Churches to Practice Civil Disobedience on Sunday

[JonLP24]

Source: LAist

"I'm going to talk about the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes. Nobody who follows the Bible can vote for him. We may not be politically correct, but we are going to be biblically correct. We are going to vote for those who follow the Bible." That's Rev. Wiley S. Drake of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park in the LA Times speaking about the "pulpit initiative," which has churches in California and 21 other states illegally delivering political sermons or giving endorsements to presidential candidates.

The problem is that there is a federal ban campaigning by nonprofit groups, something All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena got in trouble for--but was later cleared--in 2004. All Saints' rector and 179 other church leaders have signed a pledge against the initiative. "Political activity and political expressions are very important, but partisan politics are . . . . a death knell to the prophetic freedom that any religious organization must protect," Rev. Ed Bacon of All Saints said.

According to radio ads, the "pulpit initiative" says there's nothing in the Constitution prohibiting such actions of endorsing candidates, or as they say, "scriptural truths."

Read more: http://laist.com/2008/09/25/churches_to_practice_civil_disobedi.php

[K8-EEE]

1. Yeah they ONLY go after liberal churches like All Saints for this

NEVER the rightwing nutbags!

Take their tax exempt status away. They can campaign for McLame all they want, but they lose their exemption.

[whistle]

2. Send in the IRS to audit these preachers and their churches also

...local tax collectors will have a case to collect on property taxes going back as far as when those preachers first began preaching politics

[crossroads]

13. AMEN Brother! nt

[Eric J in MN]

3. It's a tax issue.

Endorse whomever you want using church resources, but then the people who donate to the church shouldn't get a write-off as if they donated to a charity.

[prayin4rain]

4. people are nuts. n/t

[krabigirl]

5. I want their tax exempt status removed! They can help pay for our national debt!!

[AndyTiedye]

6. That isn't Civil Disobedience, That is Losing Their Tax-Exempt Status, I Hope

[volstork]

10. Amen to that! n/t

[EC]

7. So they'll vote for the Christian poser over the real

believer?

They're all posers themselves....

[Democrats_win]

8. Jesus told his followers to pay their taxes! Pay unto Ceasar....They are sinners, workers of evil.

[AllentownJake]

9. Christ would slap these people

hard. What he did to the money changers would look like he patted them on the back

[David__77]

11. Churches are perfectly free to explicitly endorse candidates.

But not if they want a tax exempt status. It's pretty clear. You want to endorse - don't file for tax exemption. It's illegal for churches and other non-profits as well.

[Pastiche423]

12. Let them practice civil disobedience on Sunday

Then tax the hell out of them on Monday!

[The Wielding Truth]

14. Barack Obama is a better Christian then they are! He follows the

Teachings of Christ and represents the biblical teachings better then they,because he will refuse to bare false witness and they are promoting what they know is untrue.

They should not vote for McCain because he makes it a practice to present falsehoods lately everyday.

[struggle4progress]

15. Nothing required any of these folk to seek nonprofit status, so why don't they just relinquish that?

[WePurrsevere]

16. The tax exempt status religious orgs enjoy is a privilage, not a right. I would think...

they'd have to sign some sort of an agreement with the IRS when applying for non-profit status. They can exercise their right to free speech but if they do so then they violate the terms of the agreement with the IRS and they should lose their exempt status.

[Sodbuster]

17. So apparently the Bible condones Adultery now?

I guess technically McCain was not coveting someone Else's wife (unless she was married)
when he was screwing Cindy while he was still with his first wife. But I think that was not
exactly what the Big Guy had in mind when thought up the 10 Commandments........

I could be wrong but......... I don't think so.

[JonLP24]

18. I was wondering the same thing about lying

There are lies literally daily from the mccain-palin camp.

[olddad56]

19. the bible is such a second rate novel.

[and-justice-for-all]

20. "the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes"

Working for the interest of the common man.
Wanting equal access to health care for everyone.
Standing up to intolerances and injustices.
his clear Understanding that it is still "we the people"
Far and equal treatment.

Obama is so unbiblical alright, I can see why those people hate him so much:sarcasm:. Those people who act like that and say such trite, are NOT religious, they hide their bigotry and hate behind the facade of religion.

[Critters2]

21. Stand up to this crap! Ask clergy to sign the Interfaith Alliance pledge:

The Interfaith Alliance is asking clergy to pledge:

* To educate members of our congregation about how our faith relates to issues of the day.
* To refrain from endorsing any candidate, either explicitly or implicitly, in or on behalf of our house of worship.
* To prevent partisan speech from candidates or their surrogates, as well as the distribution of partisan materials, in our house of worship.
* To resist using or soliciting the resources of our house of worship for the exclusive benefit of any candidate or party.
* To respect candidates whose religious beliefs are different from my own, and stand against the use of religion to divide our communities.
* To encourage members of our congregation to take an active role in civic life, including casting informed votes.


Ask your clergyperson to sign the pledge at:


http://interfaithalliance.org/component/form/?form_id=10

And then we should taxing the wingnuts! :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. Tax the hell out of 'em...

and let them endorse whoever they want.

[AlphaCentauri]

23. Blasphemy, Fucking Sinners

They lost Jesus footprints long time ago

[SoCalDemGrrl]

24. Outrageous! Another wedge issue exploit by Repubs

:puke: :puke:

[FVZA_Colonel]

25. This is probably just me being irrational, but how big of a fundie GOTV issue

could this be? Given the continued economic collapse (as evidenced by the WaMu failure), I doubt it could turn the tide against Obama and get any more fundies to come out then already are, but that stupid little worry is still there.

[PurityOfEssence]

26. Good. We need more tax revenue.

Churches are leeches on the public body, and their untaxed status is unconstitutional.

Hey, we need more revenue, so let them pipe up with their fantastical ravings, and tithe to the society that suffers them.