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[Ya-ta Boy]

Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president.

They plan to then send copies of their sermons to the Internal Revenue Service, hoping to provoke a challenge to a law that bars religious organizations and other nonprofits that accept tax-deductible contributions from involvement in partisan political campaigns...

The organizers of Pulpit Freedom Sunday are convinced that the protest will result in a court challenge to the law. Mr. Stanley said the law was so unclear that, �I anticipate getting to federal court, certainly the appeals court.� But Robert W. Tuttle, a professor of law and religion at the George Washington University Law School, found that unlikely.

�It�s settled law,� Professor Tuttle said. �People can unsettle law that�s settled, but I think that it is very, very unlikely that a lower federal court would reach any other conclusion except that religious organizations have no constitutional right to engage in political speech while accepting deductible contributions.�

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26preach.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

I prefer preachers not tell me how to vote and my gov't not tell me how to pray. Seems fair enough. Churches that want to act politically should lose their tax-free status.

And I'm really tired of conservatives bringing up old issues and refighting the same old battles, as is mentioned at the end. I guess technically that would make them reactionaries.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I agree. When Jackson and/or Sharpton are speaking in the pulpit they should stay off political issues...if they want their church to keep their tax free status. There is no conflict with the First Amendment. The conflict is with the tax laws. All preachers have the same free speech rights the rest of us do. They don't have a 'right' to tax free status.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[Milwaukiedave]

I think if it does go to court, this one has the US Supreme Court written all over it.

[daskalos]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

This issue is whether taxing churches amounts to a law "respecting an establishment of religion... ", as the First Amendment words it. If it is, then forget about it, it's going nowhere.

[flakfizer]

[PBRstreetgang21]

I doubt this would make it as far as the supreme court. Its pretty much settled that religion cannot enter into the political area.

I wonder why they don't pay taxes to begin with. I mean why are religious organizations tax free anyway? They benefit from the police, fire dept, and all the other services taxpayers do, they outta pay their fair share.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

CNN.com has a video clip of an interview with one of the ministers planning to endorse McCain from the pulpit. In the interview, he's sitting in a pew in church. It looks to me like that church can afford to kick in a nice sum to help out on the Wall Street bailout.

For them to do this at this time, 5 weeks before the election, is a political move designed to inject religion into politics.

[Leslie Cheswyck]