The religious right just raised the stakes...

[yortsed snacilbuper]

two bills (H.R. 6086 and H.R. 6195) were introduced into Congress that would repeal the Johnson Amendment. Passed in 1954, the Johnson Amendment prohibits nonprofits, including churches, from endorsing political candidates. This crucial safeguard helps ensures that nonprofits use their tax-exempt resources to help people, not play partisan politics.

But that’s exactly why the religious right wants it repealed so badly. If either of these bills are signed into law, churches will become political players, able to campaign for and endorse candidates running for office. Since churches are already exempt from financial disclosure laws, a repeal of the Johnson Amendment will effectively unleash billions of dollars of religious “dark money” into the political system.

No matter which candidate wins in November, it is imperative that we do everything we can to make sure neither of these bills makes it to the incoming president’s desk.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6195

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr6086/text

[treestar]

1. Which is why Congress matters

People need to vote every two years, not every four! Enough of these insane Congresspersons. Hopefully will not make it out for a vote.

[Coyotl]

37. Make Congress Great Again.

[denbot]

2. It will never get by Obama or Clinton.

The pugs will try likely try to attach it to a critical bill, in order to embarrass a sitting President.

[okaawhatever]

15. I think it's a fundraising tactic for the GOP. They'll get the bill passed, it will be vetoed (which

will reinforce their claims that the Dems are anti-religion, which isn't true of course) then they will raise money off of getting enough Republicans elected to override the veto or get a Republican in the White House.

[Generic Brad]

22. It may be an indication of their next culture war battle ground

Attacking the transgendered is not gaining the same level of traction their opposition to gay marriage generated (and they overwhelmingly lost that). Come to think of it, they have lost every fight they have picked for decades now. If they can only figure out how to frame their argument so it demonizes a small group of people, they will be off to the races.

[okaawhatever]

24. LOL Yep Of course they have to make sure their target is hated by the really rich right wingers or

else their plan doesn't work.

[dmr]

53. I hate to say this because it makes me vomit in my throat, but

the only way to demoralize their talking points and to shake the right-wing up is by letting them know other faiths, including Muslims will share this same right.

I have no idea how to frame this without demeaning, and hurting those in the Muslim faith -- something that pains me to write this. I apologize.

The Republicans can't think beyond their own prejudices. I bet they think this kind of law would benefit only their brand of God & their faith.

Personally, I'd like to do away with, or at least put a cap on the tax free issue. There seems to be a lot of profit that should be taxed --- and those tax dollars would be beneficial to ALL of America.

[guillaumeb]

30. Recommended. The GOP is terrible at governing, but fairly good at framing issues. eom

[Matthew Rose]

36. "fairly good at framing issues."??

The MSM ONLY talks in right-wing talking points.

ex.
When was the last time you heard them mention consumption (consumers) creates jobs?

[guillaumeb]

47. Welcome to DU, and let me explain.

The GOP is focus group driven so they use research to discover how people respond to various issues.

One example is framing the estate tax, which basically hits only the top tenth of the top 1%, and calling it the "death tax", which implies that every family is subject to it.

Another example is calling the anti-choice position "pro-life", thus implicitly framing the pro-choice position as "pro-death".

Yet another example is framing the BLM people as anti-police.

And yes, as you say, the corporate media rarely mentions that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending.

[sharp_stick]

3. They already pretty much ignore it

It would be nice if they'd get slapped with some massive fines or tax bills.

[Wounded Bear]

9. I'm fine with just yanking their tax-free status if they violate...nt

[yortsed snacilbuper]

4. Contact your Senator and tell him/her to vote against these bills.

link to find your Senator
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/how_to_votes.htm

[DemonGoddess]

46. My current Senator is one of the sponsors

which is why the bigger I see Evan Bayh's lead grow against him, the happier I get! Among other reasons!

[SamKnause]

5. The religious right don't give a damn about anything except forcing

their religion down out throats.

They want a Theocracy.

They want the U.S. to be governed by the Bible, not the Constitution.

They are the greatest threat this country faces.

They are the reason Trump won the nomination.

I am sick of them.

They are hypocrites.

I am sick of what they are doing to this country.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. They only oppose sharia

because they don't want any competition.

[Wounded Bear]

10. They have their own Christian version of Sharia...

it's more than a name, it's a philosophy that defines how much freedom you allow women to have.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. The Talibornagains. nt

[Wounded Bear]

13. Or the Talibangelists....

[awoke_in_2003]

14. Hadn't heard that one

Very nice.

