1954 Lyndon Johnson pushed an amendment through that made churches lose their charity tax free status if they supported candidates from the pulpit. Was this a good thing?
Not really. At first glance, you might think, sure! We don't need churches supporting candidates or getting involved in politics. That's a shortsighted approach. Christians are not outside of society and we don't give up our rights. In fact, current climate has made it tough to even admit that you are a Christian outside a church!
Why was this amendment not a good thing? First of all, if you support it, then you support the idea of government regulating churches. This is indeed a regulation of YOUR church. The government is telling you what you cannot say. Sure, all that happens is that you lose your tax free status. No big deal if you consider a church a business. The profit margin would be next to nothing. But the property taxes might get hit.
Anyway, let's get back to the government regulating what a pastor can say. That is never a good idea, even if the rule is one you support. You have now given precedent for the government making more rules.
Consider the consequences if you take the ban of political action from the pulpit or church grounds.
- You cannot talk about abortion in a political way. You cannot tell your congregation to support candidates who are against it. If there are state initiatives on it, you can't talk about it. Abortion is a very hot political subject.
- Ditto for gay marriage. Wouldn't you have the duty to tell your congregation that The Bible clearly is against it? Many states have had voters vote on this very thing.
- Anti-smoking, drinking, marijuana, drugs, etc. laws are off limits too.
- Anything that political candidates come out for or against is off limits. Read the platforms of each party during the last presidential election. We'll bet those topics were preached about.
- You would not be able to say that you agree or disagree with any political figure. Doing so would be seen as an endorsement of the side that agrees with you.
- You will not be able to invite current politicians such as mayors, or city council members. If they are in your congregation one morning, you would not be able to introduce them. In fact, you had better not have any meetings with them, even if it's in an unofficial capacity. A pastor is really never in an unofficial capacity, are they? Can they leave their morals and loyalty to The Bible at the door? Just meeting with a public official could be seen as political.
Yes, pastors should have no political agenda when they preach. But just the very fact that they teach The Bible means they will make statements about right and wrong......in direct conflict with political candidates.
If there are two candidates, one supporting gay marriage and abortion, the other against, and a pastor gives a sermon on gay marriage and abortion....look out! You could be seen as endorsing a candidate.
Churches should not welcome any rules like this.
If if it means losing tax free status, bring it on. We should not be dancing with the government anyway. Unions get away with endorsing candidates by only being taxed on the time and effort they devote to this purpose. Churches could do the same.
Remember, we are not talking about endorsing candidates outright. But our Biblical beliefs and morals cannot be separated from current candidates. Pastors will be left with very shallow sermons. Even mentioning certain sins could be cause for alarm.
Voters are not as stupid as we think. Big unions endorse losing candidates all the time. Newspapers endorse candidates that lose. Endorsing candidates is not really a big deal. It makes more noise in the news media than it does to voters.
The bottom line is that we should not be allowing the government to make any laws about what can be preached. Americans should not lose a right just because they are in a church.
While this church has remained silent, we have taken The Bible out of schools, watched silently as millions of babies have been aborted, shrugged as gay rights and marriage have become laws, and relinquished our duties to the poor.
Are we really going to remain silent? Did people in The Bible remain silent?
Our sermons should never be based on whether they will follow some government rule. And by the way, the separation of church and state is nonexistent in our Constitution.
