Recently I preached a sermon on mixing religion and politics, which
I firmly believe we should do. The gist of the sermon was that good citizens of
God’s kingdom also make good citizens of their country when they apply the principles
and teachings of their religion in their religious choices. That does not mean we all reach the same conclusion or should.
That is much different than saying churches or the spokespersons of
religious groups should be endorsing candidates; that is just an abuse of
office and also illegal. The magazine Christian
Century found that out the hard way when it endorsed Lyndon Johnson and
lost their tax-exempt status for a while. Billy Graham said he would “do all I
can to help” in supporting Mitt Romney’s run for president. He got by with it
but was investigated by the IRS, which is son Franklin called a waste of time
and money. It wasn’t and he should have received the same treatment as Christian Century.
A lot of conservative groups such as the Tea Party are complaining
about being scrutinized by the IRS unfairly. Religious groups need to watch
their P’s and Q’s on this as any group. James Dobson should have had his ticket
yanked long ago as he can’t stay out of politics. Hey, this is part of the
separation of church and state we prize in this country, so follow the rules.
But the tricky part today comes from the IRS section 501 [c](4)
deal with social welfare organizations. Many of these groups are skirting the
separation of church and state saying the are just doing social welfare, but
are really just shills giving vast amounts of money to the candidates of their
choice without scrutiny.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteNice blog. With great information.
Solar Shop
Thanks. I went to you site. I love the technology you are developing and making available!
Delete