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First up from the God Machine this week is something called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," which is scheduled for tomorrow, and which intends to test religio-political boundaries in interesting ways.
To briefly summarize federal tax law, tax-exempt houses of worship and religious ministration are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns, either in support of or opposition to a candidate or a party. Those who violate the law run the risk of IRS penalties, up to and including the loss of their tax-exempt status.
With this in mind, groups like American United for Separation of Church and State, hoping to prevent the religious right from creating a church-based political machine, reminds religious leaders every four years of the law, urging them to reject the advances of parties and candidates.
Some on the right are trying a very different strategy -- conservative activists acknowledge the law, but are urging conservative Christian pastors to break the law, deliberately.
On Sunday, October 7, pastors around the country will try to bait the federal government into investigating them by preaching explicitly partisan sermons. As part of a conservative movement organizers call "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," some religious leaders will endorse Mitt Romney from the pulpit. Others may refrain from an endorsement but vigorously criticize President Obama. And some will tell their congregations that a good Christian can only vote for a candidate who opposes gay marriage and abortion. Then they'll send tapes of their sermons to the Internal Revenue Service in the hopes of being audited.
Mike Huckabee and Glenn Beck have both used their media platforms recently to help promote the event.
There are a few angles to this. First, the organizers of "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" generally believe the IRS is bluffing and won't actually crack down on churches that intervene in elections. If the law isn't going to be enforced, the argument goes, then there's no reason conservative pastors shouldn't use their pulpits to help elect a Republican presidential candidate.
Second, if the IRS isn't bluffing and it cracks down on churches that knowingly flout the law, then there will be litigation the right thinks it can win. By forcing test cases, conservatives believe they can have the existing law overturned altogether.
And third, if the IRS takes any action at all, conservative churches will play the martyr card -- the big bad Obama administration is waging a "war on religion" by going after innocent churches.
For the record, the law is only limited to partisan campaigns -- religious leaders who want to use their pulpits to preach for or against marriage rights, abortion, the death penalty, or any other issues are free to do so. The trouble kicks in when pastors start telling their congregations who to vote for, and scrapping the law really isn't a good idea.
Also from the God Machine this week:
* The "Red Mass" was last week, an annual tradition in which several sitting Supreme Court justices -- in this instance, six of the nine -- attend a Roman Catholic mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington the Sunday before the Supreme Court begins its new term. The practice began in 1953.
* The Washington Post's Sally Quinn suggested in print this week that Americans' identity is intertwined with religiosity. Raising atheists' eyebrows, Quinn argued, "Part of claiming your citizenship is claiming a belief in God, even if you are not Christian."
* Radical TV preacher Pat Robertson and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins helped headline "The America for Jesus 2012" prayer rally at Independence Mall in Philadelphia last weekend.
* And speaking of Robertson, the televangelist told supporters this week that God may "take down the wall of protection around this nation" unless America starts agreeing with him on gay rights, reproductive freedom, and secular government.
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Sally Quinn says “Americans' identity is intertwined with religiosity.”
Yes,.. to make sure we avoid it..
“A recurring theme today among the politically religious is that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and in this modern era we have somehow strayed from God and from our roots.”
Romney says “We’re a nation that’s bestowed by God. ”Well, again, Romney is not quite correct... let’s look at this from the beginning...
Roger Williams, a Puritan minister, established Providence in 1636. Eventually, the Crown awarded it a charter under which “the form of government established is democratical, with decisions made by a vote of the colonists themselves.”
That’s where we began as a nation. Williams believed individuals could not be free if they were subject to a government that promulgated a specific religion. He argued that government receives its authority from the governed, not from God – that it had no business interpreting the Bible or matters of faith because "humans would inevitably err in applying God's law."
Over 150 years later, our Founding Fathers added his thinking into the 1st Amendment on the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Most early settlers were Christians, but by the time the nation was founded, the focus was on preserving civil liberties, not faith...
Williams' views on the relationship between the individual and the state led to the establishment of a place in which people could, indeed, pursue life, liberty and happiness. Where individuals could define for themselves what that meant.
“Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul...” John Barry.
I see the Republican / Tea Party wanting to use religious leaders to support thier campaign. Of coures it would appear the right is defending them and the left attacking. Deception should be the sermon.
