Should a church that advocates voting for a candidate have their tax exemption removed?

[Postman]

For example, the priest at my local Catholic Church is vehemently anti-abortion as is the local Bishop. The inference you are to understand from them is that you should be voting for the Republican Party because they are "pro-life"....

I find it strange that they don't apply the same harsh standard to a political party that lied about going to war. An unjust war.

I can't be a part of these hypocrites.

[GreenInNC]

1. different rules for issues as opposed to candidates

Here is a guide that a group I am on the board of puts out: http://www.2008electionconnection.com/uploads/2008electionconnection/Faith-BasedGuide.pdf

[Postman]

6. That may very well be, However, the issue of the lying about Iraq never seems to come up.

Only the abortion issue seems to be the focus.

I wonder why they ignore an issue of life and death that involves innocent people who are already here. An unjust war.

By listening to them, you'd think there wasn't a war of aggression based on lies, launched by the Republican Party and endorsed by the spineless weasel Democrats, going on..

[Glorfindel]

2. Yes, absolutely, no question

n/t

[yewberry]

3. Yes.

They can advocate for positions, but not parties or candidates.

When I lived in MA, we had local churches that did advocate for and against candidates. So wrong, but so common.

[goddess40]

4. All churches should have to pay taxes...

on any property owned beyond the church building and a small plot of land for it to sit on.

As for advocating for elections, yes they should lose their tax free status. The Catholic church refused to give Dave Obey communion for his role as an elected official - they claim he is pro-choice which he personally is not but he does recognize the law and that this country is a secular nation.

They should also lose their tax-free status for covering up crimes committed by their representatives too.

[SmileyRose]

8. They are still at it.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/5/19/205630/099

[SmileyRose]

5. candidate yes, issue no.

Though any preacher who tries to tell me how I should vote on any politcal issue is going to find my seat vacant really fast.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Yes

as should a mosque or temple whose spokespeople advocate voting one way or another. Religion and state should be kept strictly separate. Individuals within a religion should be free to make their own political decisions and to express them. For example, my Order is strictly non-partisan. However, I can be as partisan as I like as long as do not speak for my Order.

[ixion]

9. Yep

they can advocate whomever they like as long as they're paying taxes.

[madmax]

10. YES n/t

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. I'll bet you didn't know

that all parish priests are ordered, via the Vatican, to mention abortion, and what an abomination it is, at every rite over which they preside.

There's a brilliant anecdote in Jimmy Breslin's book, "The Church That Forgot Christ," in which he describes a baptism during which the priest implores the newly-christened baby to defeat the nightmare of abortion.

But they can comment on any social issue they wish, from the pulpit and other places, just so long as they don't specifically - that is, by name - identify a particular candidate. That's how these "men of God" skirt the law. Inspiring, no?

Breslin wrote that book - which I highly recommend - when the sex abuse scandal broke, and he realized that he loved his religion, but he could no longer be part of that deadly corporation known as "the Church." It's a great, great read.

[SoCalDem]

12. Not only that, but a church that makes a profit, should lose their tax exempttion

Churches GOT tax exemptions because they were a charitable organization, ministering to the flock, and helping the poor..

but they are now businesses, and their "pastors" live like kings..

The tax free thing was set up with the small church in a small town with a poor minister trying to raise a family on a pittance of a salary, in mind...

There's no "need" for televangelism.. There's no place so remote that televangelist are the only way to "reach" people.

These massive "churches" are little more than activism-organizations, using tax-free dollars to push a narrow agenda.

[madrchsod]

13. yes.....they have a tax exemption for a reason...

it`s somewhere in those pieces of paper that bush and crew have been wiping their asses on....

[LWolf]

14. YES. nt

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

15. Yes, immediately and permanently

"Tax the churches.
Tax the businesses owned by the churches."

- Ftank Zappa

[JerseygirlCT]

16. I agree with you that theirs is an entirely hypocritical stand

and, I might add, a very, very easy one for males, especially celibate ones, to take. No skin off their nose if thousands of women have their inherent rights to bodily integrity ripped out from under them.

But as I understand it, churches can advocate on issues, just not endorse candidates. As you point out, sometimes the wink and nod blurs that distinction pretty badly.