[GeoWilliam750]

32. "They want the U.S. to be governed by the Bible, not the Constitution."

It may be that they just want the US ruled by them, above all laws, in much the same way as the Middle East.

[lark]

39. That's why I call them the Tealiban.

They want this country governed by their religious dogma every bit as much as the Taliban wants this in Afghanistan. They very much (US RW'ers) want to implement their version of Sharia law lite. The only difference is our version doesn't yet advocate killing women, but in IN a young woman is in jail for having a miscarriage so they are edging that way.

[awoke_in_2003]

6. Rec for exposure. nt

[PoiBoy]

8. Thanks for the heads up on this, DR...

...this is important... corporations and churches.. the biggest threats to Democracy in the 21st century...

[catbyte]

11. Churches involved in politics need to start paying taxes. Why is the IRS ignoring them?

[okaawhatever]

16. 1. They don't have the resources. The GOP & Koch brothers have been working very hard to

eliminate funding and jobs and it has worked. Obama asked for 7,000 new agents in one of his budgets all for enforcement/collection purposes and the GOP killed it. In that case he was mainly going after money hidden overseas, but the Dems have wanted enforcement agents for a long time now. I believe I read that for every $1 spent for agents they would return $8 in uncollected revenue. Problem is, that $8 is coming from the 1 percenters who have money stashed offshore.

[roamer65]

17. ...as long as their tax exempt status is revoked.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. tRump says he wants to repeal the Johnson Amendment

Win the House and Senate so that President Hillary Clinton doesn't even have to waste political capital and PR on vetoing it.

[Initech]

19. The Christian right would become self aware if this happened.

And that is not a good thing. America's religious institutions already rake in billions upon billions every year, and pay absolutely ZERO in taxes. Repealing the Johnson Amendment would be scarier than a million Citizens Uniteds.

[pangaia]

26. Self aware? I don't think so.

They still haven't figured what Jesus saying "Sleepers, awake," means yet.

[keithbvadu2]

20. Many 'Christians' want Christianity to be the law of the land.

Many 'Christians' want Christianity to be the law of the land.

They would be highly upset to find that their version of Christianity might not be in charge.

We have plenty of big name Christians who want to be the Ayatollah of America... Robertson, Falwell and more.

Would Protestants be happy with Catholics in charge?

Would Catholics be happy with Protestants in charge?

Westboro Baptist Church?

[pangaia]

27. Robertson and Fallwell are not Christians.

[A HERETIC I AM]

34. Of course they are

[Grey Lemercier]

38. +10000

[TeamPooka]

21. Well, I've always wanted to start a church. They're a good business. Can I get an amen? nt

[SwankyXomb]

49. The real world's oldest profession

[niyad]

23. are we in the least surprised?

[TonyPDX]

25. Not a chance in the world. You'd think they'd realize that after being soiled by Don the Con.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

28. Donations to churches can be deducted on your taxes

Donations to political entities aren't. Allowing churches to act as de facto PACs gives big donors another way to game the system so they make out financially.

[Crash2Parties]

29. So churches will not only be finanically opaque, but de facto campaign organizations?

[Neema]

31. The religious right needs to be stopped

Run your churches. Stay out of the government.

[bulloney]

33. I don't need to attend church to hear a RW political rally.

Our pastor subtly conducts political talks already with his sermons on why you should always vote for "pro life" (read: anti-abortion) political candidates. As far as I'm concerned, you are not "pro-life" if you're only against a woman's right to choose, while you support capital punishment, W's war mongering and oppose any attempts at health care reform because a Democrat or a Black man is in the White House. But, those are the positions of many in my neck of the woods.

[47of74]

45. I bailed on the Catholic Church because of their politicking

Especially after they started whining about how they were being persecuted when they got called to the carpet for their behavior.

[bulloney]

52. Yesterday we had to hear a pitch for membership to the Knights of Columbus.

The speaker made it sound like it's the Catholics vs. the world and a K of C membership is your only recourse.

[usedtobedemgurl]

40. Trump has already said he would do away with it and....

religions should not be muzzled. We must get out and vote ad we need to encourage everyone who is liberal to vote as well.

[KWR65]

42. Oh they do this every year.

It won't go any where unless the Repubs get 60 votes in the Senate. It looks like they will have a 50-50 senate next year.

[Nitram]

43. We can agree that there is one wall we don't want to tear down:

the one between religion and the state.

[SCVDem]

50. Happy holidays

Seasons greetings.

Now piss off!

[mothra1orbit]

51. And this would apply equally to

mosques, right?