Church and Politics
I just hate agreeing with
people whose views I loathe. As liberal Christian, I agree with the Alliance
Defending Freedom. SF Chronicle 11/21/12. The alliance is chock full of
conservative Christians who are anti-homosexual and anti-abortion. However, they
do believe that Christian clergy should not be deprived of their freedom of
speech. I agree that the separation of church and state means the state cannot
“encroach on religion.” It does not mean the church cannot encroach on the
state. I did not give up my freedom of speech when I was ordained. When an arm
of the government may punish a non-profit organization for participating in
politics, they are violating freedom of speech. I wish more liberal clergy
would speak up for their constitutional right to freedom of speech.
posted by RWC | 9:56 AM
2 Comments:
I agree that "Christian clergy should not be deprived of their freedom of speech." It is the congregation that is most guilty of this. Nearly all clergy (Cromey being an exception, as in most things) preach to the right of their convictions for fear of losing members and financial support.
I think the Reverend may have missed the point of the article, which was somewhat technical.
All nonprofits, including churches, who receive donations which are tax-deductible to the donors, are prohibited from endorsing politicians [paraphrased]. All of us in nonprofit-land--except churches I guess--understand this.
If we're willing to risk losing donations, we can change our legal/tax status and become more like lobbying organizations, like Greenpeace for instance. So, no biggey, if you understand the regulations you signed up for when you formed your nonprofit--like, wakeup churches. :-)
One thing that is totally discriminatory IN FAVOR of church nonprofits is that they don't have the file the annual IRS 990 Form like all other nonprofits. Churches need to take the lead on this regulatory inequity and start filing--showing where their money goes.
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