August 15, 2013
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Tags: church and state, Religious Freedom, TFNEF

Religious Groups Call for an End to the Ban on Electioneering from the Pulpit

In what must thrill the hearts of zealots like David Barton who have spent their careers trying to drag houses of worship into partisan politics, the Washington Post reports:

Even as polls show Americans broadly oppose electioneering from the pulpit, a new report by a group of faith leaders working closely with Capitol Hill argues for ending the decades-old ban on explicit clergy endorsements.

The report being given Wednesday to Sen. Charles E. Grassley — the Iowa Republican whose office for years has been probing potential abuses by tax-exempt groups — comes as the ban has become a culture-war flashpoint.

The religious right has been trying to politicize congregations for decades now. The campaign to turn pulpits into campaign props will likely gather speed.

Even so, we’re encouraged by an opposition report from other faith leaders. According to the same Washington Post article, that report explains that the ban on electioneering “has served to protect houses of worship in America from government regulation and from divisive partisan politics dividing the church communities.”

The religious right might be willing to risk throwing out those protections, but most Americans are not.

17 thoughts on “Religious Groups Call for an End to the Ban on Electioneering from the Pulpit”

  1. For many fundies, rabid, right wing (what they would call conservative, family-value) politics is their mother’s milk. Naturally they would want to be free to spew their venom.

  2. Only if we end the tax exemption for churches at the same time. If they electioneer, they are a PAC not a church.

  3. How can the religious groups pressure Congress to allow electioneering from the pulpit and not allow voting on Sunday which is when a lot of people go from their churches to vote? I wish they’d make up their mind..Just sayin.

  10. KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THE PULPIT.. or pay TAXES… This is ROBBERY of the people who DO pay TAXES in the name of Religion… that is just PLAIN WRONG… STOP BEING THEIVES from the PULPIT. people pay their taxes and VOTE of THEIR CHOICE… NOT SOME PREACHER’S CHOICE or INFLUENCED by some Preacher… would it be ok for instance if a DEMOCRAT WENT INTO THE VOTING BOOTH with a non party VOTER and ” helped him/her make a wise choice ” ?

  13. Ted Cruz has been inside Dallas Baptist speech making and most right wing politicians in this state spend alot of time
    preaching their version of patriotism to the holy.

  14. Why don’t churches pay taxes? They should be handled no differently from the Lion’s Club or any other social club. The history on this is baffling.

  15. Is there some reason that prostitution, illegal drugs and religion are about the only enterprises that don’t pay taxes?

  16. There is an agenda behind calling for an end to making political talk okay in churches: They are putting their radical candidates up for elections with their bottom line goal: To destroy the United States as a Secular Republic into a theocratic dictatorship. They want to make the United States a Christian Nation.

    They are behind the move the US into a Fascist nation. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but some of the more intelligent authors are starting to talk about what the dominionists are trying to do and are very slowly making progress toward their goal.

    Their intent is to force everyone to become a Christian. Don’t want to convert, get out of the country.

    Chris Hedges’ “American Fascists” makes a fascinating case for what the radical right is attempting to do.

    As far as I’m concerned, if a preacher tells his people who to vote for, that church should IMMEDIATELY lose their tax-free status and have to pay taxes on the property and income.

    Some of the Mega-churches are breaking the law and DARING the IRS to do anything about it. If they don’t, we need a change in the IRS, stat!