{"id":2507,"date":"2010-08-09T01:44:54","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T08:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=2507"},"modified":"2010-08-09T01:44:54","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T08:44:54","slug":"strip-unconstitutional-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/09\/strip-unconstitutional-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Strip Unconstitutional Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"

More and more, Churches are violating the establishment clause in the First Amendment and the 501(c)(3) tax code, from which they derive their tax exempt  status, by endorsing Republican candidates for public office.  The Bush Regime simply ignored the complaints about this.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"church-state\"<\/a> When South Dakota gubernatorial hopeful Gordon Howie put out a call for pastors to endorse him from the pulpit, the Rev. H. Wayne Williams was quick to respond.<\/p>\n

Williams, pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, endorsed the Republican candidate during a church service on May 16<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An ecstatic Howie, the self-professed \u201cTea Party\u201d favorite, quickly issued a press release praising the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week, Howie challenged South Dakota churches and their pastors to become more politically active in the stretch run to the June 8th primary election, urging pastors to endorse candidates and advocate specific issues from the pulpit,\u201d read the Howie media statement. \u201cReverend H. Wayne Williams, Pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, became one of the first to accept the challenge, adding an official endorsement of Gordon Howie for Governor to a message delivered during his Sunday night services<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The release quoted Williams, who said, \u201cI believe Gordon Howie has clearly demonstrated the courage of character and conviction to take a position that has long been forgotten and lost in this country. I\u2019m glad that this issue has been brought to the forefront of public conversation. It is high time that churches return to the role that they\u2019ve occupied historically in guiding their flocks in making election decisions<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everyone agrees with this kind of blatant church electioneering. Williams seems to have been the only pastor to endorse Howie from the pulpit, and several South Dakota religious leaders spoke out publicly against pulpit partisanship.<\/p>\n

Among them was Howie\u2019s own pastor, Bishop Lorenzo Kelly of Faith Temple Church in Rapid City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have encouraged our people to be participants in the political arena and showed them the scriptures that back it up,\u201d Kelly told the Rapid City Journal. \u201cBut I have not from the pulpit endorsed him. I wouldn\u2019t do that. I wouldn\u2019t put my church in jeopardy of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Dakota voters were also not impressed. On Election Day, Howie, a state senator running against four other Republicans, took fourth place with just 12 percent of the primary vote.<\/p>\n

The church endorsement scheme was also legally problematic. Federal law prohibits all non-profit organizations that hold 501(c)(3) status from intervening in elections by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office<\/strong>. The Internal Revenue Service has repeatedly reminded churches to stay out of elections.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, some pastors continue to insist they have a right to tell their congregants which candidates to vote for or against. They are often aided and abetted by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an Arizona-based Religious Right legal group founded by right-wing television and radio preachers in 1993.<\/p>\n

Alerted by members in South Dakota, Americans United began investigating the Williams affair. In early June, an Americans United staffer contacted Williams. He not only admitted that he had endorsed Howie during a church service but brazenly asserted that the IRS has no authority over him or his church<\/strong>. He was defiant and argumentative.<\/p>\n

On June 10, Americans United filed a formal complaint with the IRS over Williams\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n

Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn pointed out that Williams has admitted that he violated the law by endorsing Howie.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, he asserted that the IRS has no authority over his church and that he has a legal right to endorse candidates from the pulpit,\u201d wrote Lynn to the federal tax agency. \u201cLiberty Baptist Tabernacle appears to be in clear violation of federal law. Accordingly, I am asking the IRS to investigate this matter and enforce the law as necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Williams had been combative when he talked with Americans United, the complaint may have given him pause. The minister quickly began backpedaling after the IRS complaint became public, and his story suddenly became fuzzy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply preach from the pulpit principles, and when someone stands with our principles, I say this person is standing with the same principles we stand on and are worthy of our consideration,\u201d Williams told the Associated Press. \u201cI told them vote on the basis of your own conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Journal, Williams took an even more curious tack: He insisted that his church never sought 501(c)(3) status, and, although he admitted the church is tax exempt, he claimed the IRS has no power over him<\/strong>… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Alternet<\/a>><\/p>\n

Many of you have read that I do volunteer work and am on the board of a small nonprofit corporation that helps prisoners learn to change into law abiding citizens and help them transition to community life when released.  I often discuss it here in general terms, but never give specifics.  If you have wondered why, our group is also a 501(c)(3).  Since I regularly endorse and oppose candidates for public office here, I must keep the group I represent completely separate from my political blogging.  I respect the law.<\/font><\/p>\n

Why won\u2019t the the followers of Supply-side Jesus (the Republican abomination, not the real one) do the same?  They do not respect the Constitution, the law, or even the biblical injunction to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar\u2019s.<\/font><\/p>\n

I hope the Obama administration will strip such churches of their tax exempt status.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More and more, Churches are violating the establishment clause in the First Amendment and the 501(c)(3) tax code, from which they derive their tax exempt  status, by endorsing Republican candidates for public office.  The Bush Regime simply ignored the complaints about this. When South Dakota gubernatorial hopeful Gordon Howie put out a call for pastors […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-religion","category-5-id","category-47-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}