When Pastors, Politics And Tax Status Do Not Mix
When Pastors, Politics And Tax Status Do Not Mix
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- on October 3, 2008 at 5:58 pm
- on December 12, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Against Hunger And Poverty
Hello Marvia!
Good thoughts. It is certainly important for pastors and Christian leaders to give careful thought to how they approach political issues.
I would like to submit to you and your readers another important consideration: the distinction between what pastors should or shouldn’t do vs. whether or not the government should be deciding what pastors should or shouldn’t do.
Here is what I mean.
We can debate amongst ourselves as Christians what role we want our spiritual leaders to play in informing us about politics. Some will prefer their leaders say little, some will prefer their leaders take a strong stand. You have articulated well in this article a very common belief that American Christians happen to have about this issue.
It is very different, however, for the National Government to prohibit or restrict the free speech of pastors. Whatever we believe pastors should be doing, I hope we can all agree that the IRS should not in any way be inhibiting religious expression of political speech!
The Congress has committed a serious moral error by including the prohibition on endorsing candidates (for churches) in the tax code. The restrictions on working to influencing legislation are inappropriate as well. I submit that both of these sections of the tax code need to be repealed.
The debate about “how much do we want to participate in politics” should be an internal debate inside the Church of Christ, not an external restriction placed by the federal (or state, or city) governments.
Something to think about!
The article mentions that pastors are restricted from speaking in support of a political party or candidate, which is true. However, what the government accomplished by stifling Churches on political issues was to silence any critique of itself.
As soon as a pastor were to make a stand from the pulpit in bringing to light a governmental abuse – the IRS would be called in and he and his Church would be shut down. The party aspect of the issue is only a veil to cover up the denial of freedom of speech.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts Jon! You are right in that pastors should not be restricted by the state in expressing their political opinions. And I agree with you on that. As I said, I’d hate to be muzzled or prevented from doing so.
However, it is not an easy issue to resolve the part that rests on the question of whether or not the church should accept ‘state benefits’ which would then lend to the curtailment of its free expression. That’s what I believe is the cause of the problem. So what do you say to that?
Marvia
Thanks for visiting Chad!
I firmly believe that its the right of the church to critique government especially when that government is oppressive. Curtailment of free speech is oppressive. So the church is right to challenge that.
However, I also believe that the pastor walks a narrow path and must be seen to appear objective and unbiased. In the end, our allegiance is to the way of God not to ‘party politics and politicians’. So when we critique, we should do so fairly to call for justice whichever party is in the House.
Honestly, I believe that when the church starts to take that path of fairness in the quest for justice our speech would be far more effective.
Marvia
Hello again Marvia!
I think churches should consider forgoing tax-deductible or tax-exempt status. If they do not, I think they should directly challenge the constitutionality of the Johnson amendment.
As far as being “unbiased,” I don’t know if it is any longer possible to be unbiased towards the parties. Personally I am neutral towards one, in complete disagreement towards the other, and very interested in several third parties.
I actually wouldn’t mind if a church said “the such and such party has lots its way and has nothing good about it.”
Having said that, I owe no loyalty to any political party. If whoever I am voting for at the time leaves Christian principles behind, I will leave them behind.
Sorry if I’m too short. I’m doing a million comment followups tonight!