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Distinguishing From Political & Religious

Distinguishing From Political & Religious

Watch the following video and state wether you agree or disagree with the priest's deduction of the whole affair:

Religious and Political Distinguishing

Very interesting speech. He starts off well with his view of religious freedom and how it should be defined. Talks about the laws we must obey that we can't bypass due to religious freedom. But he loses me on the tax exempt status. The tax exempt status applies to churches because the are a non-profit religious organization that his concerned with the good of people. They are not associated with a particular political group or candidate. They are held to the same standards that all other non-profit tax exempt groups are.

If United Way started handing out pamphlets, having candidates speak, and suggesting the best way to vote on issues, they would lose their tax exempt status as well. If churches what to get involved in politics, let them, but they lose that tax exempt status. If you are a church, then talk about god, not about candidates. For instance, the church I grew up in, an evangelical fundamentalist church, we had "christian" candidates speak in our church many times. This is wrong. If you allow this to happen, it becomes a free, tax free, public platform for a candidate and usually the republican party.

If the church is now campaigning for specific people, then they are not qualified as a not for profit group and don't qualify for tax exemption. Just because they are a church doesn't mean the law doesn't apply to them.

Distinguishing From Political & Religious History & Civil Business Politics

It is not just or mostly republicans that do this. Take a ride down south of the Mason/Dixon line and you will see what control the southern baptist have on their communities and they are mostly democrat, so I cannot place the blame for this type of activities as being mostly one group or another. It is wrong for anyone group to do this and still claim their tax exempt freedom. The only way to fix this problem is to make a example out of someone. However, the first one that is hung out to dry will be the first one to claim that the government is anti (insert their religion) and it is definitely going to play out badly on TV.

It is not just about candidates though. If we get really technical on this, as the father pointed out, we have issues on abortion, gay marriage, military service and many "moral" problems of our world today. These truly are political topics and the preachers from the various religions talk about these routinely to give guidance as in accordance to their religion. When a abortion bill comes up in a state, I am sure that the Catholic priest tell their congregations about the horrors of abortion and the church's stance on it before the vote. This is a really gray area, as there is mentioning of taking anothers life in the bible, but not specifically abortion. Abortion is definitely a political topic.

I see no problem with stating the church's stance on various issues today. The bible, koran and other ancient teachings are difficult to read today. If you want to be devout to a particular religion, it is sometimes difficult to understand how the beliefs of long ago apply today. Like being at the scene of a accident, there are many different interpretations of what happened. Religion is a lot the same way. I don't mind being helped to see the way, but taking those steps is my decision and I will ultimately be responsible for my actions. I have noticed that many preachers now try to apply situations today to the teachings of the bible and I am thankful that they do it. I often disagree with their interpretation, but appreciate the effort.

Basically, IMO, churches can take strong stances on issues and present their ideology to their congregation at will. However, when a church takes a strong stance not for a ideology but a political group or politician, they should wave bye bye to their tax exempt status.