Pastor's to preach politics, in violation of IRS law- guess who they're endorsing?

[joft]

Sermon on the stump: Pastors to violate IRS law (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/27/20080927Montini0928.html)

Of course, this has always happened before, but not so brazenly. Before the 2004 election I attended a church with my dad where they handed out pamphlets with the politicians stances on issues like abortion and gay marriage, and then told everyone that it was their Christian responsibility to vote for the candidate that God wanted them to vote for. They've basically done everything except coming right out and saying "Vote for John McCain/George Bush."

All that changes now.





(they're endorsing McCain)

[cafe]

If they are lucky, this won't backfire and eventually cause the loss of tax exempt status for all churches. Their fellow pastors will make them wish they were in jail if that happens.

[joft]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/28/carroll.preach.politics.cnn

They interview one of the pastors in this video. There are about 30 or so of them spanning 22 states planning on doing this together.

I think it would be excellent if all churches lost their tax exempt status because of this. It could be a good thing for churches, too, since city zoning boards would no longer have that tax status as an incentive to refuse to allow churches to move certain places.



(Somewhat related: Witch hunter preaches at Sarah Palins church and prays for her
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAWM7E_WMfo )

[avolkiteshvara]

Revoke that tax exempt status. Bleed dry.

[lowtech redneck]

Of course, this has always happened before, but not so brazenly. Before the 2004 election I attended a church with my dad where they handed out pamphlets with the politicians stances on issues like abortion and gay marriage, and then told everyone that it was their Christian responsibility to vote for the candidate that God wanted them to vote for. They've basically done everything except coming right out and saying "Vote for John McCain/George Bush."


And left-wing politicking goes on all the time within black churches, I don't see you bitching about that. This same type of "Issue-advocacy" goes on within several non-religious non-profit organizations, I don't see you bitching about that, either. The group described in the article is being stupid and wrong, but there's nothing particularly sinister about your experience in your father's church.

[joft]

I didn't say it was sinister. In fact, I was referencing it to point out that this turn of events isn't that big of a deal.

As for equal bitching time, I'm truly sorry. Next time I complain about anything, I'll try to include everything else that's wrong in the world as well.

[Nunki]

My grandfather watches "God TV" all the time. A couple of weeks ago, I overheard some woman on that channel basically endorse Palin from the pulpit ("God's moving women up in the world, women like Sarah Palin!!!!!!"). I'll be willing to bet that it will go unnoticed by the IRS.

[C.J.Woolf]

These pastors are going all-in, whether they know it or not. If McCain wins they will get away with it. If Obama wins they might still get away with it; he might not be vindictive enough to want to spend the political capital it would take to sic the IRS on them.

Something like this happened in 2004. Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns several TV stations, showed an anti-Kerry film days before the election. If I were Kerry and I had won the election, I would have found a way to revoke their license. But I doubt Kerry would have done it.

The right wing keeps cheating on the law because they do not fear the consequences. (Or they fear the consequences of not breaking the law more.) I really think Democrats need to play Republican-style (for a while, anyway) and make some examples.

[eyebyte_atWork]

It is our Agnostic/Athiest duty to vote against the candidate that God wants us to vote for.

[lowtech redneck]

As for equal bitching time, I'm truly sorry. Next time I complain about anything, I'll try to include everything else that's wrong in the world as well.

If you simply wanted to rant, then you should have put the thread in the appropriate section. As it is, you were attempting (deliberately or otherwise) to promote a double standard in the Current Events and Issues sections, so I called you on that. Its something that customarily occurs within political threads...