About that Endorsement from the Pulpit

If you have not heard, slipped in while the nation is not looking, your faith leader can now make a political endorsement without fear of the IRS. You know the Christain Right has had this on their to do list for eons. Right there with abortion and getting some of that government funding for their schools. I guess getting a free ride on your income and holdings in exchange for keeping your faith clear of government interference was not enough.

Funny how their pay to play, that is, their faith only blesses you if you put the money in their collection plate, it only goes in one direction. They don’t want to pay to play in the political space.

Which leads me to this person’s perspective that I had not considered.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Israel Igualate | [email protected]

The following is a statement from Amanda Tyler, executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), on the IRS’s court filing regarding political endorsements by churches:

“By recasting pulpit endorsements as ‘a family discussion concerning candidates,’ the IRS upends decades of established guidance and would permit churches to take sides in electoral contests while retaining their tax-exempt status. That shift threatens to turn churches into PACs and undermine the core mission of religious communities, which will become targets for candidates from all parties.

The law has never prevented clergy from speaking out on moral issues or engaging their congregations in civic life. But green-lighting tax-exempt churches to endorse candidates from the pulpit creates new pressure on religious leaders to align with partisan candidates and risk division within congregations and entanglement with campaign agendas.

Polling consistently shows that the majority of Americans, including clergy, oppose pulpit endorsements. They know that sacred spaces should not become platforms for political candidates.

BJC will continue to advocate for clear, bright lines that protect both religious liberty and charitable mission. The Johnson Amendment has served those ends for nearly 70 years. Diluting it now threatens the very integrity it was designed to uphold.”

Is this the moment I say to the people: forgive them for they know not what they do? Nah! The Republicans know exactly what they are doing. What they don’t know is how their selfishness is the ruin of all that they have.