Keep your religion out of my politics!

[ABikerSailor]

Anyone else think it's a good idea for pastors to preach politics from the pulpit?

More than 1,000 pastors are planning to challenge the IRS next month by deliberately preaching politics ahead of the presidential election despite a federal ban on endorsements from the pulpit.

The defiant move, they hope, will prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which is holding the October summit, said it wants the IRS to press the matter so it can be decided in court. The group believes the law violates the First Amendment by “muzzling” preachers.

“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor -- and not the IRS -- decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Stanley said pastors attending the Oct. 7 “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation.” The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS.

“We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,” he said. “We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.”

An amendment was made to the IRS tax code in 1954, stating that tax-exempt organizations are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”

“Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax,” the IRS says in its online guide for churches and religious organizations seeking tax exemption.


Read more: Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election | Fox News

Sure.............the preachers DO have freedom of speech, and can talk about anything that they want, but if they do so politically by urging congregation members to vote for a certain candidate, they should also lose their tax exempt status.

It's been in the tax code since 1954 (58 years), so why are they starting this up now? Why didn't they bitch about it before?

Oh yeah..........that's right.............it wasn't until the GOP was co-opted by the tea party that this became important.

I say let them preach what they want, but if they violate the law, they should lose their tax exempt status as of that day.

 

[PredFan]

Anyone else think it's a good idea for pastors to preach politics from the pulpit?

More than 1,000 pastors are planning to challenge the IRS next month by deliberately preaching politics ahead of the presidential election despite a federal ban on endorsements from the pulpit.

The defiant move, they hope, will prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which is holding the October summit, said it wants the IRS to press the matter so it can be decided in court. The group believes the law violates the First Amendment by “muzzling” preachers.

“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor -- and not the IRS -- decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Stanley said pastors attending the Oct. 7 “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation.” The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS.

“We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,” he said. “We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.”

An amendment was made to the IRS tax code in 1954, stating that tax-exempt organizations are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”

“Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax,” the IRS says in its online guide for churches and religious organizations seeking tax exemption.


Read more: Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election | Fox News

Sure.............the preachers DO have freedom of speech, and can talk about anything that they want, but if they do so politically by urging congregation members to vote for a certain candidate, they should also lose their tax exempt status.

It's been in the tax code since 1954 (58 years), so why are they starting this up now? Why didn't they bitch about it before?

Oh yeah..........that's right.............it wasn't until the GOP was co-opted by the tea party that this became important.

I say let them preach what they want, but if they violate the law, they should lose their tax exempt status as of that day.

Jesus you are a moron. They've been doing that for decades.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Any pastor can preach politics from the pulpit if the church gives up its tax exemption.

 

[ABikerSailor]

No, the IRS has told these preachers that they will lose their tax exempt status if they endorse a certain candidate from the pulpit.

I say let them lose it if they preach politics.

 

[B. Kidd]

ABS, you just come out of a decades old coma?

 

[Oddball]

No, the IRS has told these preachers that they will lose their tax exempt status if they endorse a certain candidate from the pulpit.

I say let them lose it if they preach politics.

Or maybe shitcan the tax code and let the clergy speak freely.

 

[Lakhota]

Keep your religion out of my politics!

Amen! However, it seems to be getting worse instead of better.

 

[B. Kidd]

No, the IRS has told these preachers that they will lose their tax exempt status if they endorse a certain candidate from the pulpit.

I say let them lose it if they preach politics.

ABS, you work for the IRS?

In a previous incarnation, were you a member of the 'Hitler Youth'?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Yep,

Keep islam and their sick ways out of my fucking life.

 

[Lakhota]

 

[ABikerSailor]

ABS, you just come out of a decades old coma?

Preachers have only recently started this politics from the pulpit thing. Pulpit Freedom Sunday has only been around for 4 years (since 2008, the year Obama was elected).

 

[ScienceRocks]

Religion shouldn't be in politics period.

 

[Lakhota]

This is what the fundamentalist crazies are seeking.

 

[B. Kidd]

Another example of a cutting liberal talking point...........

 

[PredFan]

ABS, you just come out of a decades old coma?

Preachers have only recently started this politics from the pulpit thing. Pulpit Freedom Sunday has only been around for 4 years (since 2008, the year Obama was elected).

Absolute bull shit.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Quick question..............if the Christian preachers start mixing their political views with their religious views, are we on the way towards becoming a theocracy like the Middle East?

 

[B. Kidd]

This is what the fundamentalist crazies are seeking.

Beyond the fundamentalists, why are you intimidated by Catholics and Mormans?

 

[ABikerSailor]

ABS, you just come out of a decades old coma?

Preachers have only recently started this politics from the pulpit thing. Pulpit Freedom Sunday has only been around for 4 years (since 2008, the year Obama was elected).

Absolute bull shit.

Really?

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American pastors plan on challenging the Internal Revenue Service next month, endorsing specific candidates in an attempt to force the courts to decide if politics should be allowed in the pulpit.

Dubbed "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," the Oct. 7 event marks the fourth year that churches, led by conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, have carried out the protest. Pastors attending the event will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the ADF, said.

"The purpose is to make sure that the pastor -- and not the IRS -- decides what is said from the pulpit,” Stanley told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Last year hundreds of pastors participated in the special Sunday event, preaching about American politics and hot-button issues including same-sex marriage and abortion, according to The New York Times. The politically charged sermons were recorded and sent to the IRS to prove the pastors' violations of a 1954 tax code amendment banning such discourse.

Pastors To Challenge IRS Ban On Political Speech With 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday' (VIDEO)

 

[ScienceRocks]

Quick question..............if the Christian preachers start mixing their political views with their religious views, are we on the way towards becoming a theocracy like the Middle East?

Fuck no...Close minded, anti-freedom of speech thugs should be told to stay out of politics where ever they're found!

 

[ABikerSailor]

Quick question..............if the Christian preachers start mixing their political views with their religious views, are we on the way towards becoming a theocracy like the Middle East?

Fuck no...Close minded, anti-freedom of speech thugs should be told to stay out of politics where ever they're found!

So...........you're saying you support preachers mixing politics and religion as well as endorsing candidates?