So, you ask, what is Pulpit Freedom Sunday? It’s a special day for hypocritical Republican pastors to demonstrate their patriotism by breaking US law and to demonstrate their faith by openly endorsing Republican and Republican candidates with anti-Christian agendas from the pulpit.
In a fashion right out of the annals of right wind [sic] demagoguery, September 26th, 2010 brings us the third installment of "Pulpit Freedom Sunday."
Brought to us by the Alliance Defense Fund [pseudo-Christians delinked] as a challenge to IRS rules not allowing specific endorsements of political candidates from the pulpit. Churches can, and do, pass out flyers that are very partisan, "voter guides" that are nothing more than right wing propaganda, and take positions on legislation and initiatives.
The Mormon Church was the single biggest funding source for California’s Proposition 8, for example. The IRS law gets them get away with so much, but of course it’s not enough for the right wing mouthpieces wanting to dominate all areas of American life.
The blow hards would have you believe they are being censored. Not true, they are free to say whatever they want. The IRS regulation only restricts them from endorsing candidates if they wish to keep their tax-exempt status.
IRS regulations specify that 501(c)(3) organizations, which include churches and other religious organizations, are prohibited from “[participating in or intervening in]…any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.” Rev. Rul. 2007-41, 2007-25 I.R.B.
It’s not the right to speak the ADF is looking to ensure, but the "right" to do it essentially on the tax payer dime. For if they were labeled in accordance with their political activity, their tax duty would change.
Billions of dollars of potential tax revenue are lost every year to churches choosing to abuse the privilege… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Portland Examiner>
As the Treasurer of a small non-profit public service group, I do not endorse candidates during activities for that organization, because we are 501(c)(3) pending. That’s the law, and vecause of my volunteer work, I know a few things about it.
No organization is subject to the ban on endorsements, unless they voluntarily apply for 501(c)(3) status and voluntarily agree to abide by the laws pertaining to that status. Nobody twisted their arms. Nobody is discriminating against them or violating their rights. If they do not wish to keep their own commitment, they may freely withdraw at any time and do as they please, but without a tax exemption.
When they lie under the false cover of faith, they should be relegated to Infernal Revenue, because Internal Revenue is too good for these Republican hypocrites.
12 Responses to “Today Is Pulpit Freedom Sunday”
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From a number of my Talibangelical christianist relatives (as a Deist, I’m in a small – but vocal – minority in my family) I frequently hear, “But that King guy preached all the time about civil rights, and the IRS never did a thing to him.”
So it bears repeating that, as you point out, the 501(c)3 status deals with candidates – not issues. In fact directly from the IRS:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=181570,00.html
Right on, Nameless.
To your knowledge, has the Religious Right tried anything like this before, or is this a new thing?
It makes me so angry when fundamentalists expect special treatment from the law, to the degree that they will flout the law. I hope the IRS pays these churches a little visit.
According to AU (Americans United for Separation of Church and State – headed by Rev. Barry Lynn – one of the true Christians), it’s been going on for about the past decade.
The ADF (Alliance Defense Fund) who sponsors the “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” brouhaha usually recruits a couple dozen radical right-wing fundamentalist “churches” willing to violate federal tax law. Sadly, given the climate fomented by the Teabaggers, this year it’ll be close to 100.
When there has been evidence (local reporting, videos, tracts/literature) AU has reported them to the IRS – and has been successful in prevailing in the courts of stripping those “churches” of their tax-exempt status when it’s come to an actual lawsuit.
But more commonly the offending church just gets a warning to “cease and desist.” So recently former IRS tax lawyers are advocating that action now be aimed at the ADF as the instigator of this breach of federal law.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26preach.html
Thans for the catch, Nameless. I’d love to see that happen. Beck too, as he was in on it.
What about churches passing out leaflets about who they should vote for – this happens more often than people who like to think they do. I agree that the IRS should be giving those churches a visit and revoking their 503(c) exemptions. Especially the Mormon church – those fuckers poured more money into Prop Hate than any other church – and it wasn’t even in their state! 🙄
For better or worse, churches are allow to advocate on issues – just not candidates. While I’ve come to loathe the Mormon church for what they did WRT Prop 8, it has to be tempered at least a bit by remembering that MLK used the pulpit very effectively in advancing the Civil Rights Movement.
Here’s part of a guideline issued directly from the IRS:
Source:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=181570,00.html
Thanks, Nameless.
Lisa, I could say:
Lisa is unstable, because she goes on weird diets, and speaks in the MOM voice. Clearly she must be Satan’s spawn. Her opponant, Otis, voted for the holy Reagan, so he walks on water.
As long as they don’t say “vote for” or “vote against” or “we endorse”, they’re legal.
I don’t go on weird diets but I DO speak in the Mom voice. Oh, and Otis is ten years younger than me so he wasn’t old enough to vote for the holy Reagan. He voted for Bob Dole, Clinton and Perot. He voted for Perot. Can’t really say I forgive him for that either. Really. But he did vote for Bush Jr. – twice. I might never forgive him for that. 🙄
SoINeedAName — Thanks for the info!
Amen to that!