A couple of comments for Pat Robertson; 1. Thank you for volunteering to be America's buttplug, and protecting us from them people. If that was truly needed, you are perfect for the job. 2. If God was truly protecting America, you would have been born in some sand and sandals country where God put just enough rocks to kill all the blasphemers and your fat sunburnt ass would have to do your preaching just for the joy of killing people and not for a big wad of cash.
Check out Ed Bacon at All Saints Pasadena - He has a great take on this. He talks about being political with out being partisan. He's a great proponant of social justice.
Sanctimonious self righteous, affected piety, hypocrisy.
Their leaders are making money....money....money.
Tune out, turn them off.
the united states of america has separation of church and state and also does not sanction any official religion. religious organizations (churches mosques synagogues) are exempt from paying taxes as a 501 c (3) organization but we have to draw the line in the sand because churches cannot have it both ways you cannot pay no taxes and simultaneously be involved in the political process that is not how the system works. so if religious organization want to be involved in the political process they have two options either to pay taxes or loose there tax exempt status
Shaking my head: Headline being: Congressman calls evolution lie from 'pit of hell' (Atlanta Journal 10/6)
Georgia Republican Congressman Rep. Paul Broun said in videotaped remarks that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell" meant to convince people that they do not need a savior.
Broun also said that he believes the Earth is about 9,000 years old and that it was made in six days. Those beliefs are held by fundamentalist Christians who believe the creation accounts in the Bible to be literally true.
Broun was recorded speaking off-the-record to a church group (9/27) about his religious beliefs. He sits on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Holy crap....
Ref: http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/education/congressman-calls-evolution-lie-from-pit-of-hell/nSWmq/
Here they go again Playing GOD. Prphesy from Gods word is already showing the fornication of religion and Government. Guess who loses. Both, Government will first attack the ones fornicating with government. that Beast in Rev. 14 to 16 chapters. then they will destroy false religion and go after even God's chosen deciples of the truth of the Bible. It Is Called ARMAGEDON. So go ahead down that path. The New Heavens Kingdom will then be given to a new Earth Kingdom of GOD. No More Poatics to worry about!
At this point religions are just hurting themselves with the anti-facts, anti-science, anti-evolution, anti-sex, anti-fun nonsense.
Yes. They'll pay for that with declining credibility (as if some of these churches ever had much to begin with). Their membership will also decline, reducing their revenue streams.
Churches are like any other small business. They have to market to their members and continually recruit new members to replace those they lose. Their message has to be acceptable to those providing them with funds, or those people will find other churches with philosophies they can support.
Why would anyone want to join a bunch of dumb criminals who are incriminating themselves and become an accessory after the fact? I used to think God didn't create junk but these strange old white males have changed my mind.
There is a great deal of cognitive dissonance in the entire Judeo-Christian-Islamic complex of religions. If you are going to insist that "Yahweh/God/Allah" created this world and the human beings in it, then logically, the responsibility for the misdeeds of humans must logically belong to "Yahweh/God/Allah".
EntropyRules....
You missed the reason that "Yahweh/God/Allah" are not responsible for the misdeeds of humans.
You have been given "Free Will", except for what you wish to do to your own body.
Please read all the fine print !
I do hope that was irony, because handwaving and bleating about "free will" cannot let "Yahweh/God/Allah" off the hook. It is nothing more than an intellectually dishonest attempt to pretend that "Yahweh/God/Allah" cannot be held responsible for his actions. "Yahweh/God/Allah" brought about this situation, therefore he logically must be responsible for it.
Doesn't get any more demented than this. These criminals are actually going to send tapes to the IRS with all the evidence. It's like the nitwits are doing all the leg work and convicting themselves. They think this is protesting? It's a stupid criminal act. And Beck and Robertson are accessories to the crime. Take them all down.
There's a reason why they only do it once a year. It takes three uncorrected violations in a year to lose your status.
Can we put Pat Robertson in a room with Sally Quinn and let her screech until his head explodes?
(lol..Sally Quinn..I figured she'd be 100% plastic by now.)
