Brownback supports churches endorsing candidates

[atommom]

Pastors or other church leaders could use their pulpits to endorse political candidates under a controversial bill backed by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

Currently, if churches make endorsements they can jeopardize their tax-exempt status.

"This bill will finally lift the fear and anxiety from houses of worship that seek to speak out on issues that affect the local community and our nation," Brownback said during a recent Capitol Hill press conference.

Not yet introduced, the Senate bill is expected to mirror HR 235, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/199815

Brownback has wanted to do this for quite some time. There are a number of churches pushing the limits politically, and I'm sure they have spoken to him about it. To grouchy heathens like myself, it still sounds like a bad, bad idea.

[sarcasmo]

1. Brownback is an IDIOT. This guy is the anti porn anti Stern anti fun guy.

If he wants to let Churches make endorsements then take away their tax exemption.

[jdj]

15. uh-oh. that means he's probably a porn addict.

if they can hack Paris Hilton, why can't they hack this guy and shut him up?

[atommom]

17. Actually, it was just in the news that he takes $$ from media companies

that produce porn (in addition to other things). So far the stigma doesn't seem to have stuck to him as much as we'd like.

[proud patriot]

2. Yikes

:-(

[Bill McBlueState]

3. his own little country

I'm really starting to wish Sam Brownback could have his own little country where he could live out all his theocratic wet dreams and stop trying to fuck up this one.

[chelsea0011]

4. Whenever I see the name Brownback, I think of the SS

[redqueen]

5. If they do, they'd better start paying taxes.

:grr:

[UpInArms]

6. Brownshirt doesn't want to uphold the Constitution

and needs to be removed from office.

Separation of Church and State was always a part of this country.

The rightwing move to discount the reasoning and to illegally ram their agenda down the throats of the citizens of this country shows there absolute lack of respect for the founding fathers and everything that this country stands for.

The authors of the Constitution held that religious beliefs should have no part in the government - that was why they broke from England and the King and the Church.



:argh:

[Lerkfish]

7. to christians like me, it STILL sounds like a bad, bad idea.

I think they can't have their cake and eat it, too. If they want to be theocrats, they should forego tax exempt status.

[PleadTheFirst]

8. They should all lose their tax exempt status anyway. n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

9. "Tax the churches" - Frank Zappa

"You ain't got nothin', people,
Thank the Man"


Frank Zappa - "Heavenly Bank Account"

[KamaAina]

10. Breaking: Rev. KamaAina endorses Brownback's opponent

whosoever that may be, Republican (primary) or Democrat.

"So what's the matter with Kansas?" Brownback and fellow uber-fundie Fred Phelps will do nicely for starters.

[last_texas_dem]

14. I endorse his opponent as well!

Oh yeah, and I didn't mean to steal your "what's the matter with Kansas" quip (for my post below). Great minds just think alike, I guess. :-)

[Sandpiper]

11. No Problem

Just as long as they start paying taxes.

[MGKrebs]

12. hey, if all those churches start paying taxes,

maybe we can fund Social Security!

[last_texas_dem]

13. What's the matter with Kansas?

Well, Sam Brownback is but one good example.

(That's a good book, though- What's the Matter with Kansas?. I'd definitely recommend it; puts forth a strategy for the Dems to follow that I tend to agree with.)

[TheFarseer]

16. I often defend churches on here in such discussions

But that, I think, would clearly cross the line. Churches already publish guides about who votes pro-life etc etc, which you could say is informative and not instructional. People might want to know and might want the suggestion. If they are officially endorsing a candidate, the rhetoric "you have to vote for Brownback or Bush or whomever or else you are GOING TO HELL" cannot be far behind. I think it would be a slam dunk at that point that they cannot be tax-exempt. They are no more than very elaborate Swiftboat veterans for truth at that point.

[atommom]

18. Do you suppose he'd be proposing this if he thought pastors were

primarily Democrats? There are a lot of religious/political figures pushing churches further and further to the right. Jerry Falwell is one who springs to mind ... he traveled the country advising ministers on just how far they could go in supporting Republican candidates without losing their tax-exempt status. I can't help but see Brownback's proposal as a grab for more power and more money.

[BoogDoc7]

19. Hmmm...

Not sure if I really favor this, but I don't see how it affects one side over the other. Heck, when was the last time a Republican Pres. candidate preached in a church on the campaign trail? We see Dems in the pulpit of African American churches on the trail all the time, yet hear nothing about their tax-exempt status.

[Mandate My Ass]

20. Faith-based initiatives should ring a bell here

i.e. giving churches money to do what social services used to do only they are allowed to discriminate and coerce using religion.

I would think the churches receiving federal funds from republicans would favor the republican candidate, but hey, that's just me.

[atommom]

21. Around here, the church community is heavily Republican. Of course,

this is a red, red state, too. I'm so used to this subculture that it honestly didn't occur to me that some congregations (aside from UU) might lean Democratic!

But either way, I'm not in favor of mixing religion and politics at all.

[Lerkfish]

23. riiiiiiiight.

you go on believing that.

oh, and btw, welcome to DU.

[PurityOfEssence]

22. Brownback supports churches BEING candidates

This guy's a hardcore godnut and his word isn't worth spit when he sidles around the issue of theocracy.

[atommom]

24. And it's all part of what was discussed a few months ago, at the RNC

Obviously, this article is a few months old, but it does give us a good rundown on their agenda.... and how the religious right has taken over the party.

The Republican National Committee has tried to encourage more voting by church members by calling on Bush backers in Roman Catholic and other churches to turn their congregation rosters over to the party.
That drew complaints from some religious leaders, who said the move would lead to a politicization of the sanctuary. The Internal Revenue Service has warned both parties that churches might lose their tax- exempt status if they engaged in partisan activities. But Republicans defended the tactic, saying the directories were public documents available to anyone and that the information would be used in nonpartisan voter-registration drives.
On Thursday morning, Colorado Republican Party Vice Chairman Charles Broerman said he had passed on to the party the directories of "hundreds" of churches, containing the names of about 50,000 parishioners, to aid the voter registration drive.
Although Democrats have protested such church-based politicking, Republicans insist they only want to increase registration among all voters. They also argue that they have been held to a different standard than Democratic clerics, who they said had endorsed candidates from pulpits for years, without any threat to their tax-exempt status.
William J. Murray of the Religious Freedom Action Coalition in Washington has taken on the issue of "leveling the playing field" as a personal mission. He has distributed fliers around Madison Square Garden for his "Rat Out a Church" campaign, which will use volunteers to report on Democratic- leaning ministers who violate federal tax law by endorsing political candidates.
"I'm doing this because every two years the left makes every effort they can to intimidate conservative pastors and conservative congregations," Murray said. The best outcome, he said, would be the overturn of the tax law restrictions against political speech in churches entirely.

http://www.theocracywatch.org/bush_cc_spirits_latimes_sept5.htm