More than a thousand pastors this election year have, once again, defied the contested regulations of the Internal Revenue Service that forbid church leaders to tell their flocks for whom to vote. The liberal media are clearly lamenting the lack of enforcement by the IRS because most Christians vote conservatively and few Democrat voters even attend church.
For background, read Pastors Inflame IRS Scandal for Religious Liberty
And read the Pew Research poll showing a growing number of Americans who say that religion should play a greater role in politics.
Also read Houston: Ground Zero in Obama's War on Christianity
-- From "Political pastors openly defying IRS rules on candidate endorsements" by Josh Hicks, Washington Post 11/4/14
The IRS has taken virtually no action against the pastors . . .
The defiance movement, known as Pulpit Freedom Sunday, has grown from a few dozen ministers to more than 1,600 over the past six years, according to the alliance [ADF].
Church leaders involved in the effort have weighed in on key races that could tip the balance of power in the Senate during this year’s midterms, openly endorsing candidates such Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) and Thom Tillis (R) over Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).
The IRS’s reluctance to enforce the tax law suggests it has grown timid about dealing with tax-exempt groups . . . The IRS did not respond Monday to repeated requests for comment about whether it plans to crack down on the movement. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pastors endorsing candidates, in defiance of IRS rules" posted at FoxNews.com 11/3/14
Christian pastors reportedly are defying IRS rules and endorsing political candidates at an unprecedented rate.
Under IRS rules, nonprofits -- such as churches -- are allowed to discuss politically sensitive subjects in their sermons, but historically have been barred from actively campaigning and endorsing particular candidates. But a growing number of pastors are challenging that standard – and the IRS may be looking the other way.
. . . the IRS may be gun-shy after its high-profile fight with Tea Party groups and virtually all Republicans on Capitol Hill over its targeting of conservative groups.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rogue pastors endorse candidates, but IRS looks away" by Rachael Bade, Politico 11/3/14
It’s another sign of the tax agency turned upside down by the tea party targeting controversy. Although the IRS is under fire from the right for being heavy-hand with conservative tax-exempt entities, it’s also getting hit from the left [including atheists suing the IRS] for failing to enforce decade-old rules governing churches and politics.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in an interview last month with Tax Analysts suggested the IRS isn’t planning to crack down on churches anytime soon. He said the [atheists'] lawsuit news “spread out into the world … somehow we are doing something very different and we are going to show up either more aggressively or more often in a different way than we have in the past, and that is not what that case was about at all.”
The pastors, who make it easy for the IRS by often taping their sermons and mailing them to the tax agency, argue that it infringes on their First Amendment rights.
Their ultimate goal: igniting a lawsuit with the IRS and taking the issue to the Supreme Court.
“If by chance a member of the IRS gets this sermon and is listening, sue me,” said evangelical pastor Jim Garlow of the San Diego-based Skyline Church . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read about nationwide efforts to register more Christians to vote.
And read Proved: Tea Party Movement is Christian