The big 3 religions have had upwards of 15centuries to get their story straight and leaders in place and all have mucked it up. Leave our fairly young republic alone. You have theocracies to go visit if you are nostalgic for repression and fundamentalism, high ceremony or kneel in the dirt poverty. Let the secular rule this country. If your end of days happens, I am sure you will have growing flocks of penitents and if not our earth may survive the worst with less carbon dioxide because birth control does work for the family or man as well as a man's family.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. It's sad to think that it has come to this but, what it will also achieve in doing is to bring all the hypocrites to the forefront and expose them for what they really are. When the churches decide to do this it will be to their own dismay and they will have destroyed themselves by their own hands. Pilate will once again wash his hands and seal their fate. These people are working from the same presumption, they are motivated by fear and greed which will eventually destroy them in the end. It's time to rid our Country of the blood sucking leeches known as the T.V. evangelists. There's a whole ring of them in Florida who regularly frequent prostitutes. Immorality runs prevalent especially within the walls of an unholy church. They uncover them everyday.
I would walk out on any preacher that tried to tell me who God endorses. And then I would ask the IRS to take away his/her tax exemption.
In the late 1980's-1990's many churches had political speakers, but members
were told to not talk about what was said: anti/fear of the UN, the "NEW WORLD
ORDER" [If the members had really understood that, it was the right trying to
gradually build a new order, and still are--wake up folks]. I worked with a woman
who told me about these talks. She attended a church out in SE Portland, ORegon
which had several thousand members, and would come in on Mondays and tell
me what had been said. I almost bit my tongue off. The church should have
been stripped of it's tax emempt status.
Deal W. Hudson: More Obama Push Calls to Catholics Continue the Big Lie
This is just an interesting look at why Catholic Bishops and priests have been "enlightening" catholic parishes across the country about their need to apply an authentic individual catholic identity as concerns voting choices this year.
Seems the TRMS Blog Author just can't disassociate himself from a "prior life". One as a contributor under his old boss, Barry Lynn. tsk tsk
The Obama supporter started reading from the same script that Joy had heard from the first call.
I could not believe that I had received another call from the Obama campaign looking for another of my college aged children in less than a week. I informed the caller that my son was a practicing Catholic and would not be supporting a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage candidate who did not respect the Catholic faith in his HHS mandate that would force all Catholics to pay for birth control, sterilization, and the abortion pill
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Just a week ago, I reported a call from an Obama supporter received by a Catholic in Pennsylvania. The caller, identifying herself as Catholic, insisted Obama was not pro-abortion and Planned Parenthood did not encourage abortions.
Joy Allen, co-chair of the pro-life committee of her parish, Saints John and Paul in Franklin Park, PA, received another call yesterday. The first Obama caller had asked for her daughter; the second asked for her son -- both are registered Republicans. The call came from 215-796-4259 at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
After telling the caller her son was not at home, the caller said she was from the Obama campaign and wanted to know how he would be voting.
Joy reported to me:
"Well, I could not believe that I had received another call from the Obama campaign looking for another of my college aged children in less than a week. I informed the caller that my son was a practicing Catholic and would not be supporting a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage candidate who did not respect the Catholic faith in his HHS mandate that would force all Catholics to pay for birth control, sterilization, and the abortion pill."
At that point, the Obama supporter started reading from the same script that Joy had heard from the first call.
"Well, I am a practicing Catholic, and I have no problem supporting Obama. How can you support a Mormon who does not believe in Jesus Christ...."
Joy interrupted her and said:
"I know your script, next you are going to tell me that I should support the "Nuns on the Bus" and tell me that Planned Parenthood is really providing healthcare for children and pregnant women and not aborting innocent children."
Joy then asked the caller her name. She would only give her first name, Judy. Joy told Judy "that she had heard from their campaign last week when a caller wanted to speak to her college aged daughter. I asked her why they were targeting Catholic young adults." Judy then said to me, "You told me you were Catholic."
When Joy tried to engage in conversation about the five non-negotiables and the USCCB on "Faithful Citizenship", Judy hung up.
These Obama "push calls" not only tell the big lie about Obama but also play the "Mormon card," offering more evidence of Obama's disrespect for people of faith.
-----For many of us, we DO regard Obama as a person who disrespects people of faith. The current HHS Mandate offers just one perfect example of that towards Catholics. No wonder Maddow and her Blog Author like him.
Deal W. Hudson is president of the Pennsylvania Catholics Network.
You really have to make it up in your own mind to get to "regard Obama as a person who disrespects people of faith." Just make shhit up Pattie (Paddie? Patty? Paddy?). And you and everybody else knows why you do it. It's because you are an irrational person. Things don't have to add up for you to believe them. They only have to conform to the established canon. Your accepted canon. The one you get up with in the morning. You can't help it. You can't think rationally about it. It is what you are. You are a tribalist. You are simply a Republican. A Catholic Republican. You are not an American. You are a Catholic Republican.
