Imagine uttering the words “pro-life” in your church and finding yourself targeted by an investigation from the feared and reviled Internal Revenue Service.
An expert on the First Amendment conflict between pastors and the federal agency, which says it is investigating speech delivered from pulpits, confirms that’s possible.
Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for the Becket Fund, told WND a recent case brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation against the IRS raises the prospect of investigations of pastoral speech.
FFRF demanded that the IRS investigate sermons focusing on certain politically charged “code words.”
But the case suddenly was dismissed at the request of FFRF, which said it was satisfied because the IRS agreed to adopt standards for determining whether churches and religious organizations are complying with restrictions on political activity. The case was dismissed without prejudice, so FFRF could file another lawsuit if it believes the IRS is not following through with its promise.
Blomberg said the case was brought by the foundation to force the IRS to attend church services and launch investigations.
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4 comments:
Churches flirt with crossing this line all the time. They get as close as possible and claim persecution if anyone questions them.
They always have the option of giving up their tax exempt status. Then they can talk politics all they want. Which is more important to them? Think we all know that answer.
The bible has been preaching pro-life before the laws of this country were written. Politics came afterward and now wants to impose threats on Christians. If they were preaching "death to infidels" it would be no problem, right? This is a religious issue and has nothing to do with the current administration or any other. They want to keep church and state separate then do not impose your current issue into something that was created before the law of this county. In other words, being Pro-Life is grandfathered into the church and should be left out of politics from the standpoint of church and state.
Are they going to target the churches that are housing illegal immigrants also? Is that not a political issue? Oh wait, the liberal IRS is OK with it as long as it fits their agenda, right? You won't see those churches audited, nor will they be asked to change their sermon. Double standard!
This sounds a lot like Nazi Germany or communist Russia. This is supposed to be a free country. The USA. This is totally absurd an if our founding fathers knew this they would turn over in their graves.
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