Free Republic

Prayer stopped for a few moments Sunday at 11 churches in Chesapeake and Portsmouth as pastors allowed time for a little bit of politicking between hymns of joy and sermons of salvation. State Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. came to visit, bringing along Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds and envelopes of tickets to one of the hottest political events in Hampton Roads this season. Conducting what has become a tradition for Democrats running for high statewide posts, Spruill led Deeds on a five-hour whirlwind tour of Sunday services, with staff members and reporters in tow. At each stop, Deeds, a...

Dozens of pastors around the nation are challenging an Internal Revenue Service rule that anti-Christian activists often invoke when they want to silence the message of churches, according to the Alliance Defense FundThe organization has announced that more than 80 preachers are taking part in its second annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday this weekend. The pastors will preach Sunday sermons related to biblical perspectives on the positions of electoral candidates or current government officials, exercising their constitutional right to free religious expression, the ADF said. They will do so despite a "problematic" IRS rule that activists use when they want to...

Prayer was mixed with a dose of politics at Passaic’s largest black church on Sunday as congregants donned Obama T-shirts in a show of support for a president they say has been unfairly criticized after only eight months in office. The Union Baptist Church held a “Support Obama Sunday,” asking members to “turn the script” on the “wicked and nasty” reaction Obama has received in some quarters as he pushes for health-care reform. The church’s pastor, Rev. Ronald W. Johnson, said he rarely brings politics into the church but was moved to do so because he is concerned that some...

Minnesota Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church got an audit from the Internal Revenue Service because he advised his congregants in a sermon last year not to vote for Barack Obama. Booth was one of several pastors who endorsed presidential candidates from the pulpit last September. The Internal Revenue Service has...

Battling anger and indifference on the part of California voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implored them Sunday not to make the state "the poster child for dysfunction" by defeating a host of measures on Tuesday's ballot that seek to restructure the state's bleak finances. The governor's visits to three African American churches in Los Angeles came as proponents and opponents of the ballot measures marshaled the last of the millions of dollars they have collected for the special election. Schwarzenegger said Sunday he had been told that about 25% of voters are expected to show up, ... Schwarzenegger, accompanied by Assembly...

Polls Indicate Most Of The 6 Ballot Propositions Don't Have A Prayer Of Passing LOS ANGELES Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attended three church services in Los Angeles Sunday to stump for six statewide ballot propositions on Tuesday's ballot, most of which do not have a prayer of passing, if the polls are to be believed. Schwarzenegger and Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass of Los Angeles visited West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles, and First African Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday morning. Most of the propositions, proposed by the Legislature, are meant to reduce a...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that church leaders can keep their tax-exempt status and speak out on social issues. Ad Feedback The decision comes in response to a complaint against a group of Texas pastors, but churches can still not endorse or oppose political candidates. Social and Political Issues from the Pulpit Pastor Wally Sherbon strolls the campus of Regent University each Wednesday, repairing and meditating on his Sunday sermon. But lately, he's also been thinking about what it would mean if he couldn't talk about social and political issues from the pulpit. "It's hard...

In view of the 2008 election, the Christian churches have been noticeably silent. Is this reluctance due to their fear of losing the tax exempt status?The recent election highlights this issue quite well. Candidates held moral positions that were in direct opposition to known biblical teachings. Despite the candidates support for issues like abortion, religious leaders allowed these candidates to go unchallenged from their pulpits.Religious leaders are fearful of losing the tax-exempt status if they speak out strongly regarding moral positions that candidates hold. Religious leaders are not directing their comments from their pulpits to influence decisions about candidates based...

Michelle Obama speech to Baptists spurs request for IRS investigation By Bob Allen Friday, 31 October 2008 WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether Oct. 29 remarks by Michelle Obama to an African-American Baptist gathering violated federal tax law. According to media reports, the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate told about 1,000 delegates to the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, meeting in Fayetteville, that her husband understands the struggles of working families and offers the leadership America needs. "Don't we deserve a president with...

A group that supports the false philosophy of separation of church and state has filed action against another pastor for having his say about politics. Bishop Robert E. Smith is senior pastor at Word of Outreach and Christian Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has lodged a complaint against him for endorsing John McCain for president from the pulpit on October 12. "Bishop Smith knowingly and flagrantly violated the law and has even dared the IRS to investigate him for it," says Americans United leader Barry Lynn in a press release. "I hope...