I disrespect apologists for pedophiles, apologists for pedophiles, and Nazi sympathizers. Like you. You sicken me old man.
Anyone with a brain have an opinion? Besides this loser "nose art" Maddow sympathizer. Have anyone got a cognitive thought that doesn't include ignorant insults and fascist fire breathing?
Get back on the bench and shut up loser!
Good article. The diff between true Catholics and the uniformed Obamaites. Between people who know the faith and those who practice just going thru the motions:
These 'lost saints' love Obama, they say, because he is 'pro-life,' when such a claim even emits chuckles from the reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. They love Obama, they say, because Obamacare has reached the goal of "universal health care," in spite of the fact that it came at the cost of federal funding for abortion, no conscience protection for health care workers, and an HHS mandate coercing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients.
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WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - How do some Catholics love Obama? Shall we count the ways?
They love Obama, they say, because he is 'pro-life,' when such a claim even emits chuckles from the reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today.
They love Obama, they say, because Obamacare has reached the goal of "universal health care," in spite of the fact that it came at the cost of federal funding for abortion, no conscience protection for health care workers, and an HHS mandate coercing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients.
They love Obama, they say, because he cares about the poor, in spite of the fact that his economic and social policies will create larger numbers of "the poor" in need of a safety net. As Obama continues to subvert genuine job creation and tax revenues shrink, our nation will be forced to cut social programs to keep the deficit from rising even higher.
They love Obama, they say, because he is "good" on so many policy issues, such as immigration, the environment, defense spending, "green" energy, poverty assistance -- and since all issues are of equal importance, it doesn't matter where he really stands on abortion, marriage, and religious liberty. They ignore the fundamental difference between settled issues involving moral foundations and prudential judgement issues of application.
They love Obama, they say, because Republicans don't care about the poor and vulnerable and are determined to take away the government's safety net. In fact, Republicans are so heartless they constitute a different species of human being, one less rational than Democrats. (This is similar to the way women were viewed in Greek, Roman, and Medieval times.)
They love Obama, they say, because he is against "criminalizing" abortion, and these Catholics seem to think it should be obvious to anyone with a genuine moral sensibility that it would be ridiculous to bring charges against doctors who kill unborn children or unwanted children who are born despite the attempt to kill them in the womb. Obama, when he was a state senator in Illinois, was clear about his support of infanticide and his opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
They love Obama, they say, because he "understands" why same-sex marriage should be made legal in all fifty states. They are so pleased that as President, Obama has ordered his Department of Justice to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a famous poem that began with a similar line, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
All kidding aside, Miss Browning actually describes the situation of these Catholic Obama supporters at the end of her short poem:
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints....
I cannot "sicken" the disgusting Ca Ca Man, he IS disgusting through and through. Go sniff up a creative "nose art" collection and have a blast!
God gave humankind FREE WILL. Crazy people think they can over rule God!!!!
Hahahahaha..., Senile Diaper Man goes all Vesuvius. Here I was getting ready to rip Pattie (Paddie? Patty? Paddy?) a new one and then he cracks me up again! I guess I shouldn't get such a kick out of the mildly retarded, but jeebus fu king cristy, he's funny.
Bench warmer loser.......... :-)
IrishPud does so much to show the dangers of religion. He's much too arrogant to ever realize that, though.
IrishPat is now fighting with himself. Hilarious.
The stupid is deep on this thread.
Pat, we have a CoH here, and calling people names violates that. You have nothing to contribute and you're making yourself look very small and dim.
DWIA, you're right: it shouldn't be okay to laugh at the mildly retarded, but when fanatic religious conservatives are being so willfully dense, we can't help it! :D
peanut...,
Good luck getting the people who run this site to actually enforce the co-called CoH against any troll. It almost never happens.
lol, just pointing out that personal insults aren't a valid argument.
Really? That's what you came up with? You thought it up, typed it out and hit Post Comment thinking this would best represent and defend your point of view?
I know which end of the Bell Curve that came from.
Here's an idea. Instead of taxing those churches, a threat which they all perceive as empty (and they're very likely correct), let's just take away their tax-exemption status as charitable organizations. Then we'll see how they like having their offering plates start collecting dust.
