, abortion on demand and perversion should be spoke out against - people like you are the main reason that conservatives have lost focus. You and other RINOs have dilluted the message of free speech and allowed the liberals to control our lives.
FREE SPEECH IS WHEREEVER AND WHENEVER IF YOU DONT LIKE IT THEN GO SOMEWHERE LIKE A COMMUNIST COUNTRY AND YOU FIT RIGHT IN - WHERE PASTORS CAN ONLY SPEAK WHAT THE GOVT WANTS THEM TO SPEAK.
Not directed to you but people like you - your a bunch of freakin idiots!
What part of free speech do you not understand or fear? Elitist would surely agree with you that Pastors should be silent about politics (funny thing so would communist dictators). Why would you post on this board if you believe against free speech. I dont give a crap if the liberals do it, good for them. This tax law is unconstitutional, I dont fear thought or speech but apparantly you do.
Free speech is free speech, in a church, in a plane, a university or anywhere else. Wake up and realize that only liberals currently have the right to speak their mind. I guess free press only applies to liberals too, huh?
Mostly used by preachers who want to discourage their congregants from getting involved in politics, usually left-leaning pastors.
The problem is that as a Christian, I am required to be responsible to Christ's edicts in all facets of my life and that includes politics.
Absolutely true - as for a citizen...but when you are a church and have signed on with an agreement with the gov't about "tax free" benefits - then you have made an agreement and can't have it both ways.
Any church who wants to fore go the tax-free benefits can preach the rafters off with political sermons.
There is a difference - and that's where 'render unto Caesar' comes in.
That is the truth indeed. Getting so you cannot vote for any republican't either. That being said, leave the politics at the door. Churches are for worshipping God, not man.
“Free speech is free speech, in a church, in a plane, a university or anywhere else. Wake up and realize that only liberals currently have the right to speak their mind. I guess free press only applies to liberals too, huh?”
That is the Jeremiah Wright mindset. Politically active churches that are Christian in name only. They are rotten to the core and not following Christ, they are political mouthpieces.
Do you require a pastor to tell you how to think on political issues?
I don’t, and if mine does he will be admonished.
You have all the free speech you want, just do not confuse a church with a political campaign.
Leave that to Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright.
The part that says he gets to be subsidized by the taxpayers to promote his political beliefs. He gets a break on taxes to preserve his right to express his religious beliefs. He doesn't get a break to promote Republicans or Democrats.
But supporting political candidates is not tax exempt. You cannot enjoy a tax-exempt income as a minister when you are actively working for a particular political candidate.
It’s funny how so many people get upset at things like this, but a Democrat campaigning from the pulpit is perfectly acceptable.
"[H]e stood behind his pulpit and told his congregation God wanted them to vote Republican."
Anybody disagree with him?
I do.
Given how corrupt the Party has become, and given how little its leaders actually care about conservative issues, I can't believe that God wants anything to do with them.
Voting conservative is one thing, but that doesn't mean voting Republican any more.
You missed my point...The government doesn't have the right to tax churches no matter what is said inside the church. That being the case, they don't have the power to remove their tax exemption. Churches do not need a tax exemption.
I disagree that a pastor/priest cannot bring pressure on politicians who do not practice the tennents of their faith. The Pope can excommunicate. The pastor has an obligation to his flock to give them guidance when politicians espouse views that oppose church teachings - and the IRS doesn't have to like it!
Maybe so, but the law flies in the face of Freedom of speech and was put in place by then Vice-President Lyndon Johnson to muzzle the baptists (and other christian pastors) in the run-up to the Presidential election because he feared, and rightfully so, they would be preaching against him.
There is also the principle of peaceful disobediance when laws are immoral and this law is immoral, as well as unjust.
While generally the Bible, especially the New Testament, speaks loudly for obeying the laws of your country, this can only be obeyed in the context of obeying all other laws and principles proclaimed by Christ and his Apostles and his Prophets in the Old Testament.
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