How do you feel about Pastors preaching politics?
A group οf Pastors іѕ preaching politics today, challenging thе law thаt gives thеm tax exempt status fοr refusing tο dο ѕο. Shουld thеіr churches lose thаt status? Dο уου believe іt іѕ thе рlасе οf religious leaders tο tеll уου hοw tο vote?
“God in His Providence has given us a Christian Nation…and IT BEHOOVES US TO PREFER AND SELECT CHRISTIANS TO RULE OVER US”. – John Jay …First Supreme Court Justice of The United States.
I agree with Chief Justice John Jay.
I don’t like this either. Politics have no place in a church.
If they want to play at politics, then they should PAY at political tax rates.
They’re just looking for A Free Ride, as usual. Frak ‘em.
I believe it is the aptly and the responsibility for a pastor to preach on Biblical values, but not on the politicians themselves. The vote still must be up to the individual.
It is most certainly not the place of religious leaders to tell me how to vote. They seem to reckon it’s their affair to try to run the government, but they weep persecution if the government comes near them. Separation of church and state means both of them are separate. If persons people want a theocracy, they need to go some place else.
Your religious beliefs should be interwoven into your political beliefs. How else will you be sure your tax dollars are spent wisely, and the course of the nation is right.
No one can force anyone to vote any certain way.
While I don’t agree that politics should be the message in church, I don’t reckon that the pastors need to pledge to the government for this. They will, but, have to pledge to God. The church is supposed to teach and spread the message of the Gospel, not politics.
Not much worse, when SECULAR countries Presidents and candidates for one, preach religion
Pastors should forget the tax exemption, pull out of government-influenced things like this, and preach politics.
No problem. If they want to do that then let them.
But they better initiation preparing their tax reports. They can pick one or the other, but not both.
Jesus called a leader a fox. John the Baptist preached to a leader and was beheaded. When someone does something incorrect it is the job of the Christian to point it out.
They should pay taxes just like anyone else.
And I’m not just picking on christians either, that goes for any temple mosque or synagoge.
I’m going to laugh my ass off when all the churches that try go absolutely bankrupt for blatantly breaking the law. It’s utter hypocrisy. I have to stay on laws saying gay wedding ceremony is incorrect even if I don’t like them, but they get to ignore to this law because…..they don’t like it?
Religious leaders can and do preach about politics every day: poverty, hunger, why war and torture are terrible, why people deserve a income wage. These are certainly issues with a political component. The problem isn’t that pastors are talking about political issues, it’s the fact that these particular ones are choosing to use their pulpit to endorse a candidate by name. This is what U.S. law prohibits. I’m sure as excellent law-abiding citizens these pastors are willing to take the penalty for their actions. Don’t you?
I happen to find it a bit unsavory that a religious leader would instruct their followers that they’re disobeying God and risking the fires of hell if they vote for one candidate over another. That’s preaching demagoguery, not the Gospel.
Freedom of speech! They don’t tell you how to vote, they only express their few.
How do I feel about it? Absolutely horrified. Despite various claims to the contrary, there is supposed to be separation of church and state in this country. That separation benefits BOTH church and state, by keeping them out of each other’s affair. We also have freedom for ALL religions, not just Christianity. There are a LOT of religions in the US, and we all have the aptly to a government that is impartial and shows no favoritism to any one religion over another. Thus to allow one religion’s policy and viewpoints to be mixed into government is not honest to the rest of us with differing beliefs. Government must remain secular in order to provide right religious freedom and equality to all.
Now addressing the issue of religious leaders endorsing candidates from the pulpit, if they wish to do so, they should not keep their tax exempt status, and indeed that is the current law in the US. There’s nothing preventing a pastor from saying who he prefers – on his/her own time. They just can’t say – in their official office as a religious leader – that you must vote for (insert candidate here) if you want to be a excellent (insert religion here). Not only is that an incredibly arrogant statement to make, thinking one can know absolutely the mind of any god, but it also assumes that every practitioner of a particular religion will have the exact same views in politics, which realistically does not happen as often as many would reckon.
Reckon of how you would feel being against the candidate that your group has endorsed: it puts unfair pressure on everyone in that group to stay on the herd. Peer pressure is one thing; being told you’re going against your god/gods because of the way you vote is another matter, and one that no one should have to endure.
I believe church elders should have the same rights to freedom of speech that the personnel at any other 501(c)(3) organization has and there are plenty of them that are overtly involved in politics and we don’t hear anyone complaining about them. Plotted Parenthood is a prime example. On their website they gibberish politicians by name that don’t condone abortion on demand and make statements to the effect that the Republican Party has been hi-jacked by religious fanatics. Now you may agree with that, but you’re not a 501(c)(3) organization. Plotted Parenthood is and if they can make such statements then Pastors should be afforded the same aptly without threat of losing their tax exempt status.
I also find it odd that the only churches that seem to get reported to the IRS are conservative, Bible based churches when liberal churches are much more guilty of preaching partisan politics. And you don’t even want to get me started on what’s preached in Mosques.
So, if it’s excellent for the goose then it’s excellent for the gander. Either stop them ALL or let them ALL do it. Otherwise, we’re aptly back where we were in 1775 with the British government rewarding only persons churches that conformed to its brand of government.
That will eventually take place here, but when it does, many will initiation holding secret services outside the church building like they have to do in China, which is what many here are really pushing for.
Persons who disagree with what I’ve said here cannot possibly claim that you believe in equal treatment under the law. You obviously only believe in equal treatment for persons who agree with you.
Sounds to me like a case of the government trying to tell a pastor what he can or cannot preach. That being said, I will be the first to admit that there are way too many pastors that turn the pulpit into a soapbox. Take, for instance, Obama’s ancient pastor and the guy who organizes the protests at soldiers’ funerals. These guys are no more men of God than Bugs Bunny. They couldn’t make it in politics, so they found a group of people who would take note to them and called it a church. I have no problems with these types of churches losing their tax exempt status.
If a pastor preaches against “spiritual wickedness in high places” and uses a politician as a example (and we all have seen the scandals from both parties), I have no problem with it. As long as these types of sermons are not the norm, then they should keep their tax exempt status.
One thing that gets me is that a lot of people say that we need to keep politics out of the pulpit, and then all of the candidates flock to churches to get the “evangelical vote”.
No, as I recall: Jesus said in the Bible, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Would that his ministers better followed his example.
They want the IRS to go in so they can fight this & take it to the Supreme Court in hopes that the conservative judges will over it.