Politicized Pulpits

A 1954 amendment to the tax code prohibits all tax exempt organizations,  including churches, from "directly or indirectly" endorsing candidates

The Law of the Land is simple: if any  religious organization, "directly or indirectly" endorses political candidates, they have forfeited their tax-exempt status.

If religious leaders, bishops, pastors, ministers rabbis, imams, or any others "directly or indirectly" attempt to influence their followers, they are breaking the law and should lose their tax-exempt status. It's time the IRS enforce the law. Some Catholic bishops and priests, and some Protestant bishops and ministers are blatantly violating the law. It is time for the IRS to begin legal proceedings against these  violators.

Granted, the clergy have the right to free speech as does everyone sitting in the congregation (1st Amendment) , but they do not have the right to use the pulpit for political propaganda. If they insist on using the pulpit as a means of promoting or opposing political candidates, they may do so; but they should be deprived of their tax-exempt status.

It is that very same 1st Amendment which our founding Fathers in their wisdom  chose to separate Church and State. Bottom line: do not mix religious beliefs and politics!

The separation of church and state is uniquely an American concept. Article VI of the Constitution states: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican,  was adamant about this provision of the Constitution when he insisted,  in an era of anti-Catholicism, that a candidate's Catholicism was not an impediment to public office.

Ironically, today we have Catholic bishops and priests trying to breach the wall of separation of church and state.by claiming a "Catholic exemption" to health care rules based on their "belief" that contraception is immoral. Meanwhile some of these same Catholic clerics are breaking the law by using their tax-free pulpits to influence votes for or against a particular candidate.

In their role as citizens, clergy have the right, like the rest of us, to endorse or oppose any candidate, but the law prohibits them from using their tax-exempt religious organization to endorse or oppose. Those who continue to break the law should have their tax-exempt status revoked.

There of course is an alternative, The clergy who want to use their pulpit illegally to support candidates have the opportunity to practice civil disobedience in the tradition of Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the Berrigan brothers. They can break the law, and in their case, instead of going to prison,  return the money resulting from their tax-free status to the U.S. government.  Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.