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the IRS to investigate the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J. and Rock Christian Fellowship in Espanola, New Mexico. According to AU's letter to the IRS, Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli has published a letter on Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.'s website and newspaper attacking Barack Obama." The letter criticizes Obama for his pro-choice stance and encourages parishioners not to vote for Obama. AU also wants the IRS to investigate Rock Christian Fellowship in Espanola, New Mexico for posting a large display that encourages voters to support republican candidates...

Church-State Watchdog Group Says Pastor Violated Federal Tax Law With Call To Vote For McCain Americans United for Separation of Church and State is advising houses of worship nationwide to respect federal tax law and stay out of partisan politics. Americans United announced today that 100,000 letters have been mailed to clergy and lay leaders reminding them that federal tax law prohibits tax-exempt entities, including houses of worship, from endorsing candidates. “Houses of worship are supposed to tend to spiritual needs and do charitable work, not act as political action committees,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In a predominantly black church in a city known for its past racial strife, Bishop Robert Smith is taking sides. His targets: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and federal restrictions barring Smith's endorsement of Republican John McCain. At the end of a recent sermon, Smith told about 50 worshippers at his Word of Outreach Christian Center: "I will be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin." Smith, who is black, said neighbors and friends have questioned why he isn't backing Obama, the first black presidential nominee from a major party. "I just tell them it's not...

Last weekend, a few pastors of large, evangelical congregations chose to convert their pulpits into planks for the Republican Party platform. These participants in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” sought to challenge IRS regulations that maintain a wall between tax-exempt religious activities and taxable political ones. Citing controversial issues like reproductive freedom and same-sex marriage, they claimed that a biblical mandate required them to take a more activist role in instructing their congregants to choose the candidate who matched their political beliefs. Their actions are yet one more indicator of the degree to which purveyors of a reactionary political agenda have continued...

A northern Minnesota preacher's presidential endorsement from the pulpit of Republican John McCain over the weekend is part of a national challenge of federal restrictions on such political expressions. The Rev. Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church made his endorsement Sunday as part of the Alliance Defense Fund's "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." The fund said Booth and other pastors around the country were exercising "their First Amendment right to preach on the subject, despite federal tax regulations that prohibit intervening or participating in a political campaign." Booth, a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, said Monday he did...

Pastor Luke Emrich prepared his sermon this week knowing his remarks could invite an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. But that was the whole point, so Emrich forged ahead with his message: Thou shalt vote according to the Scriptures. “I’m telling you straight up, I would choose life,” Emrich told about 100 worshippers yesterday at New Life Church, a nondenominational evangelical congregation about 40 miles from Milwaukee. “I would cast a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin,” he said. “But friends, it’s your choice to make, it’s not my choice. I won’t be in the voting booth with...

'We can either settle for the world as it is or ... we can fight ... for the world as it should be,' Michelle Obama said.CINCINNATI - "I come here today as a Christian,'' Michelle Obama said yesterday to a standing ovation at a convention of mostly black Baptists. She appealed not only for their prayers but for their votes for her husband. "This election is going to change the world,'' she said. "This election will determine the course of an entire generation. Just think about that. "I know that no one here wants to look back and think, 'Wouldn't...

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn): "Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor."

(This is from an email forwarded to me that allegedly came from a local pastor. I have followed up with the pastor personally, and he confirmed that the email was indeed originally sent by him, and accurately represents his experience. Even though he did not specifically ask me to do this, I have redacted the most easily identifying information - but I will provide it to folks who FReepmail me with a specific request for it.) Gentlemen, I never write mass emails and am repulsed by hyped up causes that are emailed to me. But I am writing to you...

CHICAGO -- Declaring that clergy have a constitutional right to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, the socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund is recruiting several dozen pastors to do just that on Sept. 28, in defiance of Internal Revenue Service rules. The effort by the Arizona-based legal consortium is designed to trigger an IRS investigation that ADF lawyers would then challenge in federal court. The ultimate goal is to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship. "For so long, there has been this cloud of intimidation over the...