Maria Hinojosa does make a good point about words to describe groups of people. Because if certain words are misused, these words can cause hatred. But at the same time, people have to be diligent to call out these lies, deceptions, and falsehoods. Currently, the way Republicans, extremists of hatred, and the extreme do want to feed these lies and deceptions to people so they can continue with their agenda of power craving, corruption, arrogance, hypocrisy, greed, and deceiving. These people are doing nothing more than pushing false fears upon people for what is really a dark agenda. I have learned from young after being called many names, which people would never think to say to others only mean something, if you let it be that way. Words only having meaning, when you give them power to people for hatred. And we have enough hatred in this world and certainly we do not need anymore. To me, when people call me something not so nice, it is really meaningless to me and these words are never allowed to push that agenda of hatred. This is perhaps something we can learn and say No, this is not right and what really is your intent to others?
I think the Church of Scientology has been laundering Hollywood money since the sixties with their tax exemption. Any group/ cult can call themselves a church and enjoy the exemption.
Off topic: The war on women isn't just about reproductive rights. I watched 48 Hours last night. It was about two women, best friends, convicted and imprisoned with life sentences for the murder of one of their husbands. The Louisianna detective and prosecutor penned it, "the thelma & louise murder". With basically no evidence, 11 of the 12 jurors found them guilty. They used cell phone records to convict saying the women were not where they said they were and even though the jurors knew the records could be inacurate due to the fact that if a cell tower is busy, the call would ping off another.
The murdered man was a known womanizer and was at the time of his death having an affair with a married woman. She saved all emails detailing their sexual activities that were summitted into evidence. Her jilted husband was never even questioned by police, he was never considered a suspect?
That 2 innocent women are sitting in prison for life is disturbing. Through uncontrolable tears, the woman who lost her husband said, "how could this happen in America?"
I think they were convicted because they were drinkers and gambled, two middle aged women having fun. It's a bad time to be independant and boisterous if you're a woman in the south. I think if they were church going knitters, maybe it would have been a different outcome.
I go to church to learn about spirituality and heavenly ideas. When churches preach politics from the pulpit, I leave.
Morality cannot be legislated effectively. God gave each of us free will for a reason. If churches teach and enforce God's laws first and foremost, there is no need for them to meddle in man's laws. Spiritually balanced congregants instinctively know the right choices to make using their God-given free will whether or not that choice is legal or illegal under man's laws.
Speaking from a Christian viewpoint, the 'religious-right' displays elitist, oppressive behavior and greed that, in my opinion, is in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ.
Churches who opt to preach and endorse man's law from the pulpit in the guise of God's law are shamelessly shirking their responsibility to congregants and ultimately to God.
As long as all churches do not have a responsibility to pay taxes to pay for the infrastructure they should be required to volunteer to serve in every military action where loss of life can be contemplated.
Why should we non believers be forced to send our children to fight the wars created by religious beliefs. These very religious people should put their lives and money where their mouth is.
Totally agree with making churches pay taxes. If they're going to advertise their political views to a large audience, just like a political ad on TV, then they need to pay taxes for that audience.
Why are we debating this? The law forbids it and they have decided to willingly break the law.
It is my understanding that this is why the republican party stalled on appointing a new IRS head--since without one the IRS is not able to enforce this law.
Is this whole thing in effect a revolt against the government? Are we to assume that the republicans in congress will uphold our laws or that they are in fact rebels who are attempting to shred the constitution?
This type of religion is poisonous and too many people fall prey to this unsound gospel by using guilt to influence people to vote for a particular candidate. These religious leader are the modern day Pharisees of this world. This type of Church is deadly because the presence of Christ is absent and there is no faith. I do not know what happened why the heart of these religious leader have been hardened. They are caught legalism when they know better that you cannot follow Christ and law "Galatians 3."
I denounce this teaching that says God will take away His hedge of protection. I am reminded of Jonah when God told him to go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against their wicked ways. His initial instinct was to run away which he but when reluctantly aligned himself with God's plan the great city of Ninevah was saved from impending disaster. You see even though Ninevah was in wrong doing God saw the city as great. God showed His grace and compassion for a nation and He has done that for everyone through Christ Jesus.
The true Christian religion is about revealing Jesus in the fullness of His grace. It is by grace through faith you are saved and not by works or doing good. As a Christian you only need to agree with God in one thing and that is you are righteous in Christ knowing you are God's beloved.
If the churches are going to be partisan, and they are already, they should not get tax breaks. Period.